U.S. intelligence agencies warned that countries including Russia, China and Iran see the 2020 election as another opportunity to promote their strategic interests. Facebook and Twitter say the Russian group that interfered in the 2016 presidential election, the Kremlin-connected Internet Research Agency, is active once again, using fake accounts to undermine Biden’s candidacy. In 2018, then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged 13 Russians and three companies with a conspiracy to meddle in the 2016 election, a case that was expanded last year. Others say the companies have failed to account for the way disinformation tactics have evolved and spread. A 2019 report by New York University’s Stern Center for Business and Human Rights found examples of homegrown disinformation about the 2020 candidates across social media, including fake sex scandals and a race-based smear campaign.

Source: Washington Post September 03, 2020 19:02 UTC