Thought Leadership
The tech industry has issued a stark warning about foreign attempts to influence the US presidential election in November. “I think the most dangerous moment will come 48 hours before the vote,” said Microsoft manager Brad Smith at a hearing in the US Senate on Wednesday.
This is the lesson learned from Russian actions before the parliamentary elections in Slovakia last fall and in other countries.
There are “real and serious risks”, Smith emphasized. It is a race for the White House between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. “But it is also an election campaign of Iran against Trump and Russia against Harris,” he said. Moreover, Iran, Russia and China are united in their efforts to “discredit democracy in the eyes of our voters”, the Microsoft manager warned. The presidential election is on November 5.
Just a few days ago, the USA exposed a Russian-controlled campaign that used right-wing influencers. In addition, deceptively real-looking copies of the websites of media outlets such as the conservative Fox News channel and the Washington Post were posted online with fake articles. Russia has been trying to increase tensions in American society via online platforms for years.
As recently as Wednesday, a Russian group released an AI-manipulated video of Democratic presidential candidate Harris in which words were put into her mouth that she never said, Smith said. In Slovakia, Russia had an artificially created audio recording published two days before the parliamentary elections last year, which was intended to damage one of the parties. The Russian government is “very capable and very sophisticated”.
dpa
