Did the FBI publish a video reporting that it had apprehended three linked groups that had committed election fraud with mail-in ballots on behalf of the Democrats? No, that's not true: The FBI has published a statement on X that these videos are not authentic, are not from the FBI, and the content they depict is false. This bogus video is yet another production from a Russian disinformation campaign. A leading independent disinformation investigator whose photo was used in the video warned the "@FBI Report" was part of a Russian disinformation campaign being spread on social media by for-hire bot networks.
The video appeared in a post (video archived here) by @jose_juangarcia on X on November 1, 2024. It was captioned:
@FBI Report: Three affiliated groups were arrested for rigging early voting with mail-in ballots.
@VP @realDonaldTrump
#USElection2024
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Sat Nov 02 20:28:15 2024 UTC)
The 39-second-long video contains no motion footage, just seven still images with panning effects added. The two visual elements of the post have false signals of authenticity added. In the video, an FBI watermark is in the upper right corner, and at the end, the FBI seal and an invitation to visit the fbi.gov/news page, which is the real FBI website. If a reader followed through, they would find the top news item from November 1, 2024, (archived here) is a press release about other manufactured videos by Russian influence actors. The second counterfeit image in this post includes a watermark of the CIA seal and a QR code marked "verified" pointing to the real website of the Central Intelligence Agency at cia.gov.
The FBI issued a statement about the video (archived here) on X on November 2, 2024 (pictured below). It reads:
FBI Statement on False Videos
The FBI is aware of two videos falsely claiming to be from the FBI relating to election security, one stating the FBI has apprehended three linked groups committing ballot fraud and a second relating to the Second Gentleman. These videos are not authentic, are not from the FBI, and the content they depict is false.
Election integrity is among our highest priorities, and the FBI is working closely with state and local law enforcement partners to respond to election threats and protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote. Attempts to deceive the public with false content about FBI operations undermines our democratic process and aims to erode trust in the electoral system.
The FBI encourages everyone to seek election and voting information from reliable sources, such as your local election office. And if you suspect criminal activity, we ask that you report that information to state or local law enforcement or your local FBI field office.
(Source: X screenshot taken on Sat Nov 02 20:28:15 2024 UTC)
Elliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat, also posted on X about the situation in a short thread on November 2, 2024 (archived here). He is the person whose image appears 14 seconds into the fake FBI video along with a fabricated quote voiced by an AI narrator. Higgins warned:
This is part of the Russian disinformation campaign that's published dozens, if not hundreds of videos making various false claims, along with fake 'verified' QR codes. All the views, RT, and likes you see on this post are inauthentic, all from for-hire bot networks the people running the campaign regularly use.
(Source: X screenshot taken on Sat Nov 02 20:33:15 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories ran the link to the fake FBI video through the AI detection tools at TrueMedia.org for analysis. True Media found there was substantial evidence of manipulation (see full report here). Three of the tools in particular (pictured below) found substantial evidence that the audio was generated with AI; the Audio Transcript Analysis found the audio to be misleading.
(Source: TrueMedia.org screenshot taken on Sat Nov 02 20:52:15 2024 UTC)
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims arising from a Russian disinformation campaign can be found here, here and here. Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about the 2024 U.S. presidential election can be read here.
