Electoral Interference: US Sanctions Russia & Iran
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has recently sanctioned two entities in Iran and Russia for their attempts to interfere with the November 2024 presidential election. US intelligence has accused both governments of spreading disinformation, including fake videos, news stories and social media posts, designed to manipulate voters and undermine trust in US elections.
Treasury officials announced the sanctions, alleging that the two organisations sought to stoke political divisions before the Presidential vote in November.
The OFAC said the entities, a subordinate organisation of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a Moscow-based affiliate of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), sought to influence the electoral outcome and divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns.
Also sanctioned was the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, accused of working on behalf of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), along with its director, Valery Mikhaylovich Korovin, "As affiliates of the IRGC and GRU, these actors aimed to stoke socio-political tensions and influence the US electorate during the 2024 US. election," it said in a press release.
“The Governments of Iran and Russia have targeted our election processes and institutions and sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism & Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “The United States will remain vigilant against adversaries who would undermine our democracy.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has previously accused Iran of attempting to undermine democratic processes, with hacking operationss designed to gain access to sensitive information related to the elections.
Meta has also said that it blocked WhatsApp accounts used by Iranian threat actors to target individuals in Israel, Palestine, Iran, the UK, and the US.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned seven individuals for conducting spear-phishing, hack-and-leak operations, as well as interfering with political campaigns in 2020 and 2024. As the US government has attempted to react to foreign interference campaigns, the ultimate impact of these combined efforts on US politics is not clear.
Many of the online disinformation campaigns appeared to gain little to no traction with US audiences, while other efforts, like the funding of conservative influencers, garnered tens of millions of views online.
Iran’s hack and leak received only tepid coverage in US media, mostly focused on the operation’s Iranian origins.
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