Hours before millions of Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday, the U.S. intelligence community said Russia was spreading fake news to create the perception that officials in key states were preparing to commit various acts of election fraud.

“Influence actors, particularly those linked to Russia, are producing videos and writing fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instilling fear in voters about the election process and suggesting, based on available information, that Americans are using violence against each other because of their political preferences. to IC,” says one partner expression It was released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “We anticipate that Russian actors will release additional content produced with these themes throughout election day and in the days and weeks after the polls close.”

The fake article, published and amplified by Russian influence operators, claims that US officials in swing states plan to stuff ballots, launch cyberattacks on election infrastructure, and use a range of “tactics” to “undermine public confidence in the integrity of the United States.” “It sows elections and fuels divisions among Americans,” the statement said.

It was stated that the aim of Russian actors was partly to convince the American public that election-related violence was spreading and to intimidate voters.

In Arizona, Russian actors created and disseminated a fake news article depicting an interview claiming that state officials had forged ballots and altered voter rolls to support Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. “The Arizona Secretary of State has already rejected the video’s claim as false,” the statement said.

“We anticipate that Russian actors will publish additional content produced with these themes throughout election day and in the days and weeks after the polls close,” the statement said.

The statement stated that Iran continues to be a “foreign influence threat” for the US elections: “As we noted in a previous update, we assessed that Iran was conducting malicious cyber activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign. Iran influence actors, past “They may also attempt to create fake media content to suppress voting or incite violence, as they do during election periods.”

The announcement came just hours after CISA Director Jen Easterly. said According to journalists, “our election infrastructure has never been more secure and the electoral community has never been better prepared to provide safe, secure, free and fair elections.”