Internet trolls backed by foreign governments interested in meddling in the US election could try to exaggerate the threat of the coronavirus to keep Americans from going to the polls in upcoming elections, according to government officials and experts.
But while public concerns about the coronavirus are legitimate, they’re also an extremely ripe target for disinformation campaigns. Russia-linked accounts have been pushing coronavirus conspiracy theories online, the Department of State said in a rare public attribution“I think it’s possible that Russia would use any pandemic event or any fears on Election Day to try to dampen turnout,” said Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, a nonprofit policy research organization.
The possibility that fears about a pandemic could be weaponized to keep voters at home is “one of a number of scenarios” that federal election security officials are considering, Chris Krebs, the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division, told NBC News.Get breaking news and insider analysis on the rapidly changing world of media and technology right to your inbox.
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