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It is high season for election interference, with multiple foreign actors trying to influence American voters with misleading content. While this kind of disinformation is not a new phenomenon, intelligence experts say it is an “unprecedented threat in 2024 and that the US is less ready than ever,” according to NBC News.

The three big players are Russia, China and Iran, and they are all actively peddling propaganda to influence the election and undermine trust in democracy. This axis of disinformation uses everything from fake news sites and AI-generated content on social media to real influencers who are duped into amplifying falsehoods and fostering division.

National security experts say Russia poses the most serious threat ahead of the November election. Its aggressive disinformation campaign has come under heavy scrutiny and led to the Justice Department’s seizure of 32 websites used by Russian operatives “in a covert campaign to interfere in and influence the outcome of our country’s elections,” according to court filings.

The DOJ alleges that some of these sites included “cybersquatted” domains like the one below.

Cybersquatting is when someone buys or registers a domain name similar to an existing website to profit from that company’s brand. In this case, Russia used the name washingtonpost.pm to publish completely made-up content that looks like legitimate Washington Post stories.  

The DOJ also indicted a Tennessee-based media company for participating in a Russian influence operation in which unwitting right-wing social media stars were paid to disseminate Russian propaganda on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and X. 

The indictment reveals that the media company earned nearly $10 million for sharing thousands of videos that garnered more than 16 million views. YouTube has since de-platformed those videos, but court filings say they shared Russian talking points on hot-button issues like immigration, inflation and racism against white people.

China is also in the business of deceiving American voters through a campaign known as “Spamouflage.” The research firm Graphika says Spamouflage is a network of fake social media accounts impersonating Americans to spread doubt about the legitimacy of the upcoming election and exacerbate divisions on issues like the war in Gaza, gun control and race relations. 

To boost engagement, though, Spamouflage has spawned a new disinformation campaign called MAGAflage, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.  MAGAflage also uses fake social media accounts, but these sham profiles are right-wing Americans focused on culture war issues like immigration, LGBTQ+ rights and crime. They also all back former President Donald Trump. 

Case in point: BenMAGA2024, a 43-year-old man in Los Angeles who is “passionately and loyally supporting President Trump!”

In reality, both BenMAGA2024’s profile and photo were stolen from a real Danish man’s travel blog. And although China is known to use AI to create election-related propaganda, researchers concluded that operatives are probably not using it for these MAGAFlage accounts because of the grammar and spelling mistakes and one sure-fire tell in this post below: the audio in the YouTube video about President Joe Biden belonging in a nursing home is set to Mandarin. 

This defense of free speech and press freedom is pretty rich coming from Iran, which is known to be one of the world’s most repressive regimes. But rhetoric like this is effective at amping up the left wing’s anxiety about a second Trump term. 

The FBI also confirmed Iran’s involvement in the Trump campaign hack and the leak of sensitive documents earlier this year. “We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns,” said the FBI in a statement.

Here’s more bad news: Russia, China, and Iran are not the only foreign governments trying to influence the US public. Foreign actors around the world are ramping up their election interference, and although their motives and desired outcome for the November election may differ, they all have one thing in common–the desire to deceive voters and undermine trust in democracy. 

For news consumers, the best advice is to proceed with caution.

“Americans must think critically about the information they consume and prioritize sources from legitimate news organizations with trained journalists and an editorial review process,” advises the Brennan Center for Justice. “It is also more critical than ever for the public to know where to find accurate voting information. When it comes to elections, election officials are the most authoritative source of information.”