U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday presented a $10 million eulogy on Wednesday to prevent him from foreign interference in the November elections, as the State Department accused Russia of carrying out a complicated disinformation campaign.
The award marks one of the highest public symptoms that members of President Donald Trump’s administration take election interference seriously, despite Trump’s own anger at findings that Russia has helped him.
Pompeo highlighted the efforts of “Russia and other malicious actors” when he announced the effort to avoid electoral interference.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a press convention that the United States offers rewards to end electoral interference Photo: POOL / Pablo Martinez Monsiváis
The United States is offering a eulogy of up to $10 million for data that allows the identity or location of anyone who, acting under the direction or of a foreign government, interferes with U.S. elections by engaging in certain cybercrime activities,” Pompeo said.told reporters.
U.S. intelligence concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Trump, that is, through manipulation of social media, did not discover that his crusade was in collusion with Moscow.
Trump was outraged by “Russian deception” and in February, he accused the director of national intelligence for a briefing on lawmakers that revealed that Russia gave the impression of needing Trump to win a new term on November 3.
Last month, four key Democratic lawmakers with access to intelligence said they were “deeply concerned” about a new “campaign of foreign interference,” but their set was not signed through members of Trump’s Republican Party.
Two women dressed in masks for themselves opposed to the coronavirus stop in July 2020 in front of the Kremlin, which the United States accuses of spreading conspiracy theories about the pandemic Photo: AFP/Yuri KADOBNOV
At a prominent joint press convention in 2018, Trump gave the impression of conforming to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to interfere.Trump’s former national security treasurer, John Bolton, wrote in an explosive memory that the tycoon believed that any discussion of meddling would discredit his victory..
U.S. officials also warned less in particular that they oppose China’s election efforts.
The State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which investigates and counteracts foreign propaganda, warned Wednesday that Russia had invested “massively” in misinformation efforts on the Internet.
Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, known here in October 2019, has been one of the main targets of Russian-backed conspiracy theories, according to a US report.Hus Photo: AFP / JEFF PACHOUD
“The Kremlin has a direct duty to cultivate those tactics and platforms as a component of its technique for data as a weapon,” he said.
The report, which did not refer in particular to election interference, said Russia relied on power votes to magnify messages that enhance propaganda objectives, such as provoking opposition in the United States.
One of the favorite topics is the coronavirus pandemic, with Russian sites active in selling unconsolid accounts that COVID-19 planted through the CIA or Microsoft billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates, according to the study.
In one example, he referred to the Strategic Culture Foundation, an online magazine that he said promoted “dark Western marginal thinkers and conspiracy theorists” and shaped foreign associations.
“When one of those proxy sites publishes information, it’s hard to know where it comes from,” said Lea Gabrielle, director of the Global Engagement Center.
“Russia must hide its association with those other proxy sites and that’s what makes them effective,” he told reporters.
“It’s complicated for the average user who is online to check those sites and know that this is Russian misinformation.”
On Twitter, curtains from the Strategic Culture Foundation and six similar sites tweeted or retwed 173,000 times from April to June, according to the study.
Britain, Russia, appears to be Twitter’s main source of activity involving suspicious material, he said.
Russia has denied accusations of electoral interference such as accusations across Britain that Moscow is hacking into the coronavirus vaccine investigation.
Pompeo, for his part, promoted a theory rejected by classical scientists that the new coronavirus came from a Chinese laboratory.