Combating foreign interference during an election season

On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the United States Department of Justice indicted members of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, for its payment of nearly $10 million to the American media outlet Tenet Media. The indictment specified how members of Tenet Media were bankrolled to produce videos that would amplify domestic divisions in the U.S. to draw the American electorate’s attention away from Russian interests, such as the war in Ukraine. 

While Russian meddling in U.S. elections is not new, members of a foreign media outlet using U.S. content creators during an election season reveals new possibilities for spreading propaganda. The U.S. government must take sustained, but not necessarily comprehensive, action to combat the expansion of Russian interference in our elections. Such intervention is the only way Russian disinformation can be counteracted effectively.

Although Tenet Media isn’t a traditional media company, its reach is still substantial. The firm hosts online content creators with millions of followers, like David Rubin and Tim Pool, who post videos and podcasts on YouTube discussing current events. These content creators use current events, like movie theaters choosing not to air a film about human trafficking, as talking points for the narratives they seek to push.  But, as the indictment shows, some of these narratives do not originate from the content creators themselves. By offering money to Tenet,  Russian state-controlled media was able to push its narrative to millions of Americans. 

While Russia once pushed narratives into U.S. media directly or through bots on social media, they now employ American media companies to carry out their disinformation campaigns. A situation where real content creators such as Tim Pool, who claimed that Ukraine is an enemy of U.S. citizens, are either knowingly or inadvertently backing Russian narratives generates a whole new level of skepticism in our news and media.

Using U.S. content creators to influence voters demonstrates how influencers have worked their way into the U.S. electoral space. Despite the internet being used for major campaigns since 1996, using influencers within politics to affect elections is a new addition to the campaigning process. Both major campaigns are utilizing various content creators, including the likes of Harry Sisson and Adin Ross, to reach a younger demographic. Content creators becoming a key component in the campaigning process is concerning: They often push less informed political opinions to audiences that don’t know any better or don’t care enough to do their own research. They are also susceptible to being bought out by foreign influences, as was Tenet Media. 

While Russian interference over something as major as an election is important to look into, should users take these concerns seriously and work to combat them? Yes and no.

At the front line of combating this influence war is the U.S. government. In early September, the DOJ enacted a plan to counter Russian influence throughout the 2024 election cycle. Any attempt to interfere with our elections is dangerous for our republic, making government intervention necessary, regardless of how trivial the situation may seem. 

However, government intervention to combat Russian interference online can be misinterpreted as an attempt to revoke freedoms. This time last year, a federal appeal court decided that, in asking social media platforms to remove misinformation relating to COVID-19  on their sites, the White House had overstepped its first amendment rights. 

To keep U.S. elections as free as possible from foreign interference, a tempered approach is needed. This means trusting in U.S. federal institutions to prosecute attempts at foreign interference in elections and refraining from labeling every piece of misinformation we see as the work of a foreign entity. On a smaller scale, individual social media users should be more diligent in recognizing and calling out misinformation, whether foreign-made or not. In taking this high and low level approach to combating misinformation and foreign influence, we can ensure the integrity of our democracy holds strong in this new digital age. 

Thomas Muha is an Opinion Columnist and can be reached at tmuha@umich.edu. His column “Internet Insight” discusses the legal and economic issues facing the internet today.

Related articles