Recent video purportedly showing a man destroying ballots marked for Trump is a disinformation campaign, say officials

Russian actors were behind a viral video falsely showing mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being destroyed in the swing state of Pennsylvania, US officials said on Friday, amid heightened alert over foreign influence operations targeting the upcoming election.

The video, which garnered millions of views on platforms such as the Elon Musk-owned X, purports to show a man sorting through mail-in ballots from the state’s Bucks county and ripping up those cast for the former president.

  • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    19 days ago

    There needs to be a way where people can be as misinformed as they like but policy and institutions and basically everyone else—like—doesn’t have ti give a fuck.

    Like, they wanna watch Fox News or worse all day and get bamboozled by Truths™️ and memes, be our guest.

    We need to start idiot-proofing society even further to where these folks are basically irrelevant besides whether their rights and obligations are being mutually ensured. If they are socially disruptive they need to understand they wont be getting The Donald criminal justice experience, they are always so gobsmacked when they have to find out there’s no jet coming for them

    If their “news” source can be shown to be a nexus through which they have been radicalized and linked to the flowing criminal initiatives, that also needs to stop and be held accountable. Are they also allowed to erroneously yell that a theater is on-fire causing mass stampede deaths and disfigurement?

    • YeetPics@mander.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      19 days ago

      Seems like Linus made the right call, and you are absolutely on the right track for dealing with these types moving forward.

      If you hate something so much you stop building and direct your energy entirely into regressing, you have broken the key social contract that allows you to waste your time on a key board and you should be socially excluded from participating.

      Caillou misbehaved, too. That didn’t slide.

    • BossDj@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      19 days ago

      In the show Mythic Quest, their game is invaded by tons of Nazis who are making the game absolutely miserable for everyone. In the end, they decide to >!Create a server and push all the Nazis into it, who would then unknowingly never be interacting with anyone but themselves!<

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    edit-2
    19 days ago

    Oh you mean US officials that are in office during the Biden administration?

    Yeah, Magoos are really going to believe that one. They might as well have said it was Santa…

    Reality doesn’t matter. It’s really a fucking shame these fucking asshole propagandists know this, the only thing that matters is saying a thing happened, that’s it. They say it happened then it happened, it doesn’t matter what official says what after. The thing was said and so it’s “real.” Any evidence to refute after is just a “lie.”

    :(

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    13
    ·
    19 days ago
    The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for The Guardian:

    Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
    Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.


    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom


    The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for The Guardian:

    Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
    Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.


    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom


    The Guardian - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

    Information for The Guardian:

    Wiki: reliable - There is consensus that The Guardian is generally reliable. The Guardian’s op-eds should be handled with WP:RSOPINION. Some editors believe The Guardian is biased or opinionated for politics. See also: The Guardian blogs.
    Wiki: mixed - Most editors say that The Guardian blogs should be treated as newspaper blogs or opinion pieces due to reduced editorial oversight. Check the bottom of the article for a “blogposts” tag to determine whether the page is a blog post or a non-blog article. See also: The Guardian.


    MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom


    Search topics on Ground.News

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-elections-2024
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/26/russia-disinformation-campaign-pennsylvania-ballots
    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/elon-musk

    Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

    • WolfdadCigarette@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      19 days ago

      A “Our issue is that you lack a diverse set of sources to assist in determining whether a site is credible or not. If you had more sources, we’d like you better.”

      B “Alright, thanks for the honest critique. I’ve added another source.”

      A “Now you’ve really pissed us off.”