DISINFORMATIONFalse Narratives Around the 2024 Presidential Election

Published 30 October 2024

False and misleading narratives about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election are spreading widely among extremists and purveyors of hate and conspiracy theories.

False and misleading narratives about the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election are spreading widely among extremists and purveyors of hate and conspiracy theories.

While some of the most common mis- and disinformation narratives circulating today were also prominent during the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms, others are newer — inspired by current events in America and around the world. These narratives are also being deployed using a range of strategies and tactics that allow misleading content to fly under the radar.

Strategies and Tactics
Foreign influence campaigns have already impacted the information landscape surrounding the election. In one recent and notable case, the Department of Justice seized 32 internet domains created by the Russian government to spread propaganda and disinformation in an operation colloquially known as Doppelganger, which aimed in part to influence voter sentiment in foreign elections and the U.S. presidential election, according to a September 2024 Justice Department announcement.

Many of the domains were created via “cybersquatting,” or registering misleading domains disguised as legitimate news websites. In the case of Doppelganger, these domains used trademarked logos and even the bylines of real journalists to spread fabricated articles — some of which promoted narratives related to how the U.S. government handles foreign and domestic issues and security threats.

One of the Doppelganger projects specifically targeted American citizens in swing states, “US citizens of Hispanic descent,” “American Jews” and “American gamers” on sites like Reddit and 4chan. Another campaign aimed to sway public opinion among the Jewish diaspora in the U.S. and Israel by framing Ukraine as a neo-Nazi-aligned enemy and drawing “parallels between Russia and Israel.” One part of the planning document reads, “influencing the public opinion of Israel will impact the public opinion of Jewish voters in the US.”

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) content has also been weaponized to spread election-related disinformation. In January 2024, robocalls using synthetic speech of President Joe Biden’s voice discouraged New Hampshire voters from voting in the primary election, which was scheduled two days later. In a February 2024 statement, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s office called the maneuver a form of “voter suppression.”