The U.S. accuses Russia of interfering with 2024 elections; CISA moves away from trying to influence content moderation decisions on election disinformation

The U.S. government formally accused Russia of attempting to interfere in the 2024 elections, as the Department of Justice unveiled charges Wednesday against multiple individuals and seized dozens of domains they say were part of a wide-ranging campaign to influence American voters. During a press conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland said the operations “make clear the ends to which the Russian government, including at its highest levels, is willing to go to undermine our democratic process.” Two employees of Russia Today were indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges that they used foreign shell companies to direct $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee-based company to disseminate Russian disinformation on social media. They also allegedly invented a fictitious private investor to engage U.S.-based social media influencers with large followings to spread similar content.

Meanwhile, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is moving away from petitioning social media platforms to take down false or inaccurate posts about elections. CISA leadership continues to express confidence that the nation’s election infrastructure is well-protected for the 2024 elections, citing a litany of improvements to election security made since 2016. In past election cycles, CISA’s work included sharing information and flagging specific accounts and posts spreading false information for removal or content moderation. However, Director Jen Easterly made it clear that work would not be part of CISA’s election security mission this time around, saying that CISA’s role is to work with partners on overall threats to election infrastructure.

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