Russia, Iran and China seen ‘ramping up’ effort to divide U.S. voters

Russia, Iran and China are “ramping up” attempts to stoke divisions within the U.S. ahead of November’s presidential election, according to a top Department of Justice official.

The trio is seeking to “warp the views” of U.S. voters, Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, said at an event at Columbia Law School in New York on Thursday.

The U.S. has already taken action this month to disrupt what it says are Kremlin-backed influence campaigns intended to meddle in the U.S. elections. But, Olsen warned that it’s unlikely the U.S. can completely eliminate foreign influence campaigns given the disparate and fragmented social media environment.

Federal and state officials are bracing for a flood of efforts to influence the run-up and outcome of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, from influence campaigns to cyberattacks. The U.S. has identified Russia as its top concern, warning that it’s capable of undertaking widespread and advanced campaigns.

Olsen added that social media and other telecommunications firms are being exploited by adversaries and that it’s the Justice Department’s responsibility to share information on where Russia, China or Iran are exploiting their platforms to spread propaganda and disinformation.

“The reality is that the intelligence community, including the FBI, is able to see a lot of this activity that maybe those companies are not able to see,” he said, adding that it’s a two-way street, where social media firms can share information with the FBI.

Concerns of government coercion over FBI warnings to social media firms reached the Supreme Court earlier this year. While the court sided with President Joe Biden’s administration, the Justice Department unveiled new policies earlier this month that include refraining from pressuring social media sites from removing or blocking content.