WASHINGTON β Russia helped amplify and spread false and misleading internet claims about recent hurricanes in the United States and the federal government's response, part of a wider effort by the Kremlin to manipulate America's political discourse before the presidential election, new research shows.
The content, spread by Russian state media and networks of social media accounts and websites, criticizes the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, exploiting legitimate concerns about the recovery effort in an attempt to paint American leaders as incompetent and corrupt, according to research from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The London-based organization tracks disinformation and online extremism.
In some cases, the claims about the storms include fake images created using artificial intelligence, such as a photo depicting scenes of devastating flooding at Disney World that never happened, researchers say.
People gather Oct. 15 at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at A.C. Reynolds High School in Asheville, N.C.
The approach is consistent with the Kremlin's long-standing practice of identifying legitimate debates and contentious issues in the U.S. and then exploiting them. Previous disinformation campaigns harnessed debates about immigration, racism, crime and the economy in an effort to portray the U.S. as corrupt, violent and unjust.
U.S. intelligence officials and private tech companies say Russian activity increased sharply leading up to the Nov. 5 election as Moscow tries to capitalize on an opportunity to undermine its chief global adversary.
By seizing on real concerns about disaster recovery, Russia's disinformation agencies can worm their way into U.S. discourse, using hot-button issues to undermine Americans' trust in their government and each other.
"These are not situations that foreign actors are creating," said Melanie Smith, director of research at ISD. "They're simply pouring gasoline on fires that already exist."
The content identified by ISD included English-language posts obviously meant for Americans, as well as Russian-language propaganda intended for domestic audiences.
President Joe Biden talks with Deanne Criswell, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as he arrives Oct. 2 at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, S.C.
Much of the disinformation took aim at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine remains the Kremlin's prime motivation for spreading lies about the hurricane response. If Russia can persuade enough Americans to oppose U.S. support for Ukraine, that could ease the way for a Moscow victory, officials and analysts say.
U.S. intelligence officials say Russia's disinformation seems designed to support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who praises Russian President Vladimir Putin and disparages the NATO alliance and Ukraine's leaders.
Posts linked to Russia routinely denigrate Harris, saying she is ignoring the pleas of storm victims. By contrast, a recent post from Russian state media company RT called Trump "a mystical figure of historic proportions."
Intelligence officials confirmed Tuesday that Russia created a manipulated video to smear Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Researchers at ISD found that Russian disinformation agents exploited weak content moderation on U.S.-owned social media platforms such as X to spread their content far and wide. Before it was purchased and renamed by Elon Musk, the platform once known as Twitter required labels on content from authoritarian state media. Musk rescinded that rule and gutted the platform's content moderation efforts.
A house sits toppled off its stilts Oct. 10 after the passage of Hurricane Milton alongside an empty lot where a home was swept away by Hurricane Helene in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla.
Often the false or misleading claims come from fake accounts or websites that mimic Americans or legitimate news outlets, making it difficult to determine their true origin. Unsuspecting Americans then repost and spread the content.
Vast armies of fake or automated accounts help spread the material further.
Researchers at the Israeli tech firm Cyabra analyzed popular posts on X that criticized FEMA for its storm response. A significant number could not be verified as belonging to a real person; one-quarter of all the responses to popular posts were deemed fake. The posts were seen by users over half a billion times.
In response, a spokesperson for X pointed to the platform's system that allows users to add context to posts with false claims. The company did not respond to questions about its labeling policy.
Rhonda Bell looks on after an Oak tree landed on her 100-year-old home Sept. 27 after Hurricane Helene moved through in Valdosta, Ga.
Politicians also have helped spread Russia's talking points.
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., gave an interview to the Russian state media outlet Sputnik News for a piece that played up criticism of the hurricane response. He told Sputnik that the federal response was "nonexistent," a claim easily disproven by photos and videos of FEMA recovery workers as well as the firsthand accounts of local leaders and residents in hard-hit regions.
Gosar repeated another misleading claim that "billions of FEMA disaster funds" had been given instead to immigrants without legal status. In truth, money that funds U.S. border control and immigration programs comes from a different source than disaster funds.
Gosar's office did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.
How often are parents spying on their kids online?
How often are parents spying on their kids online?
Updated
Parenting is difficult, and the internet has made it tougher than ever. Knowing who your children are speaking with and what they're doing is important, but the ever-evolving technical landscape and children's rising technical literacy can make it hard to stay on top of things, especially with their digital lives.
At the same time, technology has given parents more tools than ever to keep an eye on what their kids are doing. But how many parents actually take advantage of these tools? What's the line between tracking and spying?
To get a better understanding of how people monitor their children in our increasingly digital age, All About Cookies surveyed parents to see how many check up on their kids' online activity, real-world locations, and more.
Key findings:
- 80% of parents check their children's location, including 54% who check it frequently. More than one in three parents do it without letting their children know.
- 54% of parents monitor their kids' texts and 76% of parents have access to their children's phone password.
- The majority of parents (64%) have caught their children doing something they shouldn't because of tracking.
- 76% of parents say tracking their kids on and offline behaviors has led kids to make better choices.
How Parents Track Their Kids Online
Updated
The internet gives everyone access to information and perspectives from people around the world. Unfortunately in some cases, not everyone has the best intentions or behavior online, which is why some parents choose to track what their kids are doing with their digital lives.
The majority of parents track their children's digital activities and communications, including checking on their child's text messages, social media accounts, screen time, financial accounts, browsing history, email, and gaming history. This includes more than half of parents who say they check messaging and social media accounts frequently through tools like phone monitoring apps for kids.
The "why" behind parental monitoring brings up interesting challenges parents face in the digital world. Of course, parents want to keep their kids safe from harm, but online safety also means protecting kids against identity theft and unwittingly falling victim to scams.
For instance, popular social media and messaging apps like TikTok, Discord, and WhatsApp pose risks for all users, but especially children who may not be as practiced in identifying and staying away from common phishing scams.
While identity theft protection may sound like overkill for younger people, it's important to realize that identity thieves don't discriminate based on age: nearly one in 50 children is affected by identity theft. Though they may not have financial assets, kids do have valuable personal information like social security numbers that can be used by identity thieves to borrow money, obtain government benefits, or even be used for tax fraud.
Parental Password Controls
Updated
Our survey also found that knowing children's passwords is a key element to online tracking for many parents. More than half of parents (59%) say they know the passwords for their children's social media accounts, while more than two-thirds (68%) know their children's email passwords and more than three-quarters of parents (76%) know how to unlock their children's cell phones.
Between their own digital lives and their kids', this is a lot to keep track of. By using a password manager, parents can keep a log of user names and passwords which can automate some of the login process and securely store data. Some password managers geared for families also include monitoring services that help guard against identity theft or other vulnerabilities for multiple family members.
How Parents Track Kids' Locations
Updated
The internet is not the only place kids can get into trouble, of course, so All About Cookies also wanted to see how many parents take advantage of modern technology to keep tabs on their children's location when they're out of the house.
The vast majority of parents say that they use some form of monitoring to track where their children are when they're apart. Two-thirds say they don't just track location but also use technology to monitor and review their child's driving history.
The most common way that parents track their kids is by using the built-in tracking functionality in their children's cell phone, such as Find My on iPhones and Find My Device on Androids. 58% of parents say they use these default programs to monitor where their children are, while a similar percentage (53%) use dedicated family monitoring apps such as Life360 or Glympse.
When it comes to letting their kids know that somebody is watching them, 39% of parents choose not to tell their children that their location is being monitored. That's a higher percentage than the proportion of parents that track their kids' online activities without telling them.
Does Tracking Work?
Updated
With so many parents watching what their kids are doing, how many have actually caught their children breaking the rules online or IRL (in real life)?
Between the internet and the real world, nearly two out of every three parents (64%) say they have caught their children doing something they shouldn't thanks to monitoring efforts. That includes 22% who have caught their kids breaking the rules online, 18% who have found them doing something they shouldn't in the real world, and nearly a quarter (24%) who have busted their children in both the digital and physical realms.
For concerned parents, there is a litany of tools available to keep a watchful eye. Parental control apps can monitor your child's online behavior, but also set limits on things like screen time, different apps they can use (and when), and monitor messaging in their texts or emails. There are also some solutions built into common hardwareβfor instance, there are built-in parental controls on iPads that can help limit screen time and manually adjust privacy settings for your kids.
The Impact of Tracking Kids
Updated
Knowing that parents catching their kids red-handed thanks to technology and monitoring efforts is fairly common, the final piece of the puzzle was the impact that being tracked has on kids.
More than three out of every four parents who monitor their children in some way (76%) say that monitoring their kids has led their children to make better decisions, either because they know they're being watched or because they've been caught before. That improved decision-making is almost certainly a factor as to why nearly half of parents (49%) say that tracking their children's activities has had a positive impact on their relationship with their children.
Tips for Keeping Your Children Safe Online
There are plenty of steps you can take to make sure your children remain safe online:
- Secure their accounts with a password manager. Secure passwords make it hard to remember all your login information. If you have a lot of accounts to manage, look into using a password manager to keep everything secure and organized.
- Check out the best parental control apps. See how your tracking method stacks up against some other top brands.
Methodology
All About Cookies surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults via the Pollfish platform in July 2024. Answers were limited to respondents with children under the age of 18.
This story was produced by All About Cookies and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
