Matt Rourke/AP

The FBI issued a warning on election day about a hoax video that purports to be a news clip relaying a warning from the agency warning of a “high terrorist threat” at polling places.

“This video is not authentic and does not accurately represent the current threat situation or security at polling locations,” the agency said in a press release about the video, which appeared to have been designed to dissuade Americans from voting.

According to the FBI, the fake video falsely states that Americans should “vote remotely” because of the alleged threat. CBS News reported that the fake news clip was designed to look like it came from their networkadding: “No such warning was issued by US officials and no such report was produced by CBS News. »

Although at least two Twitter accounts sharing the fake have already been suspended, there is little evidence that the video was widely viewed, even on free platforms like Twitter or Rumble where disinformation and fake videos circulated freely throughout the election.

In the same statement, the agency also warned of another hoax video “containing a fabricated FBI press release” that “alleges that management at five prisons in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona rigged the vote detainees and came to an agreement with a political party.” The FBI says “this video is also not authentic and its content is false.” As with the “high terrorist threat” video, there is little evidence that the prison video is being widely shared, although one Twitter account shared it was suspended.

Although the source of these videos is not immediately clear, they share some similarities with hoax videos produced by Storm-1516, a Russian government-backed propaganda unit. Storm 1516 appears to have been particularly active in the final months of this election cycle, simulating video. designed to give the impression as Haitian immigrants voted illegally in Georgia, and many other videos claiming to present “whistleblowers” drawing attention to alleged American political corruption.

An anonymous pro-Trump influencer who pays for a blue check Twitter account told CNN in a report published Monday that he had been paid $100 to publish the video on Haitian immigrants by Simeon Boikov, whom CNN describes as “a Russian propagandist podcaster”.