In the 2020 US elections, Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump prompted the Trump campaign to file more than 60 trials contest the outcome, focusing primarily on swing states.

Trump falsely claimed widespread voter fraud, although none of the proceedings found evidence of it. Yet he continued to use these baseless claims as a key part of his 2024 campaign.

Such rhetoric undermines confidence in the electoral process – and it is against this backdrop that we must assess the conspiracies and reactions to false bomb threats that have emerged since voting began today.

As disinformation researchers, we spent Election Day monitoring a wide range of hashtags and keywords on X and Reddit to identify political misinformation. Our goal was to collect data that will help determine where, how, and by whom misinformation and conspiracy theories are spread following breaking news.

Regarding false bomb threats, we have observed an online reaction that demonstrates a clear erosion of citizen confidence in the electoral process.

False threats hit polling stations across the country

Around noon in Georgia local time, non-credible bomb threats were made to polling places across the country, with a particular focus on the battleground state of Georgia.

Georgian police say 32 false threats were made called in Fulton County. Fulton is the most populous county in the state — and one where the 2020 election result narrowed to fewer than 12,000 votes. Further threats were made in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties in Georgia.

The FBI released an official statement claiming they were “(…) aware of bomb threats against polling locations in several states, many of which appear to come from Russian email domains.” The Georgian Secretary of State also stated that the threats came from Russia – this video ad is generating considerable attention online. That said, U.S. intelligence agencies will need to conduct further investigation before they can confirm the source.

One thing is certain: the threats have added even more confusion and fear to an already contentious election. In some localities, voting was halted while emergency services swept polling stations to ensure voters were safe. Judges also had to urgently intervene to allow polling stations to stay open late, to accommodate temporary closures.

On X and Reddit, we observed discussions that the threats may have intentionally targeted predominantly black counties in order to discourage voting. In response, some heavily followed users began appealing to potentially hesitant users. voters return to the queue and vote.

Reject official reports

As for who is behind these threats, not everyone accepts the idea that Russia is likely responsible.

We have seen the finger pointed at Democrats, Republicans, members of the “deep state» (a group of people who secretly control the government) and even Elon Musk. It’s too early to say which will be the most popular plot.

Both on social media and in traditional media, the far right appears to be becoming increasingly cynical about allegations of Russian involvement in American politics. This is due to a distrust of Democratic government and various investigations, largely organized by Democrats, such as the Mueller report and the first impeachment of Donald Trump.

For the far right, Russia is being used as a scapegoat by Democrats to attack Trump and/or to cover up their own misdeeds. This form of conspiratorial thinking goes back to their skepticism about Russia. “radical and systematic” interference in the 2016 elections.

While the Mueller Report Russian involvement was widely detailed, but it was never accepted by the right-wing American media and was discredited as a “Russian hoax.”

In the years since – and based on our observations of X today – Trump supporters have easily dismissed each new scandal involving Russia as another Russia hoax.

Democrats, meanwhile, have so far largely accepted the official narrative that Russia is responsible for the false bomb threats. However, they criticized Republicans who seemed to celebrate the closing of polling stations.

Disinformation in a post-truth environment

Elections, particularly those involving Donald Trump, are notorious for their elements of post-truth politics. It is the idea that what someone believes being true can carry more weight than objective facts.

An important aspect of the post-truth era is the erosion of social trust. We can see, in the examples below, different perspectives on Russian bomb threats:

These examples indicate that the official explanation from US authorities is not widely accepted. It therefore seems likely that whatever the outcome of the FBI’s investigation into the source(s), citizens will continue to be divided.

Our findings highlight a clear distrust of authority and official narratives – which is characteristic of post-truth politics.

How many people will question this year’s election process, assuming the role of foreign interference? And if societies can’t agree on issues that should be easily resolved, what about issues that aren’t so black and white?