Russia, China and Iran ran 2022 midterm election interference, Kremlin targeted Hispanic American voters

Russia, China and Iran all made attempt to interfere in the 2022 midterm elections using online influence efforts and misinformation techniques to manipulate voters, according to a newly declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

“We share our assessment and the accompanying material to help inform the American public about foreign influence efforts, including attempts by foreign actors to induce friction and undermine confidence in the electoral process that underpins our democracy,” said Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines in a statement released by the ODNI.

“As global barriers to entry lower and accessibility rises, such influence efforts remain a continuing challenge for our country, and an informed understanding of the problem can serve as one defense.”

One of the more interesting revelations from the new report in contrast to the Mueller investigation that focused on Kremlin election interference operations during the 2016 presidential election was the fact that Moscow targeted Hispanic American voters.

“A Russian government-linked [redacted] developed plans to encourage U.S. divisions and erode U.S. public support for aid to Ukraine by targeting white, Latino, lower- and middle-class Americans, supporters of so-called ‘traditional family values,’ and citizens who purportedly felt disadvantaged by the administration’s policies and restricted by social media censorship, [redacted],” the report reads.

One Latin American country also engaged in election interference.

Cuba launched operations that “sought to identify and establish relationships with members of the U.S. media who held critical views of members of Congress.” 

Back across the Atlantic, Russian operatives also made attempts influence audiences on the antiwar left with messages arguing that supporting Ukraine could result in a cataclysmic war with Russia.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released the assessment, which suggests that while Russia targeted conservatives, Iran pushed leftist causes and China targeted Congress.

The revelations about China line up with earlier discoveries by U.S. intelligence that Chinese Communist Party leaders have focused on Congressional officials.

Monday’s report however, said the PRC’s government have reportedly scanned more than 100 state and national party web domains.

In contrast to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings in 2019 about Russia, the ODNI said they did not find evidence that Beijing’s attempted to hack the actual election infrastructure system.

“We assess that [Chinese] intelligence services, diplomats and online influence actors conducted activities to undermine or promote specific candidates from both major U.S. political parties,” the report said. The effort included “covertly denigrating a named U.S. senator online using inauthentic accounts,” according to the report.

According to the report, China did not support the Democratic or Republican Party after its assessments concluded both major political parties are going to be hostile to its communist leadership.

China’s conclusion was the opposite of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which concluded Democratic candidates would be more Tehran friendly.

Iranian operatives created fake profiles online and “generally supported left-leaning U.S. politicians, including a range of House and Senate candidates.”

To blend in with real liberal actors online, the fake Iranian actors expressed pro-Palestinian positions, the report says.

“In mid-2022, Iranian [redacted] considered distributing propaganda, developing and employing ‘troll teams’ on social media platforms, and establishing front news agencies to interact with undisclosed media outlets in the United States,” the report said.

Iran also launched clandestine operations beyond the virtual world.

“We detected some activity by Iranian [redacted] government officials to try to shape U.S. policy toward Iran and collect sensitive information, some of which was election-related,” the report said.

On the other side of the American political spectrum, Moscow targeted certain groups in hopes of stirring up controversy with the left, targeting mostly men who were older than 40-years old with the intent of creating animosity about Ukraine.  

The ODNI report said that while the foreign hacking efforts were not consistent, the U.S. is gearing up for potential interference in the 2024 election cycle.

The report was released as part of a joint declassified report by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security that evaluated the impact of foreign interference efforts on the U.S. election infrastructure per Executive Order 13848.