Viral video alleging a group of Haitians voted illegally in Georgia is fake

A video shared widely on social media appears to show Haitian immigrants claiming they recently came to the U.S. and are voting for Kamala Harris in multiple Georgia counties.

In the video, a person says, “We are from Haiti. We came to America six months ago and we already have our American citizenship. We’re voting Kamala Harris. Yesterday we voted in Gwinnett County and today we’re voting in Fulton County. We have all our documents, drivers license. We invite all Haitians to come to America and bring families.”

THE QUESTION

Is a viral video alleging a group of Haitians voted illegally in Georgia real? 

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, the viral video alleging a group of Haitians voted illegally in Georgia isn’t real. The video is the product of a Russian troll farm.

WHAT WE FOUND

The video is “obviously fake and part of a disinformation effort” orchestrated by Russia troll farms in an attempt to sow discord in the 2024 presidential election, Georgia state and federal cybersecurity officials confirmed. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger issued a statement on Oct. 31, calling the video “an example of targeted disinformation we’ve seen in this and other elections.” Raffensberger said it was likely produced by Russian operatives to “sow discord and chaos on the eve of the 2024 presidential election.” 

On Nov. 1, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed that Russian influence actors, commonly known as trolls, manufactured the video. 

“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans,” the agencies said in a joint statement. “In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the [Intelligence Community] expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.” 

Darren Linvill, professor and cofounder of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Lab, noted the video has all the hallmarks of a Russian interference campaign led by a group known as Storm-1516. Linvill said the narrative focus, style, video production and method of distribution are all Storm-1516 trademarks.

These videos feature narrators of different nationalities, speaking in a first-person style, and are designed to spark an emotional reaction leading up to the Nov. 5 general election. They tend to go viral on X before spreading to other social media platforms.

According to Microsoft, which tracks cybersecurity threats, Storm-1516 “consistently launders narratives through videos seeding scandalous claims from fake journalists and nonexistent whistleblowers and amplifying that disinformation via inauthentic news sites.”

Linvill told VERIFY his team at Clemson University has found more than 50 disinformation narratives attributable to Storm-1516. He said the narratives are created to target specific groups of people and there is no sign the disinformation campaign is nearing an end.

The National Intelligence Council, which reports to the ODNI, warned that foreign bad actors are prepared to “exploit opportunities to exert influence in the U.S. general election … We expect these actors to at least conduct information operations denigrating U.S. democracy through Inauguration Day.”