"Perception hacks" This is how the election fraud myth is spread in the USA

If you want to shake confidence in the electoral system, you don't have to actually falsify votes. Prior to the US presidential election, experts say that perpetrators only needed to talk the public into a few things.

It is a scenario that worries the electoral authorities in the USA as much as it does the secret service and the government: technical and high-profile means could be used to create the impression that the election was rigged, even though it was not. Foreign or anti-democratic forces at home could try to throw the presidential election into a tailspin next week. For example, with a video showing someone allegedly hacking a voting machine or registration system.

Such actions are known as "perception hacks" because they primarily manipulate human perception by presenting supposed or harmless access as a danger. This can shape the electorate. Anyone who wants to undermine trust in democracy does not really have to manipulate votes. They just have to make enough voters aware that the result cannot be trusted.

Falsified footage

In some cases, minor information may indeed have been stolen from the voting system, say authorities and experts, but emphasize that this does not change the vote. However, it could help to make the testimony of videos with allegations of falsification appear legitimate.

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Similarly manipulative is fake footage that purports to show election workers destroying cast ballot papers. The aim is the same: to create confusion, mistrust and fear.

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"I think this will almost certainly happen," is the expectation of security expert Adam Darrah with regard to the effect of "perception hacks". It is much easier to use deception to convince people that voting systems are vulnerable than to actually hack the systems, explains the expert from the cyber security company ZeroFox and former CIA analyst.

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"It's a way of stirring up panic," says Darrah. Technically, the electoral system is very resilient, but the emotional resilience of the electorate is a completely different challenge.

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A close election result or delays in counting the votes could increase the risk of a significant group of voters being deceived. The consequences would be a further polarization of society and an increased risk of political violence.

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Last week, the US secret service issued a warning that Russia or Iran, for example, may be planning to instigate violent protests in the USA after the vote. Both countries have rejected speculation about possible interference in the US election. "We have never interfered, we do not interfere and we have no intention of interfering," the Russian embassy in Washington assured the AP news agency in an email.

Trump incites

Even without foreign influence, false accusations of manipulation pose a considerable danger. In the last election, Donald Trump's claim that victory had been stolen from him incited violent supporters to protest and even storm the Capitol on January 6, 2021. A mob forced its way into the parliament building, vandalized offices and cornered MPs. Five people lost their lives.

This time too, the Republican presidential candidate has already told his supporters at length that he can only lose the election if things are not right. "They're cheating," Trump said at a rally in Michigan last month. "That's the only way we can lose, because they cheat. They cheat like hell." A clear victory could be expected on Tuesday, a defeat would only be an option "if it was a corrupt election", Trump claimed.

Debunking disinformation

In the days immediately after the vote, hostile states or anti-democratic forces at home are most likely to try to stir up mistrust and incite people, says New York University law professor Paul Barrett. "They rejoice when Americans go for the throats of other Americans," he explains. "We saw that in 2021, and I'm very worried that we'll see a repeat of that."

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Meanwhile, the security and election authorities are doing everything they can to immediately debunk disinformation and quickly counter rumors. This was also the case with a video that went viral on social media last week, allegedly showing the destruction of absentee ballots in Pennsylvania. The video was quickly exposed as false, the authorities reacted immediately and plausibly explained to the electorate why it was a fake, says security expert Kim Wyman, former Secretary of State in Washington State.

"But the problem is - now it's out there," she concedes. "And we know that it will probably continue to circulate until inauguration day."

dpa