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When the Ministry of Justice revealed criminal charges detailing the efforts of a Russian troll farm for several years to "sow division and discord in the American political system", this was the first federal case alleging foreign interference in US elections.
Earlier Friday, US intelligence released a rare public statement claiming that Russia, China, Iran and other countries were continuing their efforts to influence US politics and voters in future elections.
The declaration did not provide details on these efforts. This contrasted with the criminal charges, which provided a detailed account of Russian activities. Russian activities have also been described in previous criminal cases.
Here is an overview of what is known about foreign efforts to interfere in the US elections:
What are the United States worried about?
The United States has many concerns. the handling of ballot papers, piracy campaigns, open and secret attempts to convince voters.
Friday's announcement did not suggest that election campaigns or systems were compromised. Instead, he focused on foreign campaigns aimed at undermining trust in democratic institutions.
The criminal charges explained how a Russian troll farm had created thousands of fake social media profiles and email accounts that appeared to come from people living in the United States. While social media companies are striving to fight fake accounts and false news before the next election, human rights advocates worry that this is not enough to fight against the news. foreign interference.
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IS RUSSIA MEDIUM AT THE AMERICAN ELECTIONS?
The criminal complaint made it clear that there remained a hidden but powerful effort in Russian social media aimed at sowing mistrust of US political candidates and creating divisions on social issues such as immigration and control firearms.
Prosecutors said that a Russian woman, Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, was working for the same social media trolls farm indicted earlier this year by special advocate Robert Mueller, whose office investigated the case. Russian interference in the election of 2016. The case largely resumed that which was brought by the office of the special council against three Russian companies, including Internet Research Agency, and 13 Russians, including a close ally of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The court documents describe how agents in Friday's case will analyze US newspaper articles and decide how they will write their posts on social media.
They also show that Russian trolls have intensified their efforts by better understanding the US political climate and broadcasting messages that are no longer spotted.
In 2016, Russian trolls were trying to help elect Republican Donald Trump and undermine the Democratic Hillary Clinton campaign, while sowing discord in America.
The latest accusations show that Russia continues to focus on the latter instead of helping a particular candidate. The case pointed out how agents often sent messages with diverging views on the same problem from different accounts.
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WHAT IS IT OF IRAN?
The Trump administration has accused Iran of all sorts of mistakes, including sponsoring terrorism and threatening the Middle East.
But he has not published any evidence to support the claim that Iran is trying to overthrow the US elections.
The United States has already accused Iranians of cyberattacks that do not appear to be related to politics.
In March, the Justice Ministry announced that nine Iranians had waged a cyber attack for years to steal secrets from American corporations, universities and the government. Prosecutors said the pirates had worked at the request of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps sponsored by the Iranian government.
Employees from the Ministry of Labor, the Federal Regulatory Commission, and the states of Indiana and Hawaii were among the targets.
The case comes about two years after the Justice Ministry indicted seven Iranian pirates for attacking dozens of banks and a small dam near New York.
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WHAT IS THE THREAT OF CHINA?
Earlier this month, Vice President Mike Pence said that Russia's attempts at influence were minimal compared to the secret and overt activities taken by China to interfere in the upcoming elections to midterm. He accused China of trying to counter the severe trade policies of the administration against Beijing.
While many details of Russia's secret actions have been revealed, the charges against China are mostly about open activities such as advertising supplements and targeted tariffs. Unlike the charges against Russia, no details about China's secret activities have been revealed.
The vice president said that a multi-page advertising supplement had been inserted several weeks ago in the Des Moines registry in Iowa, this year's pivotal state of elections and the I & # 39; The presidential election of 2020. The supplement "designed to look like newspaper articles makes our trade policies irresponsible and harmful to Iowans," said Pence.
He also said China reacted to Trump's tough trade policies with tariffs that would inflict as much political damage as possible.
Tensions between the United States and China have been high because of trade disputes and Trump frequently criticizes China.
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DOES FOREIGN THREATS HAVE AN IMPACT?
It remains vague.
Intelligence officials pointed out that Americans should take steps to check the information they read on social media and called on technology companies to strengthen their protections.
National security agencies have indicated that they have no evidence that electoral systems have been disrupted or compromised, which could change the vote count or affect the ability to count votes mid-way through two weeks from now. and a half.
"Some state and local governments have reported attempts to access their networks, which often include online registration databases, using tactics available to cyber-actors, whether or not they are governmental, "they said.
But until now, they said, state officials and local authorities have been able to prevent access or quickly mitigate these attempts.
