Election Alert: "Real" Disinformation

Last night, on 31 October 2024, Twitter account @Alphafox78 posted the below since-taken-down video of an alleged Haitian immigrant claiming to have voted multiple times with multiple identities in Fulton and Gwinnett counties in Georgia. Georgia Secretary of State Raffensberger, CISA, and Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub have all claimed the video is Russian disinformation.We took a look with Authentica and with some additional proprietary tools from @Chess Solutions. While the claims in the video might be false, the video appears to be real and not a deepfake. Here is why we think that…

For background: in the intro scene, a young man claiming to be a recent Haitian immigrant to the United States narrates the following:

“We are from Haiti. We came to America six months ago and we already have American citizenship. We’re voting Kamala Harris. Yesterday, we voted in Gwinnett county, and, today, we are voting in Fulton county.”

It then cuts to a scene showing multiple IDs with different names and addresses and the narrator continues:

“We have all our documents… driver’s license. We invite all Haitians to come to America and bring families.”

When we ran this through Authentica, here is what we found. The man in the original scene is likely a real human. We see real and consistent physiology.

Figure 1: The Chess Physiology plugin extracted a seemingly authentic pulsatile waveform across multiple locations on the body that was consistent across the varied color channels and locations.

Further, the speakers lip motion was consistent, coherent and had indicators of authentic speech; the lip acceleration was also consistent with human speech and congruent with normal speech patterns.

Figure 2 (left) and Figure 3 (right): The directionality (left) and coherence of lip motion acceleration (right) provided strong indicators that the video was authentic and real.

Moreover, with enhancement of the video, a laptop appears to be visible in the reflections of his eyes, possibly with another subject in the field of view. The motion of the camera and presence of the person in view is key, as that person is likely the recording mechanism due to it obfuscating the laptop’s camera at times and the fact that the video sways. Moreover, the laptop and behavior of the actor likely indicates that he is reading text from the screen in his testimony. It does not appear organic. These details suggest to us that this is likely a real actor reading from a prepared script.

Figure 4 (left): In several of the frames, images of reflections in the eye could be captured and enhanced. In several such images there appeared to be both a person (moving) and a laptop in the background. If the laptop were the source of recording, the video would not likely be moving. The moving video coupled with a laptop in the field of view and the behavior or the subject in frame indicated he was likely reading from a script while another person recorded footage.

Moreover, in analyzing the images of the identification flashed in the video, two names and addresses are presented. Raoul Sylvan with the address 2771 Cruse Rd, Lawrenceville, Georgia; and Jacques Benoit with the address 4029 Satellite Blvd, Duluth, Georgia. A quick search of Google Maps indicates that both of these locations are likely commercial addresses. Similarly these names and addresses do not appear on Georgia voter registration lists.

Figure 5 (left) and Figure 6 (right): Likely fake ID cards for onea Raoul Sylvan (left) a Jacques Benoit (right).

Lastly, we also note that the claims by Darren Linvill, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub are not something that we can independently validate or affirm. We note that the U.S. ODNI, State of Georgia, and DHS CISA have all made claims that this is indicative of Russian interference.

According to reporting provided to AFP Fact Check here, Linvill claimed the video had several small clues that indicate it was made by the Russian disinformation group Storm-1516, including the narrative focused on attacking election integrity, the use of a man appearing to be of West African heritage, whom he claimed were frequently recruited in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the distribution online. Linvill also claimed the @Alphafox78 account that first spread the video has laundered Storm-1516 disinformation in the past. Chess cannot independently confirm or refute those claims.

In Chess’s view, this is likely a real actor in a staged scenario. The fact that the identities are not present on voter registration lists, the presence of a person and laptop in the field of view are also strong indicators that this is rehearsed and staged for effect.

This is a strong reminder that your vote matters and people - be it the Russian’s or otherwise - will go to great lengths to influence it because it matters. Be skeptical of the content you see in the coming days, and if you want another set of eyeballs with explainable findings, ping us at Chess solutions below.