The White House recently accused Russia’s state media of trying to influence the US presidential elections. The US had made the same allegation during the 2020 elections as well. Leaving aside how true or false the allegations are, it is true that many countries have been trying to influence the elections of others.
Many countries have been interfering in the elections of their neighbours or enemy countries. America has been at the top in this. Dov H Levin, author of a book ‘Meddling in the Ballot Box’, says that between 1946 and 2000, about 939 elections were held in the world. In this, America influenced the results of 81 foreign elections. Whereas Russia (then Soviet Union) tampered with 36 elections. That means, in total, America or Russia influenced the elections of 1 out of every 9 countries. At least this is what has been told in the book.
Everyone avoids direct interference
No country does foreign electoral intervention directly so that its image is not tarnished. It secretly influences the elections. This also happens in two ways. When foreign powers decide which party they want to support. In the second way, foreign powers put pressure on countries to conduct elections in a democratic way. Everything is done secretly so that the work is done and no clue is found.
What are the benefits of foreign electoral intervention
Although all countries avoid meddling in other countries’ matters, elections are a different issue. The foreign policy of the government that gets elected affects not only itself but also the neighbours and far off countries. What will it import from whom, what will it export, whom will it support or oppose, all these things depend on who is sitting at the centre. It is like having a friend at the power centre.
What happened between Russia and America this time
The US detected several internet domains operated from Russia which were doing the same thing. It also banned about 10 people from entering the US. According to a report by The Conversation, the US government also ordered the freezing of the assets of the people involved in the US.
Moscow-based media channels are also under scanner, which were allegedly paying US content creators to influence the elections. Russia is believed to be inclined towards Republican candidate Donald Trump.
How other countries kept manipulating elections
One of these is to take the help of local influencers. The US Department of Justice alleged that Russian TV paid $10 million to an American company to create social media content that is in the interest of Russia. That is, to create an environment in favor of a candidate who is friendly with Russia.
Fake news outlets are set up
America caught many internet domains which were spreading false information. They used to uncover the controversial things of a party and its candidates and create such a story that the readers believe it, or they do not cross check the information for a long time. The special thing is that such people give both real and false information so that people believe it.
Adding fuel to the fire is also a tried and tested method
This means highlighting an issue that is very important to voters. Russian media reportedly does a thorough investigation, and then increases the concerns of its target group with new information. For example, if there is an issue of migrants in a country, the interfering country will further highlight this issue so that the candidate who is against migrants gets votes.
Cyber disruption also caused dent
Under this, intelligence agencies hack important information related to elections through their hackers. After this, it becomes easy to break into it. After the security breach, a wrong press release can be issued, or the data can be tampered with.
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