State Department’s Top Anti-Foreign Disinformation Official: Malicious Foreign Actors Seek to Undermine U.S. Democracy and Elections

The U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy for Countering Foreign Propaganda Disinformation, Leah Gabriel, was interviewed by Voice of America on Wednesday (Oct. 7). As the Nov. 3 U.S. elections approach, Gabrielle said malicious foreign actors are trying to undermine democratic values and elections by deliberately spreading misinformation.

One of the missions of the U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center is to counter foreign efforts to promote disinformation aimed at undermining and influencing U.S. policy.

Global Engagement Center envoy Leah Gabriel told VOA that it has come to the U.S. government’s attention that the Chinese social media, which are under the tight control of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department, are gloating after President Trump and the First Lady tested positive for the new coronavirus.

I think it’s also very important to recognize that the Chinese Communist Party has very tight control over those discussions, that the Chinese Communist Party censors the Chinese information sphere and the discussions on Chinese social media,” she said. So it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on in the minds of the Chinese people. Frankly, I think it’s beneficial to the Chinese people to be able to have an open discussion and not be locked up inside the Great Firewall of China.”

During the new coronavirus epidemic, the U.S. saw the Chinese Communist Party do its best to create confusion by employing Russian-style propaganda disinformation techniques, Gabriel said, and in addition to trying to convince people that the new coronavirus did not originate in China, other disinformation themes included the U.S. election and the protests that took place in Belarus.

“Of course, antagonists, malicious actors and competitors who use disinformation or the information space as a weapon tend to target elections, democratic values, democratic principles and democratic elections, and work hand in hand with malicious actors who seek to use disinformation and propaganda to undermine these processes.”

As we get closer to the U.S. elections, the U.S. envoy says what keeps her awake at night is the fear that social media, which was meant to provide a platform to connect with people around the world, is being manipulated by malicious actors trying to shape public opinion. It’s critical that people be on the lookout for disinformation and misinformation online.