President Donald Trump’s Republicans are defending their majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Voters will elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 senators and 36 state governors. The results will help determine how much congressional support Trump can count on during the final two years of his presidency.
Samuel Howard, an analyst at NewsGuard, an American company that assesses the credibility of news outlets, told Poland's PAP news agency that false narratives are concentrated in states with particularly close races, including Texas, Iowa and Michigan.
As of Thursday, NewsGuard had identified 30 false narratives circulating online, spread by supporters of both Republicans and Democrats.
Darren Linvill, a disinformation researcher at Clemson University, pointed to a campaign against James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Texas.
Political influencers falsely claimed that Talarico had suffered a nervous breakdown and secretly entered a psychiatric hospital. In fact, he had contracted influenza and temporarily suspended his campaign appearances.
His Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, amplified the allegations, as did participants in the online program hosted by Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist.
Similar tactics have appeared in Iowa, where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand was depicted alongside progressive politicians Ilhan Omar and Tim Walz in an image generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Campaigners have also used websites disguised as independent local news outlets to promote partisan messages.
Howard cited an advertisement attacking Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson that relied on information from Iowa Starting Line, a news-style website with financial ties to Democratic interests.
NewsGuard has identified 22 such websites launched this year, bringing the nationwide total to 1,181.
Artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly prominent role in campaign advertising.
According to a CNN analysis, candidates and affiliated groups spent more than USD 16 million between January and mid-September on television advertisements that disclosed the use of AI-generated or manipulated imagery.
Linvill said political operatives were also experimenting with networks of AI-powered automated accounts, or bots, to post comments under political content.
Foreign interference has been less intensive than during presidential election campaigns, he said, although Russian-linked operators have attempted to influence the midterms.
A Russian bot network called Matryoshka has circulated fabricated videos attacking Democratic candidates and artificially inflated their view counts. Linvill said the operation had attracted little genuine engagement.
Howard also cited a false claim spread by pro-Iranian social media accounts alleging the existence of recordings in which Trump pleaded with Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Linvill warned that even relatively limited disinformation campaigns could affect election results where margins are narrow.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP