Military musicians perform in Moscow's Red Square on Sept. 1, 2024. Researchers at Microsoft say Russia is pivoting its online influence operations to focus on Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, in the final stretch of the election. Stringer/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, speaks to reporters after the presidential debate with Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia. Matt Slocum/AP hide caption
Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice presidential nominee, speaks to reporters in front of the border wall with Mexico on Sept. 6 in San Diego. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
Political commentator and YouTuber Benny Johnson (left) speaks with Eric Trump, a son of former President Donald Trump, during the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Johnson made videos for Tenet Media. The Justice Department accused a company matching Tenet's description of working closely with employees of Russian state broadcaster RT to covertly spread pro-Russian narratives in the United States. Johnson says he was not aware of Tenet's ties to Russia. Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers remarks alongside Ukrainian officials at the Department of Justice in 2022 in Washington, D.C. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images hide caption
A photo illustration of the TikTok logo next to U.S. and China flags. Researchers have uncovered more accounts tied to a Chinese influence operation known as "Spamoflauge" which includes an account on TikTok with one video that managed to get 1.5 million views before being taken down. Ezra Acayan/Getty Images hide caption
A voter entering a polling place in Mountain Brooks, Ala., on Super Tuesday on March 5, 2024. Alabama is one of several states where GOP officials are launching fresh efforts to purge their voter rolls of noncitizens, even though there's little evidence noncitizens vote in significant numbers. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images hide caption
An AI-generated depiction of Donald Trump riding a lion. The image was first posted by a Trump supporter on X before Trump reposted the depiction on his Truth Social account. Trump has embracing reposting AI-generated images created by his supporters. NPR added the borders to the image to make clear the image was AI-generated. @TRUMP_ARMY/screenshot by NPR hide caption
The Meta logo at a trade fair in France earlier this year. The social media firm says it has disrupted more accounts tied to Iranian hackers who are targeting the U.S. presidential election. Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
AI image generated by Grok based on a prompt from NPR Connie Hanzhang Jin, Grace Widyatmadja and Huo Jingnan/NPR hide caption
The scene from a Kamala Harris and Tim Walz rally in Detroit on Aug. 7. Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed that another picture of the rally showing a large crowd was generated by artificial intelligence. Tamara Keith/NPR hide caption
A mother and her young son sit in the playroom of a house that offers temporary shelter for migrants in Queens, N.Y. They both crossed into the U.S. without authorization in the past year. Caroline Xia for NPR hide caption
Members of the U.S. Secret Service stand watch as Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee on Tuesday. The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and the abrupt withdrawal of President Biden from the race have added even more fuel to an active landscape of conspiracy theories about the 2024 campaign. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Law enforcement agents stand near the stage of a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump after a failed assassination attempt on Saturday in Butler, Pa. Conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric have surged since the shooting. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption
Russian state broadcaster RT broadcasting from near Red Square during the 2018 World Cup in Moscow. The Justice Department alleges an RT employee was behind an AI-powered effort to create fake social media profiles of Americans to spread Russian propaganda in the U.S. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images hide caption
Scarlett Lanzas, second from right, and other information navigators do an exercise in which they use orange string to symbolize how communities are interconnected, at a Nov. 8, 2023, orientation for a pilot project on combating bad information. Keyvan Antonio Heydari hide caption
Spanish speakers are an increasingly important segment of voters. New research examines their exposure to viral lies and conspiracy theories. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption
A right-wing legal and political campaign has disrupted the work of government agencies meant to safeguard voting and subjected researchers studying online harms to harassment and death threats. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A 2013 file photo of an Epoch Times newspaper box in New York City. The outlet was founded by adherents to the Falun Gong spiritual movement but it has morphed into a pro-Trump conservative news organization in recent years. Earlier this month, the organization's chief financial officer was arrested on federal money laundering charges. Mark Lennihan//AP Photo hide caption
Alex Stamos, the former director of the Stanford Internet Observatory, during congressional testimony in 2014. The research team Stamos led came under fire from Republicans, who alleged that their research amounted to censorship. Win McNamee/Getty Images hide caption
Russian navy recruits perform with the Russian flag in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 4 during a ceremony marking the departure of recruits to join the army. In a year filled with elections around the world, Russia has stepped up its overt and covert propaganda efforts with a goal of weakening international support for Ukraine and undermining democratic institutions. Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A file photo of Minister of Diaspora Affairs of Israel Amichai Chikli from May 2024. He was taking part in the Spanish far-right wing party Vox's rally "Europa Viva 24" in Madrid. The New York Times reported that Chikli's ministry funded a covert online influence campaign targeting U.S. lawmakers over the war in Gaza. Chikli denied those reports. Oscar del Pozo/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A reporter for The Epoch Times holds a microphone during a media event on Oct. 23, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. The Epoch Times is owned by Epoch Media Group and is affiliated with the Falun Gong movement. Sean Gallup/Getty Images hide caption