Fake Twitter accounts impersonating the Associated Press sowed disinformation online Wednesday by attempting to call election results prematurely, prompting national security officials to issue warnings about the behavior.
Screenshots of one of the accounts showed impostors appearing to call Michigan for Joe Biden. As of this write, the AP has not called Michigan for either candidate. CNN has called Michigan for Joe Biden.
CNN was unable to independently view the impersonator accounts before Twitter removed them from their platform.
AP spokesperson Patrick Maks told CNN, “These are bogus accounts not affiliated with AP.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it has witnessed multiple reports of social media accounts pretending to be legitimate news outlets calling election results, and that it had anticipated the tactic.
“Don’t fall for it!” tweeted CISA director Chris Krebs, linking to an agency guide telling voters that “malicious actors can use fake personas and impersonate real accounts.”
“Most media accounts on platforms will have a checkmark, so if they’re not verified, dig deeper!” Krebs said in a follow-up tweet.
The tweets mark Krebs’ first public warning of a specific threat affecting the current election.
The accounts in question "were in violation of our impersonation policy,” a Twitter spokesperson told CNN. "They are permanently suspended.”
Twitter said it has not witnessed any large-scale attempts to impersonate media outlets but that it will suspend any account that attempts to do so.