
China, Russia and Iran all sought to meddle in the 2022 U.S. elections, using covert manipulation operations and hidden online influence efforts to misinform and try to sway voters, according to a newly declassified intelligence community report.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence published the intelligence community’s assessment that China targeted Congress, Iran boosted leftist causes and candidates, and Russia sought to agitate conservatives ahead of the November 2022 elections. The moves marked an intensification of election meddling by America’s global adversaries.
Chinese government leaders repeatedly instructed officials to focus on Congress. State-linked hackers scanned more than 100 state and national party web domains, according to the partially redacted report released on Monday. U.S. analysts said they did not see signs that Beijing’s efforts tried to hack the election infrastructure itself.
“We assess that [Chinese] intelligence services, diplomats and online influence actors conducted activities to undermine or promote specific candidates from both major U.S. political parties,” the report said. The effort included “covertly denigrating a named U.S. senator online using inauthentic accounts,” according to the report.