Opinion: Inevitable surge of election disinformation swamps voters. Don't fall for it.

The videos have been viewed millions of times on X, that stinkhole of disinformation previously known as Twitter, and are still posted there despite being debunked as a hoax of foreign origin attempting to influence our election with lies.

A man dishonestly assumes the identity of a former high school student from Minnesota and lobs false claims about sexual abuse by that state's governor, Tim Walz, a former teacher and now the Democratic nominee for vice president.

Who would do this? And why? Our elections past is prologue when it comes to disinformation.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) recently assessed that "Russian influence actors manufactured and amplified inauthentic content claiming illegal activity" by Walz "consistent with the influence efforts and tactics" the Russians have used during this election.

The Washington Post tracked down the former student being impersonated in the video, who said that it was not him and that Walz had not been his teacher.

Elon Musk, the multibillionaire trying to buy Donald Trump's way back into the White House, owns X and has become a pernicious amplifier of election disinformation himself. No wonder he left the video out there for all to see.

American voters need to do two critical and patriotic things in the next nine days ? vote for whichever candidate for president you support, and dodge the looming storm of disinformation. Here's an optional third assignment ? ask yourself why this type of disinformation more often than not leans so hard toward helping Trump win.

'Amplification of most of these can be tracked back to Elon Musk'

This kind of nonsense comes in all sizes. The fake video about Walz drew plenty of national attention, but disinformation is also aimed at the local level.

A post on X Thursday from an account dedicated to disinformation claimed to include a video of mail ballots cast for Trump being destroyed in Bucks County, a key-swing county in Pennsylvania where Vice President Kamala Harris drummed up support from Republican cross-over voters 11 days ago.

Law enforcement, from the local district attorney to the FBI, got involved as the video racked up more than half a million views online before it was deleted.

This, too, was a fake, a hoax deliberately posted to stir division. The Bucks County Board of Elections issued a bipartisan statement Thursday that condemned "this purposeful spreading of dangerous disinformation."

The ODNI on Friday pronounced the fake video the work of "Russian actors" in a continuing "broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the US election and stoke divisions among Americans."

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David Becker, a former Department of Justice lawyer who founded The Center for Election Innovation and Research, told me that disinformation this year looks like "a replay of the greatest hits of 2022 and 2020."

Those elections featured plenty of false claims about destroyed and fake ballots, voting by dead people and noncitizens, and so on.

"The amplification of most of these can be tracked back to Elon Musk and the accounts on Twitter that he follows, well known disinformation accounts, most of them parroting points that we know have been spread by Russia and China and Iran," Becker said.

The Wall Street Journal just reported that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin for nearly two years. My standard rule on coincidences in politics has long been this ? I just don't believe in them.

Election disinformation has been ramping up since 2016

Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center warned on Wednesday of "sustained influence efforts by Russia, Iran, and China aimed at undermining U.S. democratic processes." The Russians seem keen to harm Harris' campaign, Microsoft said. The Iranians, on a smaller scale, are targeting Trump.

A website for a state office in Georgia that deals with absentee ballots was the target of an unsuccessful cyberattack, likely from overseas, that slowed the system earlier this month but did not impact any voters or ballots.

The ODNI on Oct. 16 declassified a memo about foreign threats to our elections that predicted China, Iran and Russia will keep up the disinformation and cyberattacks after the polls close on Nov. 5 to sow division and confusion, and "are probably willing to at least consider tactics that could foment or contribute to violent protests."

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It's entirely predictable that America's enemies would try to influence and undermine a tight election for president. We've seen that before in the 2016 election.

And Russia's state media was exposed last month for flowing rubles into the revenue streams of three high-profile, right-wing agitators/influencers who then claimed they didn't know they were being funded with foreign money. It's just a coincidence, I guess, that their opinions lined up with what the Russian government wanted to hear. What's that rule on coincidences?

We all, in different ways, are the potential audience for this kind of disinformation. Recent polling shows varied views on the election and what comes after, based on political party. That looks like an opening for those bad actors to exploit.

We have to stay focused through Election Day

A USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll last week found a very narrow race between Harris and Trump, with them essentially tied. It also found voters are mostly confident in the election processes and the people who run them. But there were clear divisions when I dug into the numbers.

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Of the 1,000 likely voters surveyed, 75% said they'll accept the outcome if the candidate they support does not win. Nearly 90% of the Democrats in the survey said that, while almost 70% of the Republicans agreed.

A similar number said they were very or somewhat confident the election result will be accurately counted: 93% of the Democrats felt that way, and 63% of Republicans agreed.

The confidence inverts by party when voters were asked about a peaceful transition of power and the possibility of political violence: 59% of Democrats expect a peaceful transition while 86% are concerned about violence. For Republicans, 76% expect a peaceful transition while 49% worried about violence.

No matter how you vote ? Republican, Democrat, independent, etc. ? know that foreign governments who view America as the enemy are now trying to influence you and will still be at it after Election Day. Check your sources. Get your information directly from the state and local election officials who still hold, and deserve, your trust.

Avoid the vibe. Don't accept and amplify claims you see on the internet just because they feel right to you. That's the hook for disinformation. Don't swallow it.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Chris Brennan on X, formerly known as Twitter: @ByChrisBrennan

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Musk amplifies election disinformation on X. You can avoid it