Source guide

FBI Information Report on an Allegation of Chinese Production of Fraudulent U.S. Driver’s Licenses for Mail-In Voting

A 25 September 2020 FBI Information Intelligence Report relays an indirect-source allegation about fraudulent licenses and mail-in votes while prominently labeling the report unevaluated and noting a factual gap in the alleged TikTok-data method.

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01

Raw, unevaluated reporting

The FBI labeled the document an information report rather than finally evaluated intelligence and said it had not been fully evaluated, integrated, interpreted, or analyzed. It directed receiving agencies not to act on the raw reporting without prior FBI coordination.

“This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence.”
FBI warning
Source: page 3 ↗
“It is being shared for informational purposes but has not been fully evaluated, integrated with other information, interpreted or analyzed.”
FBI warning
Source: page 3 ↗
02

Indirect and uncorroborated source chain

The FBI described the source as collaborative with indirect access; the source obtained the information from an identified sub-source who claimed to have received it from unidentified PRC officials. The report states that none of the source’s reporting had been corroborated and that the source had been reporting for less than one year.

“A collaborative source with indirect access, none of whose reporting has been corroborated for less than one year.”
Source description
Source: page 3 ↗
“The source obtained the information from an identified sub-source, who claimed they obtained the information from unidentified PRC government officials.”
Source-chain description
Source: page 3 ↗
03

Core allegation

The source alleged that the Chinese government had produced and exported many fraudulent U.S. driver’s licenses so Chinese students and immigrants sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party could cast tens of thousands of votes for Joe Biden despite being ineligible. This was an allegation in raw reporting, not an FBI finding.

“The fraudulent drivers licenses would allow tens of thousands of Chinese students and immigrants sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party to vote for US Presidential Candidate USPER Joe ((Biden))”
Source allegation
Source: page 3 ↗
04

Alleged data method and FBI caveat

The source further alleged that private TikTok-account data, including names, IDs, and addresses, would supply real U.S. identities for the licenses. The FBI noted that address was not a valid TikTok-account field and that the report did not explain how China would obtain U.S. address data from the application.

“China had collected private US user data from millions of TikTok accounts, to include name, ID and address”
Source allegation
Source: page 4 ↗
“A persons address information was not a valid field when creating a TikTok account. It was unspecified how China would attain US address data from the application.”
FBI comment
Source: page 4 ↗