Causes.com
| 5.29.24
Election Interference & Disinformation: Concerns and Solutions
Are you concerned about election interference this year?
Election Interference
Defining the problem
- Election interference occurs when one entity, typically the government of a foreign nation, attempts to disrupt or influence the election process of another country. Interference can distort the public's priorities and the freedoms promised in democracy.
Spotlighting examples
- The world has a dense history of election interference, but it became a hotly debated topic during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Russian government interfered in the election to advance Donald Trump in hopes that this would make the U.S. less likely to intervene with Russia's aggressive tendencies in foreign policy.
- Leading up to the election, Russian agents used fake social media groups and pages, mainly a troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA), to promote Trump, demonize his opponents, and disseminate false information and news. The IRA's actions increased political polarization throughout the U.S., which impacted voter turnout and increased intimidation at the polls.
- The full impact of Russia's interference is still unknown. The Senate's investigation in 2019 concluded:
"This campaign sought to polarize Americans on the basis of societal, ideological, and racial differences, provoked real world events, and was part of a foreign government's covert support of Russia's favored candidate in the U.S. presidential election."
Recent concerns
- Election interference is still a concern today, especially after members of the GOP claimed that President Biden's win in the 2020 election was fraudulent. The National Intelligence Council's investigation of the 2020 election found that Russian state-sanctioned agents once again attempted to influence the election to benefit Trump. Simultaneously, Iranian actors were extending efforts to harm Trump's campaign.
- After the election was called, Donald Trump and co-conspirators attempted to undermine the result of the 2020 election by spreading false information about election fraud and pressuring lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to keep Trump in power. This ultimately led to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In 2023, the Department of Justice charged Trump with four crimes related to 2020 election interference.
- The debate continues over how prepared the U.S. is to counter future election interference threats, mainly considering the government's deterrence efforts and ability to safeguard freedoms of speech and expression. Additionally, many have shared concerns over emerging technologies that can facilitate hacking and mis- and disinformation campaigns.
Election disinformation
Defining the problem
- Disinformation is false content and messaging deliberately disseminated to produce a harmful outcome.
- The spread of disinformation—not to be confused with misinformation, which is spread without harmful intent—has been on the rise in the era of social media, political polarization, and AI-generated material.
- From false information on when, how, and where to vote to incorrect facts regarding political candidates, election disinformation is a danger to American democracy. It has been used to harm election officials and disenfranchised voters, has affected civic participation, and goes hand-in-hand with election interference.
Spotlighting examples
- Inaccurate information regarding voter fraud and election integrity started rising during the 2020 election, and continues to spread.
- Although election fraud is incredibly rare, conspiracy theories about rigged voting machines, fraudulent votes, and more have aided disinformation campaigns on social media, leading to widespread voter confusion.
- While many social media companies created comprehensive practices to combat misinformation and disinformation on their platforms after the 2016 election, efforts have been dwindling. Companies have found that they cannot advance their moderation tools quickly enough to combat AI's leading role in issues.
Recent concerns
- A Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll from 2023 found that 83% of American adults believe the spread of false and inaccurate information is a "major problem" in the U.S. This belief remains high among various demographic groups.
- The same poll found that 31% of voters feel uncertain about the accuracy of information they see on the presidential election "all or most of the time."
- Experts have stressed how social media fosters the perfect environment for disinformation to thrive as the online realm becomes increasingly polarized and combative.
- Analysts from the Brennan Center noted five factors that may make the 2024 election disinformation cycle markedly worse than 2020: deterrence of key institutions and agencies from addressing falsehoods about the election process; domestic agents coordinating their efforts to undermine American elections; social media platforms reducing efforts to moderate false election content; geopolitical crises highlighting interests of Russia, China, and Iran; and recent advances in AI that can boost false information like never seen before.
Solutions to keep yourself (and your vote) safe
- As we inch closer to election day, it's important to start building your toolkit to determine whether what you're seeing, reading, and engaging with is accurate.
- The first step is to use reliable sources for your news and election information. Credible sources to fact-check information on your social media feeds include PolitiFact, AP Fact Check, and The Washington Post's Fact Checker.
- If a publication seems illegitimate, follow ProPublica's three guiding questions — Does it have an about us page? Does it have a mailing address at the bottom? Does it have a Wikipedia page? If the answer to these questions is no, odds are your source is not credible.
- When in doubt, be sure to check your Secretary of State's page to get trustworthy information on how your election is being conducted.
Are you concerned about election interference this year?
-Jamie Epstein
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I find it interesting that "we" are the ones charged with protecting ourselves from misinformation.
Most people in this country are busy trying to put food on the table & keep a roof over their head. They don't have time to sift through the steaming piles of sh*t to find the fact checked nuggets of truth.
News outlets have a responsibility to report facts. Not spin and definitely not outright lies!
We've had 3 1/2 years since the last election. Congress, what have you done to ensure:
-the American public's news sources report facts?
-no election interference from hostile foreign agents?
-misinformation & lies are swiftly & publicly corrected?
- news outlets that engage in knowingly spreading misinformation & lies are dismantled/stopped/held accountable ?
Tick, tick, tick!
I find that the republicans are professionals at misinformation, voter fraud and suppressing the vote !!!!!!
Corporate America is backing republicans to be able to fleece America and avoid taxes, support their greed and cause the collapse of capitalism and democracy.
ThanYou got military weapons that rely on GPS that can be jam and become useless, Russia war in Ukraine is now showing that!
You got republicans and Trump rooting for the failure of America, why?
I'm concerned that stupid people will believe stupid things without any sort of effort on their part to verify what they're being told.
The problem is not what Trumpists say it is. There has never been much in the way of election fraud. In fact, republicans have been the ones who have been charged most with voter fraud I've read about. The others who have been aggressively prosecuted have been people who voted because they did not understand just how long felony disenfranchisement can last!
What is a much bigger problem are republican politicians who have changed the laws concerning voting to make it much harder for minorities to vote!
Another example of republican craziness is making it illegal to provide food or water to voters in line for more than 4 hours often in direct sun!
I wonder about the humanity of republican politicians...
Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday declined to meet with Democratic senators to discuss Supreme Court ethics issues in the wake of reports that controversial flags were flown at Justice Samuel Alito's houses.
In a letter to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Roberts said he "must respectfully decline your request for a meeting," citing concerns about maintaining judicial independence
Does he even understand the meaning of Judicial Independence?
shame on Roberts
shame on all of the 6 upside down justices
Yes, I am concerned but on this day I am beyond elated that the Orange Menace scumbag has finally been held accountable to some degree. May this be the first domino...
Just look at what happened last time and what has been said about the bloodshed that has been promised to the oppositions. Sore losers that cannot accept defeat resort to lies, deceit, rumors, brashness, bullying, and the fear to cast the reasoning behind the loss to be anything other than what it was, a loss. WE have a bull with a bullhorn that continues to toot his own horn to everybody who needs a cause to thwart society into irrational change.
A Presidential campaign says much about the character of the person and the people supporting that person. It is not about a personal win for a person on one side or another. How do we want to see the future of our country? As a global leader, a democracy, dictatorship, fearfully submitting to a leader who instills fear in their opposition or one who values citizenship above all. (We stopped teaching this in our public schools so no one is trained in the decency and honor in citizenship in America, except those trying to become citizens.)
America has lost its way. We have issues to resolves, one being how we resolve issues. A house divided cannot stand and we are a nation divided into multiple factions. The average America receives daily oppressive bullying, negativity, anger, slandering, selfishness, and sensationalism. We are under constant derogatory and non-professionalism by our leaders in, or wanting in, a governmental position. Respect for all is severely lacking and fueling the anger, hate and violence in all aspects of our country, society, communities and homes.
Our country does need change but by young, vibrant, intelligent, compassionate, honorable and honest leader(s) that do not have a personal agenda for personal gain. A group that inspires all citizens to come together as a united country. We do have some but not enough on the same page to tame a bully.
If you don't still get chills when you see the American flag furling in the wind or hear your heartbeat when you sing the National anthem then maybe you should consider taking your apathy or dissension to another country.
Now after all that how many positive attributtes does our country inspire or unite us all? How will those be impacted by the election results?
The republicans fixed the 2016 election. And now the crooked Supreme Court said that it's ok to do that because they are republicans and can get away with it.
In Red states where the GOP has claimed the right to override the popular vote and send whatever electors the legislature wants to Washington, neither votes nor donations will help. A vote that is 90% for the democrats could still result in a Republican win by cheating. Joe has my vote. Republican is the party of insurrection, and I will not vote for any Republican because of that, but I still fear for the result of this election. Gerrymandering, voter supression, misinformation, and legislative fraud are the more difficult kinds of cheating to counteract. Vots alone might not be enough, if they just ignore the votes!
This needs to be reighed in.
I'm very concerned about the election interference and it's outcome.
Interestingly, the individuals who speak the loudest about the invalidity of the last presidential election are the same ones who have actively interfered with a fair election process. Our election system needs a comprehensive overhaul, but we must take a nonpartisan approach. This task is beyond the capabilities of our current politicians.
If we were to eliminate the Electoral College, we could eliminate the idea of states being labeled "red" or "blue." When each person's vote counts in the election process, the political leaning of the area becomes less significant. Currently, if you live in an area dominated by one party, some people don't vote because their vote feels insignificant. Additionally, we could make voting more accessible by allowing every citizen to vote by mail, making election day a national holiday, and enabling people to vote in person for at least three days before the election. Our primary focus should be making voting easier while ensuring the process's security.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/politics/video/andrew-mccabe-response-steve-bannon-trump-ac360-digvid?cid=ios_app
From the horses mouth - draw your own conclusions
make the wrong choice and america ceases to exist
as it is the US has no standing in the world community as it once enjoyed thanks to a progressive erosion of institutions
Donald Trump and republicans fixed the 2016 election and tried to 2020 election now trying to fixed 2024. He's running for one reason to stay out of jail.
The US is not only at a major crossroads at home but also in the world which requires a seasoned professional to lead it through this intense minefield - not a bozo and idiots who waste 99% of their time destroying their own country!
a) scotus imbalance
b) economic reshoring
c) checking wanton corporate gouging and consumer protection
d) womens rights
e) taiwan and south china sea - the only language the chinese understand is economic barriers - let them sell their goods to russia, north korea & iran / lets see if they are going to earn them a dime of profit?
f) ukraine
g) vietnam red carpet for putin - apparently they have not understood that the US has alternatives to their shrimp, catfish, furniture & garments!
h) israel - time to cut lose tail wagging the dog and force a 2 state solution with UN approved borders
the list is long
if we miss this crossing we wipe out at least 2 centuries of progress!
I am extremely worried about the Mega crowd excepting a loss at the polls! I am very concerned as the former president continues to spread misinformation about the 2020 election, and is already telling the Mega crowd that this election will be rigged!
The former president's lawyers went to court over and over in state after state and had NO evidence that stoud up in court!
I am very concerned that my Minnesota First district Republican Brad Finstad with buy into this misinformation propaganda again!
Rep Finstad has failed in so many ways in this term, from failing to support Ukraine, and failing to support a bipartisan bill to greatly improve security at the boarder!
Now Brad want bipartisan support for his farm bill that again gives huge tax breaks to the top one percent of Farmers!
To the ceo's of america, members of republican congress, evangelicals...
will you hire trump in any capacity in your organization or institution?
will you want your children to emulate trump as a role model?
will you trust leaving your daughters st mar-a-lago?
if any of your answers are yes - go ahead vote for him & support / fund him!
The crooked Supreme Court needs to go they are political it should be about laws not politics. Please got rid of this court they are corrupt.
Corporations bit the hand that feed them and it's not the Republican. Under the Democratic president the economy grew on the average over 4.2% while under republicans president its around 2.4%. The only business the republicans support are guns sellers, mega churches, corrupt defense contractors and giant monopolies, which none are good for America!
Disinformation broadcasts by 185 local news stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group which in turn is owned by owned by right-wing businessman David D. Smith running a conservative propaganda campaign on Biden's age neglecting to mention Trump is just 3 years younger and has far more speech problems, only citing anonymous (6 people in a meeting) or contradictory (McCarthy) sources.
People rely on local news for accurate weather, sports and local news. I use them frequently as they often interview more local people involving people in an event or incident than national or international news services.
"Sinclair Broadcast Group owns or operates 185 local television stations across the country, and dozens of their stations aired a segment from national correspondent Matthew Galka citing a Wall Street Journalarticle that makes dubious attacks on Biden’s age and mental awareness. The stations that aired the segment introduced it using startlingly similar, if not identical language, the Popular Information and Public Notice newsletters reported."
" It’s not the first time Sinclair, owned by right-wing businessman David D. Smith, has appeared to be running a conservative propaganda campaign. Infamously in 2018, dozens of the company’s TV stations were caught airing an identical editorial about the dangers of biased and false news. This time around, the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, as well as Murdoch’s cable news stations Fox News and Fox Business, have gotten in on the act."
" Smith himself has long been a donor to Republican causes through his family foundation, which counts right-wing nonprofits Young Americans for Liberty, Project Veritas, Turning Point USA, and Moms for Liberty among its recipients. In 2016, the Donald Trump campaign cut a deal with Sinclair that exchanged extensive access to Trump in return for positive coverage without fact-checking. That same year, Smith met with Trump and reportedly told him, “We are here to deliver your message.”
"The Wall Street Journal piece was panned by independent media critics. CNN's Oliver Darcy said the Wall Street Journal piece had "glaring problems." In Poynter, Tom Jones wrote that it was not a "fairly reported story" because it relied exclusively on "quotes and opinions from those who don’t want to see Biden elected to a second term."
" McCarthy told the Wall Street Journal about Biden is directly contradicted by comments that McCarthy said previously — both publicly and privately."
" McCarthy criticizes Biden's performance in debt ceiling negotiations in 2023. But in March 2023, while these negotiations were underway, the New York Times reported that "McCarthy has told allies that he has found Mr. Biden to be mentally sharp in meetings." McCarthy made similar comments about Biden in public, praising Biden as "[v]ery professional, very smart" and "[v]ery tough at the same time." In October, when McCarthy was ousted as House Speaker, Politico reported that McCarthy "mocked Biden’s age and mental acuity in public, while privately telling allies that he found the president sharp and substantive in their conversations."
" The rest of the piece is based on anonymous Republican criticism of Biden. For example, "according to six people," during a meeting with current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Biden "said a recent policy change by his administration that jeopardizes some big energy projects was just a study." But the new policy, which involved a pause on new liquified natural gas terminals, involved a study of "the impacts of LNG exports on energy costs, America’s energy security, and our environment."
" Nevertheless, the Wall Street Journal piece was repackaged by Sinclair Broadcast Group and beamed into the homes of millions of Americans. Sinclair, which is controlled by right-wing media mogul David Smith, owns or operates 185 local television stations across 86 markets."
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/sinclair-biden-slipping-wall-street-journal-hit
https://newrepublic.com/post/182567/sinclair-right-wing-script-biden-age-local-news
a simple validate every vote would be ideal.
Most of the misinformation is push by corporations supporting Trump tax cuts and wanting more, Trump and the chamber of commerce canbe bought! The is so much corruption in corporate America it's ridiculous!
I am extremely concerned about election interference, and the state of our nation’s esteem as a result. I am a long-time user and contributor on the NEWSBREAK APP..over the last year, I have seen an influx of bot accounts spreading extreme hate. They do not support Biden, they do not discuss ideas, they spew hatred and wish death upon those who support Trump or, even inquire why Biden is the right choice. These accounts are easily spotted because of their patterns of, anger, irrelevant comments (propaganda) that have no connection to the article they are commenting under, grammatical errors of a five-year-old (random capital letters, tRump, Magatards, etc), and their refusal to answer simple questions. These accounts become abusive when asked for understanding or clarity. These bots appear to be using the names of dead people, and an area of the US close to where the descendant once lived, to list on their accounts to appear legit. Upon further investigation, I learned that NewsBreak’s majority owner is China. It's extremely important to stop this election interference, but at the least SPREAD THE WORD about it. Third parties (possibly, our adversaries) are successfully creating an illusion of division amongst Americans; it’s the recipe for “divide and conquer.” NewsBreak has been my favorite app for about six years now...the realization of its compromise has not happened overnight, and not without a bit of denial. But, when you use an app for years you start noticing such drastically different user trends. Ex: any headline mentioning Trump, or anyone connected to him, will be instantly flooded with thousands of comments stating how horrible Trump and his supporters are. But, an article with Biden (Hunter or Joe) in the headline will only have a few hundred comments- and they generally reflect the topic at hand, and give solid opinions. If people don’t support him, they are stating why. The math and majority aren’t adding up. These appear as hate bots/bought by China and although I can’t prove it....I would bet my life on it. Also, the NewsBreak App is pre-downloaded on the Androids being given to “NewComers.” They have been given every incentive to do the same thing, in the same manner.
Yes concerns about the lies the republicans tell they are not for laws. They want a dictator not a president vote them out now before it's too late.
The Alitos and Roberts discuss politically sensitive topics in secret recordings by liberal activist
still doubt the alt right agenda? At the very least impeach thomas - alito and investigate kavanaugh NOW
shame on congress
shame on scotus
Please stop election interference. It is the basis of our constitutional republic. We all know that the elections of the past 120 years have been tampered with. 2020 was the worst of them all. Save our nation please.