Social media corporations together with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok should act now to blunt the impact of false data – together with Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” that his 2020 defeat was the results of fraud – on this yr’s US midterm congressional elections, rights teams mentioned on Thursday.
Social media platforms backed away from insurance policies designed to combat election disinformation after the 2020 presidential race gained by US Democratic President Joe Biden, greater than 100 advocacy teams, led by Common Cause, mentioned in a letter to social media executives.
A surge of disinformation then led to the lethal January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by supporters of then-President Trump and that disinformation continues to multiply, they mentioned, citing analysis and public reporting.
“High-profile disinformation spreaders and other bad actors are continuing to use social media platforms to disseminate messages that undermine trust in elections,” learn a letter despatched to chief executives and signed by greater than 100 teams lead by Common Cause.
“Candidates are using the Big Lie as a platform plank to pre-emptively declare voter fraud in order to dispute the results of the 2022 election,” they wrote. “This is damaging American democracy by undermining faith in the integrity of our elections.”
The letter, additionally despatched to the CEOs of Google, Instagram and Snap, urged the businesses to take steps, together with prioritizing fact-checking and offering real-time entry of knowledge to exterior researchers and watchdogs.
Priority have to be given to combating the “Big Lie” that voter fraud price Trump the White House in 2020, the letter mentioned.
The teams additionally sought larger transparency on political ads, enforcement practices and algorithmic fashions.
Others that signed embody voting rights and election integrity teams in addition to the Center for American Progress, the League of Women Voters, Greenpeace, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Arab American Institute.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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