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The 2020 presidential election is right around the corner and with it come questions around social media’s potential impact on the outcome. Social media’s potential to spread misinformation has been in the news a lot over the past few years and its evolved from something most people saw as a place to connect with friends to a machine that disrupts key parts of our democracy. People are able to curate their timelines and newsfeeds, but algorithms hold the real power, working behind the scenes to regulate the content you see, from targeted ads to the publications that are presented to you. With social media essentially shaping the information you get, many people are concerned about the spread of misinformation. After all, not everything that you read on the internet is true, and social media platforms themselves have been guilty of spreading misinformation or otherwise allowing election interference to occur. Perhaps the most infamous case of election interference spurred by social...
With the 2020 election coming up, social media companies are facing increased pressure to tackle election interference on their platforms. Ahead of the November 2018 midterms, Facebook established a “War Room” that could possibly return for the presidential elections. And last month, Twitter introduced a new “misleading about voting” report feature. However, there’s another problem looming. Eight case studies commissioned by the Institute for the Future’s Digital Intelligence Lab show that extremists co-opt the conversations of vulnerable groups — including Latino, Muslim, and Jewish communities. The studies were first reported by Buzzfeed News . Researchers focused on computational propaganda or the “assemblage of social media platforms, autonomous agents, and big data tasked with the manipulation of public opinion” — i.e., digital propaganda.” The groups chosen for studies were Muslim Americans, Latino Americans, moderate republicans, immigration activists, Black women gun owners,...
We’ve all seen the impacts social media can have on elections. From the Cambridge Analytica debacle, to efforts by foreign actors that specifically targeted African Americans , election security and social media have been mentioned hand in hand almost every month for the past few years. Companies have even tried to set up methods to combat propaganda and election interference like Facebook’s “war room.” However, the full effect that social media can have during elections isn’t completely understood. On Monday , Facebook announced a new series of independent research projects that would examine social media’s impact on democracy. More than 60 researchers from 30 academic institutions across 11 countries will have access to “privacy-protected Facebook data” in order to conduct their research. “We hope this initiative will deepen public understanding of the role social media has on elections and democracy and help Facebook and other companies improve their products and...
Misinformation continues to be a huge problem online, especially for social media platforms. Previously, Facebook tried tackling it by introducing rules against groups and ads that deliberately spread wrong information about vaccines and political opponents. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough. Now, Facebook has introduced updates that include harsher punishments for groups and individuals spreading misinformation across its platforms. In its blog post, Facebook said it plans to reduce the reach of groups that “repeatedly share misinformation”. The company will also add a “click gap” feature to the newsfeed to make sure people see less low-quality content. Lastly, Facebook will partner with the Associated Press, who will serve as a third-party fact-checker. Any content approved by the AP will be expanded on the platform. The moves come as Facebook gears up for another turbulent election season, finds new ways to combat vaccine misinformation, and continues to ban pages associated with...
Twitter has been a hub for spam accounts and bots since the platform’s early years. The problem has plagued the company for a long time and today they’ve introduced another idea that may help stop it. Twitter announced that it is changing its rule on the number of accounts a person can follow per day. The platform tweeted that the limit is moving from 1,000 accounts to 400 in order to stop spammers. Follow, unfollow, follow, unfollow. Who does that? Spammers. So we’re changing the number of accounts you can follow each day from 1,000 to 400. Don’t worry, you’ll be just fine. — Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) April 8, 2019 Twitter is working to impede “churning” accounts and lessen the number of block and spam reports caused by them. Churning accounts are profiles that repeatedly follow and unfollow to increase their follower metrics. Some users questioned the 400 account limit, but Yoel Roth, Twitter’s Head of Integrity, offered some insight in his own string of tweets . “You can’t...
As election season continues to brew, four senators are calling for leading voting machine developers to amp up their systems to get ahead of possible election interference. Election Systems & Software, Dominion Voting Systems, and Hart InterCivic were named in a recent letter from members of the Senate due to the cybersecurity risks that the companies could pose for a looming election cycle. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) are calling for more innovation and competition in election machine makers. “The integrity of our elections remains under serious threat,” the Senators said in the letter to the companies. “The integrity of our elections is directly tied to the machines we vote on – the products that you make.” Election Systems and Software gained national attention back in November when it was revealed that its Model 650 election machines — a commonly used voting machine vulnerable to hacks — were still being...