As a Matter of Fact: The Harms Caused by Election Disinformation (Common Cause)

[Nevilledog]

https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/CC_AsaMatterofFact_FINAL_10.27.21.pdf


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In America, whatever our background, color, or zip code, we value our freedom. Generation after generation has fought for the freedom to have a say in decisions that impact our lives—the freedom to participate fully in our country. But in recent years, a small faction has grown increasingly skilled at spreading lies about our elections, lies that targeted Black communities and other communities of color to suppress their votes, lies that fueled a deadly attack on our Capitol in January 2021 to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, lies that threaten to suppress votes and undermine public confidence in future elections. This intentional use of false information to affect the participation of voters in elections is known as “election disinformation.”

The United States is at a critical juncture. More than 1 in 3 U.S. residents—and nearly 80% of Republicans—wrongly believe that President Joe Biden did not legitimately win the election.2 And a majority say they “do not have confidence that elections reflect the will of the people.”3
Donald Trump’s Big Lie is working, and we have to respond. Just as we came together last year, rising up to vote safely and securely in record numbers during a global pandemic, we must now rise up to stop election disinformation efforts in future elections. This report is a game plan for success.

Election disinformation is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, for nearly two decades Common Cause has been monitoring and working to stop election disinformation as a part of the national Election Protection coalition.4 As explained in our 2008 report Deceptive Practices 2.0,5 co-authored with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Century Foundation, false or mis- leading information about the voting process, often targeting Black communities and intended to suppress votes, has historically been disseminated via flyers and “robocalls.” But by 2008, disinformation was beginning to move to email and websites. And as explained in our 2012 report Deceptive Election Practices and Voter Intimidation, disinformation tactics continued to evolve: “Over time, they have become more sophisticated, nuanced, and begun to use modern technology to target certain voters more effectively.”6 The volume and sophistication of online disinformation, particularly via social media platforms, continued to rise in 2016 and 2018 preceding a veritable explosion of election disinformation throughout the 2020 election cycle.

As online election disinformation has increased, Common Cause Education Fund’s commitment to monitoring and stopping it has likewise increased. During the 2020 election cycle, we led an Anti-Disinformation Working Group of the Election Protection coalition, hired experienced disin- formation analysts, and trained dozens of partner organizations and thousands of volunteers in disinformation monitoring. We catalogued more than 3,000 disinformation posts in our election disinformation database, requested the removal of posts from social media platforms when they violated corporate policies, developed messaging to “pre-bunk” the disinformation, and dis-
seminated accurate voting and election information in partnership with the Election Protection coalition.

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[boston bean]

1. I like the term electoral dysfunction better.

[Jm7603]

2. It amazes me how many on DU have apparently

ignored or just don't care what harm misinformation on Twitter has done to this country. Thinking that Twitter users are above being swayed by propaganda is very dangerous. Thinking that everyone recognizes and ignores it like DU users do is wrong. Propaganda is unfortunately very effective. Republicans have perfected the techniques, as have Q followers, anti-vaxxers, etc.