How misinformation on social media affects the midterms

new York Politicians are carrying out the hot phase of the US election campaign via social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Tiktok. However, the platforms have difficulties in curbing hatred, hate speech and misinformation. Is there a risk of a hot phase right after the election?

On Tuesday, voters will vote on the majorities in the two chambers of Congress. According to surveys, the Republican Party could grow strongly in the so-called midterms and thus politically paralyze President Joe Biden for the rest of his term in office.

In the past elections in the USA, digital platforms were misused to spread masses of false information. This time, the corporations vowed to be better prepared.

However, according to a survey, 62 percent of the population believe that democracy in their country is endangered by misinformation. 53 percent of Americans think misinformation and disinformation campaigns could keep people from voting. This emerges from a survey commissioned by the company NordVPN, which is available to the Handelsblatt.

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In addition, only 79 percent of already registered Republican voters are certain or very certain that the votes cast are being counted accurately. Two years ago, in October 2020, it was 92 percent. In the case of the Democrats, on the other hand, voter confidence has even increased: from 90 to 95 percent. This is shown by data from the Pew Research Center.

The platform operators are responding to the concerns with similar measures that they have already taken in previous years.

Joe Biden

The US President’s political room for maneuver could be reduced.

(Photo: dpa)

The meta group, for example, deletes false information about the election process and calls for violence found on its platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. In addition, new political ads and ads discouraging voting were not allowed in the week leading up to Election Day. Meta chief lobbyist Nick Clegg said, “We have hundreds of staff in more than 40 teams working on the midterms.”

>> Read here: Midterms could plunge the USA into chaos – in the worst case, a constitutional crisis looms

Tiktok and Youtube also delete extremist content and misinformation. “We will remain vigilant before, during and after Election Day,” announced YouTube executive Leslie Miller. Sources on election campaign topics that are classified as trustworthy are highlighted on the platform.

Twitter bans false information and provides insulting tweets with links to credible content, election advertising is completely prohibited. In addition, the algorithms should not act as amplifiers. But it is unclear whether these measures will still apply after the takeover by tech billionaire Elon Musk.

For example, a week ago Twitter suspended some employees’ access to internal tools for content moderation and policy enforcement, limiting employees’ ability to address pre-election misinformation. This was reported by Bloomberg News. After public criticism, Musk said he wanted to lift the restrictions. However, it is unclear whether this happened.

The measures taken by the tech giants are patchy: in an experiment, a group from New York University tested 20 ads with false information on Facebook, Tiktok and YouTube in embattled states such as Arizona and Georgia. Only YouTube did well, Facebook worse, and Tiktok let 90 percent of the ads go through with false information.

“It’s actually a very confusing field because there’s no regulation, no standards that these companies have to follow,” Katie Harbath told public radio NPR. “They’re all just making the decisions that they think are best for themselves and their company.” Harbath is a former campaign policy director at Facebook.

Beware of reactions after the outcome of the election

However, the real test for the digital platforms could be right after the election. The Institute for Strategic Dialogue warned of violent attacks – especially by extremists from the political right spectrum. Many Republican Party candidates have practically submitted to these extremists, the institute warned.

After his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump claimed that the election victory had been stolen from him. The platforms now want to be better prepared for comparable false statements. YouTube executive Miller said, “Starting with Election Day, people will see contextual context below videos and at the top of search results related to the midterm elections.”

Meta-lobbyist Clegg announced a special focus on possible attacks on election workers. “We invest in proactive threat detection,” said Clegg.

However, not only the big platforms decide on the perception of the election. Another factor in spreading erroneous information is alternative platforms such as Parler, Trumps Truth Social or Gettr.

According to figures from the “New York Times”, at least 69 million users have gathered on such platforms in order to avoid the alleged “censorship” of tech giants such as Twitter or Facebook. There, too, it is decided whether the election will end in violence.

More: The US government has made Elon Musk great – now he is becoming too powerful for them.

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