Lawfare Archive: Alex Stamos on Fighting Election Disinformation in Real Time
May 18, 2024
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Alex Stamos discusses the Election Integrity Partnership to counter disinformation in real time. They also touch on TikTok's influence from the Chinese government. Talks about strategies to safeguard election integrity and challenges in combatting election disinformation, including media handling and privacy protection.
The Election Integrity Partnership aims to detect and counter election-related disinformation in real time.
Collaboration between tech platforms, government agencies, and media outlets is crucial to combat election-related misinformation effectively.
Success in ensuring election integrity requires a balance between preventing disinformation and safeguarding free speech.
Deep dives
The Establishment of the Election Integrity Partnership
Alex Samos discusses the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition formed by four research organizations, including Stanford Internet Observatory and the Atlantic Council's DFR Lab, to counter election-related disinformation. The partnership focuses on detecting misleading information on election procedures, participation interference, fraud encouragement, and disinformation questioning election integrity. Their goal is to provide real-time impact by identifying and countering harmful misinformation leading up to the election.
Operation of the Election Integrity Partnership
The Election Integrity Partnership utilizes referrals from external groups and platforms like Facebook and Twitter to detect disinformation. They employ a team of analysts, including Stanford students, to assess trending election discussions for potential disinformation. Upon identifying misleading content, they investigate its spread and check for coordinated disinformation efforts. Their multi-tiered approach aims for timely takedowns and comprehensive analysis to ensure transparency and combat election-related misinformation effectively.
Challenges and Solutions in Addressing Disinformation
Alex Samos highlights the importance of distinguishing between election-specific disinformation and addressing misleading claims effectively. He stresses the need for media to responsibly cover disinformation campaigns and avoid undue amplification of unverified claims. Collaboration between tech platforms, government agencies, and media outlets is crucial in coordinating takedown efforts. Samos emphasizes the significance of accurate reporting and transparent standards to combat disinformation effectively and maintain public trust in information dissemination.
Challenges in Defining Success for Election Integrity
Defining success for 2020 in terms of election integrity poses challenges due to the delicate balance between preventing disinformation and ensuring free speech. Aiming for zero disinformation about elections shared in real time is unrealistic without impeding on fundamental democratic principles. Success must be reasonable and achievable without suppressing political speech, avoiding large coordinated campaigns that could cast doubts on election fairness.
Threats of Domestic Disinformation in Election Processes
The primary threat to election integrity is perceived to be domestic rather than foreign, with unintentional spread of disinformation from well-meaning individuals causing significant harm. Examples include misinformation about election processes leading to unintended consequences such as obstructing voter access. The intertwining of legitimate political discourse with disinformation complicates the identification and mitigation of harmful narratives that impact voter behavior.
From August 20, 2020: This week on Lawfare's Arbiters of Truth series on disinformation, Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Alex Stamos, the director of the Stanford Internet Observatory and former chief security officer of Yahoo and Facebook. Alex has appeared on the podcast before, but this time, they discussed a new coalition he helped set up called the Election Integrity Partnership—a coalition focused on detecting and mitigating attempts to limit voting or delegitimize election results. Disinformation and misinformation around the U.S. presidential election has already started popping up online, and it’s only going to increase as November draws closer. The coalition aims to counter this in real time. So how will it actually work?
They also asked Alex for his hot takes on TikTok—the popular video sharing platform facing pressure over concern about influence from the Chinese government.
