Misinformation Watch

Twitter conversations about Georgia are full of unsubstantiated claims that the state’s upcoming runoff election will be fraudulent as well as other misinformation about the 2020 election, according to a new report from non-partisan research organization Advance Democracy.

From November 26 through December 2, four of the top five posts on Twitter about Georgia made baseless allegations about the election, according to the research.

Advance Democracy determined that Twitter posts included in the analysis were about Georgia if they contained at least one of a long list of terms and hashtags, including “Georgia,” “#gapol,” run-offs, #Dems4GA,” and the names of the candidates in the race.

"Citizens of the State of Georgia, who are about to decide what party controls the US Senate, are being bombarded by election-related disinformation on social media," said Daniel J. Jones, a former FBI analyst and Senate investigator, who is president of Advance Democracy. "Much of that disinformation revolves around the idea that the election is pre-ordained or 'rigged.' It’s hard to imagine that the prevalence of this rhetoric and the outright lies about voting will not have real-world consequences on January 5th."

Other key findings from the research:

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facebook failed to apply fact-check labels on some election misinformation related to Georgia, according to a report from activist group Avaaz. 

Facebook has relied on fact-checking and contextual labels as a centerpiece of its strategy for combating misinformation about elections and voting, and it uses artificial intelligence to help determine what posts should get a label. Avaaz's report highlights some of the shortcomings of these systems as Georgia heads for a contentious Senate runoff on January 5.

Researchers at the non-profit analyzed 204 Facebook posts promoting 12 different disinformation claims that had been independently fact-checked and found that only 40% of them had a fact check label applied. Meanwhile, 30% of the posts had just a generic information label about the election and 30% had no label at all. The posts were found between November 18 and 20.

In addition to stating that information is false, fact-checking labels are vital because the spread of false posts is curtailed by Facebook’s algorithm. 

“Georgia voters are just weeks away from deciding the direction of the US Senate - and the direction of the country - and their News Feeds are being overrun with misinformation that could further erode trust in the election process and suppress turnout,” Avaaz Campaign Director, Fadi Quran said in a press release.

From March 1 through Election Day, Facebook displayed warnings on more than 180 million pieces of content viewed on Facebook by people in the U.S that were debunked by third party fact checkers, the company has said.

“We remain the only company to partner with more than 80 fact-checking organizations, using AI to scale their fact-checks to millions of duplicate posts, and we are working to improve our ability to action on similar posts,” Facebook spokesperson Kevin McAllister told CNN in response to Avaaz’s report. “There is no playbook for a program like ours and we’re constantly working to improve it.”

President Donald Trump's nominee to become a senior Pentagon official spread debunked conspiracies on Twitter that called Trump's election loss to Joe Biden a "coup" attempt and shared tweets that suggest Trump should declare martial law.

Scott O'Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, repeatedly retweeted tweets that falsely stated Trump won the election in "landslide fashion" and that millions of votes were stolen from the President.

On November 25, O'Grady retweeted a tweet that said, "Trump won & Biden & his Comrades will now attempt a coup," next to a photoshopped image of Biden beside Xi Jinping, the President of China.

On December 2, he retweeted an account that shared an article that said former national security adviser Michael Flynn had shared a petition that called for martial law. He then retweeted the same account which suggested that Trump should declare martial law.

"I don't know who needs to hear this," the account said, "But calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country happening right now."

Read more here

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will continue publishing to its election-related “rumor control” website through the Georgia runoffs, according to Brandon Wales, the agency’s top official.

CISA, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, gained prominence in 2020 for its work to secure the 2020 elections — and after President Donald Trump fired its now-former director, Christopher Krebs, in apparent retaliation for Krebs’ insistence that the election unfolded securely.

CISA launched the rumor control website in late October to debunk misinformation about the election. Since then, it has tackled over 20 rumors, including misinformation promoted by President Donald Trump and his allies. On Wednesday, the website was updated with information about two new rumors.

The agency will not be letting down its guard until at least the end of January, said Wales, CISA’s acting director, during the Aspen Cyber Summit on Thursday.

“What I’ve told our staff is that our election security missions … will continue until all the elections are complete,” Wales said. “We will keep issuing rumor control entries as we think that the situation warrants it, and where we think we can have an impact. We’ll do that through the end of this cycle.”

Wales’ remarks reflect his second public appearance since taking the reins from Krebs last month. Wales testified on Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security committee.

Facebook said Thursday that it will begin removing false claims about coronavirus vaccines that have been debunked by public health officials. 

The move is an extension of Facebook's coronavirus misinformation policy and comes as experts worry that conspiracy theories and baseless claims about vaccines could limit the number of people who get them.

Facebook said in a blog post that it would potentially take action against "false claims about the safety, efficacy, ingredients or side effects of the vaccines."

"For example, we will remove false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn’t on the official vaccine ingredient list," the company said in the blog post. "We will also remove conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines that we know today are false: like specific populations are being used without their consent to test the vaccine’s safety.”

Previously, Facebook's policies banned misinformation about coronavirus that "contributes to the risk of imminent violence or physical harm." Facebook said that its new enforcement on vaccine misinformation will happen gradually.

The company has historically struggled to handle anti-vaccine misinformation on its platform. In the wake of a measles outbreak in the US nearly two years ago, Facebook promised to take action on anti-vaxx misinformation, including making it less prominent in the news feed and not recommending related groups. But even then, anti-vaxxer information was easily searchable on Facebook-owned Instagram.

Facebook recently booted a large private group dedicated to anti-vaccine content. But many groups dedicated to railing against vaccines remain. A recent cursory search by CNN Business found at least a dozen Facebook groups advocating against vaccines, with membership ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of users. At least one group was specifically centered around opposition to a Covid-19 vaccine.

After years of standing idly by, companies like Facebook and Twitter are, to varying degrees, calling bullshit on some of President Donald Trump's lies — most prominently, his false claim that he didn't lose the election.

These social media platforms are still awash with misinformation and hate — and many critics of Big Tech on the left say the platforms still aren't doing enough about it — but to Trump's supporters, the steps Big Tech has taken to slow the spread of misinformation amounts to censorship. And some have begun seeking alternative homes online.

In the days after the election, Parler topped the charts of the Apple and Android app stores, and the platform has become a hub of Trump-backed conspiracy theories casting doubt on the election of President-elect Biden. Among the top trending topics on the platform this week are #TrumpWon, #VoterFraud and #NeverQuit.

Read more here.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted the election results in Georgia were rigged while state election officials maintain there's no evidence of widespread fraud. In an effort to promote the falsehoods, Trump and his allies have continued to call for a signature audit of the absentee ballot envelopes in Georgia, while making false or misleading claims about the potential process.

Even after Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling angrily warned that "it's all gone too far" and "it has to stop" before someone gets hurt or killed, Trump continued to perpetuate unsubstantiated claims of fraud. In response to a video clip of Sterling calling for the President and senators to "step up," Trump tweeted on Tuesday night, "Rigged Election. Show signatures and envelopes. Expose the massive voter fraud in Georgia."

A week earlier, Trump falsely claimed on Twitter that an audit would uncover "tens of thousands of fraudulent and illegal votes," and suggested that a signature audit would ultimately benefit both himself and the two Republican senatorial candidates in the state.

Despite certifying the state's election results, Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has also joined Republicans' calls demanding the secretary of state carry out a signature audit, saying "it seems simple enough to conduct a sample audit of signatures on the absentee ballot envelopes" in order to address any lingering concerns Georgians may have about the integrity of the voting system.

Facts First: It's misleading for Kemp, Georgia's former secretary of state, to suggest that a signature audit after an election would be "simple," even if it's just for a sample of ballots. Georgia's current secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, told CNN a signature audit is outside his office's legal purview. It would need to be ordered by a court, and currently, there is no basis to conduct one.

Read more here

Facebook has asked its independent Oversight Board for a ruling on how to handle misleading claims about hydroxychloroquine, which has been baselessly promoted by President Donald Trump and his allies as a treatment for Covid-19.

The referral comes as public health experts and policymakers fret about Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation about the pandemic. Experts warn that false claims about Covid-19 vaccines could hinder efforts to administer it.

The case involves Facebook’s decision to take down a user’s post that claimed the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was being used to save lives. Facebook said it removed the post under its violence and incitement policy, under which the platform may remove content that it says poses a “genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety.”

Both the National Institutes of Health and US Food and Drug Administration warn against using hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19.

A decision by the Oversight Board, which would be binding on Facebook, could powerfully shape the platform’s handling of Covid-19 posts moving forward.

The case is among the first to be considered by the Oversight Board, an entity proposed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2018 and which launched this fall. The organization consists of academics and experts on human rights and ethics. It has received funding from Facebook but has stressed its independence from the company through a number of guardrails.

A British member of Parliament blasted Facebook on Wednesday over its handling of anti-vaccine content and warned that the social media platform risks undermining Covid-19 vaccines just as vaccination programs are getting underway.

 “Today in the UK, the Pfizer vaccine has received regulatory approval and the first doses will be administered next week,” said MP Damian Collins, former Chair of the UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. “One of the greatest risks to the success of this program is anti-vaccine disinformation warning people not to take it.”

Collins’ remarks came during a public session of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation, a body that includes government officials from the United States, the UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, India, Brazil and several other countries. The US was represented by Rep. David Cicilline, a leading tech critic and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s consumer protection subcommittee.

Citing research reports on anti-vaccine content on Facebook, Collins said the platform’s “own algorithms are pushing anti-vax content over authentic health information. The impact of this is declining trust in the vaccine.”

“This is not just a public health challenge, but why legislation to combat harmful disinformation is so necessary,” he added. Next year, Collins, said, the UK parliament is expected to debate a bill that could establish a new regulator for online harms modeled after similar agencies that govern tech platforms’ handling of user data and privacy.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said the company removes misinformation about the coronavirus that could lead to “imminent physical harm” and directs users to Facebook’s Covid-19 information center, which is available in 189 countries. Stone added that Facebook has banned advertisements that discourage people from getting vaccines.

On Monday, during a livestream with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is “planning a push” to provide users with authoritative sources of vaccine information. Zuckerberg said that Facebook has already reached out to President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team about helping with the pandemic response.