FREE AND FAIR? CHALLENGES TO U.S. ELECTION SECURITY
BY LAUREN BATTEN
The Pacific Council recently hosted a webcast discussion with David Brody of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Camille François of Graphika on lessons and threats from other countries regarding U.S. election security. The conversation was moderated by Thomas Zimmerman, Director of Programs at the Pacific Council.
Here are takeaways from the discussion:
“Foreign actors use social media to impact elections,” François said. “We need to catch up to what countries have been doing for years. It’s been more than just Russia in 2016; Iran has been doing this since 2013, China and Saudi Arabia have been doing this. The political field needs to catch up with this problem of disinformation to manipulate audiences.”
“Social media company policies and how they execute these policies do not always align,” Brody said. “If politicians and users don’t get disciplined when saying un-factual information, it empowers them. Platforms have been slow to develop tools because of a fear of reactions. Companies need to have strong policies, but they need to actually follow through on them in a systematic way.”
François added that “early detection is important. It matters at what point we can identify and intervene in these campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, etc. We have algorithmic echo-chamber problems, but there are also other aspects of disinformation.” She argued that regulations of social media need to be reformed.
The speakers highlighted Election Protection, the largest non-partisan voter protection network in the United States. Call the hotline at (866) OUR-VOTE if you see voter intimidation, suppression, or problems online, or report these problems at 866ourvote.org. They pointed out that “if you want to spread good information, don’t amplify bad information, and only share things that are purely true and factual.” In other words: fact-check everything.
Watch the full conversation below:
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The views and opinions expressed here are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.
