World News – USA – Tweets about Georgia are full of misinformation

By Donie O’Sullivan, Kaya Yurieff, Kelly Bourdet, the CNN business team, and staff from across CNN

Misinformation Watch is your guide to false and misleading content online – how it spreads, who it affects, and what the big tech platforms are (or not) doing about it.

In this area you will find regular updates in the run-up to the elections and after any turbulence.

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

From 26. November to 2. December, four of the top five Twitter posts about Georgia made unsubstantiated allegations against the elections, according to investigations.

Advance Democracy found that if the Twitter posts included in the analysis 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.

« Georgia state citizens deciding which party controls the US Senate are being bombarded by election-related disinformation on social media, » Daniel J said. . Jones, a former FBI analyst and Senate investigator who is president of Advance Democracy. « Much of this disinformation revolves around the idea that choice is predetermined or manipulated. « It’s hard to imagine that the spread of this rhetoric and the outright lies about the Sept.. January will have no real consequences. « . « 

According to a report by activist group Avaaz, Facebook has not affixed fact-checking labels to some of the misinformation related to Georgia.

Facebook has relied on fact-checking and contextual labels as the core of its strategy to combat misinformation about elections and voting, and uses artificial intelligence to determine which posts to label. Avaaz’s report highlights some of the shortcomings in these systems when Georgia was released on Jan.. January is heading for a controversial runoff election in the Senate.

Researchers at the nonprofit analyzed 204 Facebook posts promoting 12 different disinformation claims that were independently verified and found that only 40% of them had a fact-verified label. Meanwhile, 30% of the posts only had a general information label about the election and 30% had no label at all. The contributions were made between 18. and 20. November found.

In addition to establishing that information is incorrect, fact-checking labels are vital as the spread of false posts is limited by the Facebook algorithm.

« Georgia voters are only weeks away from deciding which Senate direction – and the country’s direction – will go, and their newsfeeds are being flooded with misinformation that will further undermine confidence in the electoral process Could suppress voter turnout, « Avaaz campaign leader Fadi Quran said in a press release.

From 1. March through Election Day, Facebook displayed warnings about more than 180 million pieces of content viewed by people in the US on Facebook. S, which have been debunked by third party fact checkers, the company said.

« We are still the only company that works with 80+ fact-checking organizations and uses AI to scale their fact-checking to millions of duplicate posts. We are working to improve our ability to respond to similar posts, ”Facebook spokesman Kevin McAllister told CNN in response to Avaaz’s report. « There is no playbook for a program like ours and we are constantly working to improve it. ”

President Donald Trump’s candidate as a senior Pentagon official spread exposed conspiracies on Twitter calling Trump’s loss of election to Joe Biden an « attempted coup » and shared tweets suggesting that Trump should declare martial law.

Scott O’Grady, a former fighter pilot and Trump loyalist, has repeatedly retweeted tweets falsely claiming that Trump « landslide » won the election and millions of votes were stolen from the president.

On 25. On November 18th, O’Grady retweeted a tweet that said, « Trump won & Biden. &, his comrades will now attempt a coup, « next to a photo of Biden next to Xi Jinping, the President of China.

On 2. In December, he retweeted an account that published an article saying former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn shared a petition calling for martial law. Then he tweeted the same report suggesting that Trump should declare martial law.

« I don’t know who needs to hear this, » the report said. « But calling for martial law is not a bad idea when there is an attempted coup against the president and this country. « . « 

According to Brandon Wales, the agency’s top officer, the agency for cybersecurity and infrastructure security will continue to publish about the Georgia runoff on its election-related rumor control website.

CISA, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security, became known for its work in 2020 for securing the 2020 election – and after President Donald Trump sacked his now-former director Christopher Krebs in overt retaliation for cancer insisting on The Election went safely.

CISA launched the rumor control website in late October to expose misinformation about the elections. Since then, over 20 rumors have been addressed, including misinformation circulated by President Donald Trump and his allies. On Wednesday the website was updated with information about two new rumors.

The agency won’t give up its vigilance until late January, Wales, acting director of CISA, said during the Aspen Cyber ​​Summit Thursday.

« I told our staff that our electoral security missions . . . continue until all elections are over, « said Wales. “We will continue to issue rumor control entries as we believe the situation warrants and we believe we may have an impact. We will do that by the end of this cycle. ”

Wales’ remarks reflect his second public appearance since taking the reins off Cancer last month. Wales testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.

Facebook announced Thursday that it would begin removing false claims about coronavirus vaccines exposed by public health officials.

The move is an extension of Facebook’s coronavirus misinformation policy, and it comes because experts fear that conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims about vaccines could limit the number of people they receive.

Facebook said in a blog post that it might take action against « false claims about the vaccines’ safety, effectiveness, ingredients, or side effects ». « 

« For example, we will be removing false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips or anything else that is not on the official vaccine ingredients list, » the company said in the blog post. « We will also remove conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines that we now know are false: Just like how certain populations are used to test the safety of the vaccine without their consent. ”

Previously, Facebook’s guidelines banned misinformation about coronaviruses that « add to the risk of impending violence or physical harm ». « Facebook said the new enforcement of vaccine misinformation will be gradual.

The company has had a history of dealing with vaccine misinformation on its platform. Following a measles outbreak in the US almost two years ago, Facebook promised to take action against anti-Vaxx misinformation, including lowering newsfeed awareness and not recommending related groups. But even then, anti-Vaxxer information on Instagram, owned by Facebook, was easy to find.

Facebook recently launched a large private group dealing with content against vaccines. But many groups devoted to the railing against vaccines remain. A recent cursory search by CNN Business found at least a dozen Facebook groups speaking out against vaccines. The number of members ranges from a few hundred to tens of thousands of users. At least one group specifically focused on opposition to a Covid-19 vaccine.

After years of standing by inactive, companies like Facebook and Twitter abuse some of President Donald Trump’s lies to varying degrees – most notably his false claim that he didn’t lose the election.

These social media platforms are still full of misinformation and hatred – and many critics of Big Tech on the left say the platforms still aren’t doing enough about it – but for Trump’s backers, the steps are the big Tech has taken steps to slow the spread of misinformation amounts to censorship. And some have started looking for alternative homes online.

In the days following the election, Parler topped the charts in Apple and Android app stores, and the platform has become a hub of Trump-backed conspiracy theories that cast doubts on the election of President-elect Biden. Top trending topics on the platform this week include #TrumpWon, #VoterFraud and #NeverQuit.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that Georgia election results have been rigged while election officials claim there is no evidence of widespread fraud. To further the falsehoods, Trump and his allies continued to demand signature verification of envelopes in Georgia while making false or misleading claims about the possible process.

Even after Georgian election official Gabriel Sterling furiously warned that « everything has gone too far » and « it must stop » before anyone is injured or killed, Trump continued his baseless allegations of fraud. In response to a video clip from Sterling calling on the President and Senators to « rise », Trump tweeted « Rigged Election » Tuesday night. View signatures and envelopes. Exposure of massive electoral fraud in Georgia. « 

A week earlier, Trump falsely claimed on Twitter that a test would reveal « tens of thousands of fraudulent and illegal votes » and suggested that a signature test would ultimately benefit both himself and the two Republican Senatorial candidates in the state.

Despite the confirmation of the election results of the state, the Republican government of Georgia. Brian Kemp also endorsed Republican demands for the Secretary of State to conduct a signature check. He said « it seems easy enough to do a sample check of the signatures on postal ballot envelopes » to address any Georgian concerns about the integrity of the voting system.

Facts first: It is misleading for Kemp, Georgia’s former foreign minister, to suggest that post-election signature verification would be « easy », even if it was just a sample of ballot papers. Current Georgian Foreign Secretary Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, told CNN that signature verification is beyond the legal remit of his office. It would have to be ordered by a court and there is currently no basis for doing so.

Facebook has asked its independent oversight body for a decision on how to deal with misleading claims about hydroxychloroquine that was unfoundedly promoted by President Donald Trump and his allies as a treatment for Covid-19.

The referral comes as public health experts and policy makers grieve over Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation about the pandemic. Experts warn that false claims about Covid-19 vaccines could hamper administration efforts.

The case concerns Facebook’s decision to remove a user post claiming the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine was used to save lives. Facebook said it removed the post as part of its violence and incitement policy, which allows the platform to remove content that it says poses « a real risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety. ”

Both the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warn against the use of hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19.

A decision by the Oversight Board, which would be binding for Facebook, could significantly influence the future handling of the platform with Covid-19 posts.

The case is among the first to be considered by the Oversight Board, a company proposed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2018 and launched this fall. The organization consists of scientists and experts in human rights and ethics. It was funded by Facebook, but has underlined its independence from the company through a series of guard rails.

A UK MP on Wednesday beat up Facebook for handling anti-vaccine content, warning that the social media platform risks undermining Covid-19 vaccines as vaccination programs begin.

« The Pfizer vaccine received regulatory approval in the UK today and the first doses will be given next week, » said MP Damian Collins, former chairman of the UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. “One of the biggest risks to the success of this program is the disinformation about vaccines, which warns people not to take it. ”

Collins’ remarks came during a public session of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation, a body made up of government officials from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Ireland, India, Brazil and several other countries. The US was represented by Rep. David Cicilline, a senior technology critic and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Committee, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Citing research on anti-vaccine content on Facebook, Collins said that the platform’s « proprietary algorithms drive anti-Vax content above authentic health information. This leads to a decrease in confidence in the vaccine. ”

« This is not only a public health challenge, but why laws are so necessary to combat harmful disinformation, » he added. According to Collins, next year the UK Parliament will discuss a bill that could introduce a new online damage regulator, modeled on similar agencies that regulate the handling of user data and data protection on technical platforms.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said the company was removing misinformation about the coronavirus that could lead to « imminent physical harm » and directing users to the Facebook Covid-19 information center, available in 189 countries. Stone added that Facebook has banned ads that discourage people from getting vaccines.

On Monday during a live stream with Dr. . Anthony Fauci, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said the company was planning « a push » to bring authoritative sources of vaccine information to users. Zuckerberg said Facebook had already reached out to President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to help respond to the pandemic.

Georgia, Donald Trump, misinformation, US presidential election, 2020, Facebook