Campaigns Overwhelmed by Disinformation

New York Times: “Less than a year before the 2020 election, false political information is moving furiously online. Facebook users shared the top 100 false political stories over 2.3 million times in the United States in the first 10 months of this year, according to Avaaz, a global human rights organization.”

“The examples are numerous: A hoax version of the Green New Deal legislation went viral online. Millions of people saw unsubstantiated rumors about the relationship between Ukraine and the family of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. A canard about the ties between a Ukrainian oil company and a son of Senator Mitt Romney, the Utah Republican, spread widely, too.”

“Still, few politicians or their staffs are prepared to quickly notice and combat incorrect stories about them… Several of the researchers said they were surprised by how little outreach they had received from politicians.”