Will There Be Fake News In 2020? One Democratic Presidential Candidate Has A Plan To Combat Misinformation

Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday unveiled her plan to fight disinformation on the internet, pledging not to knowingly spread on social media false or manipulated news reports, images, audio and videos.

The Massachusetts senator called on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit and other tech companies to do a better job of policing their sites, clearly labeling content promoted by state-controlled organizations and creating clear consequences for accounts that attempt to interfere with the election process.

“Disinformation erodes our democracy, and Democrats must have a plan to address it,” Warren said, noting President Trump has invited interference from foreign governments.

Warren lamented the lack of action by the U.S. government to prevent a repeat of 2016 when Russian intelligence planted numerous fake stories on fraudulent Facebook and Twitter accounts to influence voters.

“These efforts had three main goals: creating deeper divisions among voters on particular issues, discrediting or promoting particular candidates, and suppressing the vote,” Warren said.

A report by the Computational Propaganda Research Project estimated content developed by Russian intelligence was shared by 30 million Facebook and Instagram users between 2015 and 2017, much of it targeted at black voters to get them to boycott the election.

“Tech companies are trying to assure the public they have changed. But their efforts are no more than nibbles around the edges: periodic purges of inauthentic accounts, banning political ads on some platforms, and slow, inconsistent fact-checking. The same fundamental threats to our elections remain,” Warren said.

Warren, who is running third behind former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont for the Democratic presidential nomination, said tech companies need to be held responsible for the spread of disinformation – whether it is generated by foreign powers or domestically. She said past efforts to purge fake accounts and other steps met with negative responses from investors.

“The safety of our democracy is more important than shareholder dividends and CEO salaries, and we need tech companies to behave accordingly,” Warren said.

She called on the major tech companies to coordinate efforts to address disinformation, clearly label content produced by state-controlled entities, alert users targeted by disinformation campaigns, ban accounts that knowingly spread false information, open up data for research and share information about their algorithms.

She also said the government should create civil and criminal penalties for spreading disinformation, reinstate the position of cybersecurity coordinator at the National Security Council, convene an international summit to coordinate policy responses to disinformation, establish rules for information and data-sharing, and consider sanctions against countries that try to interfere in elections.

“The stakes of this election are too high -- we need to fight the spread of false information that disempowers voters and undermines democracy,” Warren said.