Election-related falsehoods corrode American democracy. Since 2020, lies about a stolen presidential election cropped up in dozens of campaigns for election administrator positions and spurred unprecedented threats to election officials. The result has been a deluge of resignations that drained expertise from election offices across the country. Further, public trust in elections has plummeted amid disinformation promoted by Donald Trump and other prominent election deniers.
The health of our democracy depends in part on our success in guarding against damage from election misinformation. That’s why last year, we launched the Midterm Monitor interactive tool to better understand the online conversation about the election. Our research surfaced striking patterns in election misinformation. It also revealed that certain strategies are likely to be more effective in combatting election falsehoods than others.
Starting in September, the Midterm Monitor collected posts and information from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube accounts affiliated with candidates for the House, Senate, governor, and secretary of state. The monitor also collected posts and information from the accounts of influential national media outlets and pundits, top local media outlets in 10 battleground states, Spanish-language U.S. media outlets, and state media and diplomats associated with the Chinese, Iranian, and Russian governments.
Using the Midterm Monitor, we confirmed that high-profile...
CLAIM: Video claiming President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had resigned. RATING: FALSE A YouTube video falsely claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had stepped down from office amid continue...