Fears have been raised once again that an election in the United States could be marred by online misinformation.
False claims about voting and elections have spread widely on social media ahead of the midterms -- which will see all seats in the House of Representatives and a little more than a third in the Senate up for grabs -- despite promises by tech companies to address the matter.
Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube all say they’ve expanded their work to detect and stop harmful misinformation that could suppress the vote or even lead to political violence.
Concerns in the US were heightened after supporters of former US President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in January 2021. Many were fuelled by the false claim that the 2020 presidential election had been "stolen" from Trump due to voter fraud.
The same false narratives have been voiced on smaller platforms or far-right groups, such as Gab and TruthSocial, Trump’s own platform.
Euronews has examined five viral false claims that have appeared online ahead of the US midterms.
Unfounded claims about electoral fraud and mail-in ballots were widespread before, during, and after the 2020 presidential vote.
Since then, baseless allegations about voter fraud have also been spread online during elections in France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. And ahead of the US midterms, similar misinformation is being spread once again.
Some social media users have claimed, without...
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