November 03, 2020
How To Avoid Becoming a Misinformation Superspreader
As local officials continue to count votes in this year’s general elections, America’s digital ecosystem is ripe for disruptive and potentially dangerous misinformation. Elections always present logistical hurdles, but holding an election in the midst of a pandemic presents new and complex challenges. This year, we witnessed, for instance, unusually high voter turnout, as Americans engaged in early in-person and mail-in voting. These forms of voting, which may have been unfamiliar to many Americans pre-pandemic, were targets of widespread election misinformation. Polarized online spaces will not only amplify and refract these challenges but require that everyday users answer the call to digital citizenship. Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook bear immense responsibility for responding to misinformation outbreaks, but they must not — and cannot — go it alone.
Social media companies like Twitter and Facebook bear immense responsibility for responding to misinformation outbreaks, but they must not — and cannot — go it alone.
At every level of American political life, the 2020 elections are not only testing social media companies’ ability to police their platforms, but social media users’ capacity and willingness to show restraint online. Both during and after this fraught set of events, every American must embrace their role as a digital citizen by exercising caution and restraint when creating, consuming, and sharing online content.
Read the full article in Inkstick.
More from CNAS
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
CNAS Insights | Bridging Washington and Silicon ValleyThe recent friction between Anthropic and the Pentagon has made me reflect on the painful chasm that opened between Washington and Silicon Valley following leaks from Edward S...
By Anne Neuberger
-
Video
Technology & National Security
The Geopolitics of 6G with Vivek Chilukuri, Michael Calabrese, and Lindsay GormanVivek Chilukuri, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security, joined POLITICO Policy Outlook to discuss the geopolitical implications of 6G, t...
By Vivek Chilukuri
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
Two Illegal Biolabs Reveal Gaps in U.S. BiosecurityThis article was originally published in Lawfare.Last month, law enforcement officials launched an investigation into a suspected biolab in the Las Vegas home of Chinese natio...
By Sam Howell
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
CNAS Insights | America’s AI Cyber Defense Gap Needs Congress to ActTwice in the past five months, the U.S. Congress has allowed the authorization for U.S. cyber threat intelligence sharing to lapse. In each case, it managed only short-term ex...
By Spencer Michaels, Janet Egan & Michael Daniel
