Disinformation

"This is an issue that's going to continue to snowball," said Stephen Spaulding, VP of policy and external affairs at Common Cause. "There are tools the FEC could employ, but no question, there also has to be a comprehensive legislative response." Emma Steiner, disinformation analyst at Common Cause, told Axios that the group's biggest concern about generative AI is that platforms "are not willing to act on evolving disinformation narratives. So while [companies] can attempt to drop new policies ... I'm not sure they will make an actual serious attempt to counter the issue."

“What’s happened over the last six years, in particular since the Trump years, is there’s been a systematic attempt to undermine the work of the Wisconsin Elections Commission,” said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin. “Because it’s apparently not as responsive in a partisan way to the Republicans as they would like.”

Today, YouTube announced it will rescind its prohibition on content that espouses election denialism and disinformation about the 2020 elections. This move comes as more 2024 candidates (including former president Trump) engage in public events which may be hosted on the platform.

The key to having any interstate program function properly is having as many states participate as possible, said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, a nonpartisan group dedicated to upholding American democracy. "If Texas is going to lead the charge to have a bunch of red states create their own system, it’s hard to see how that can possibly be successful with such limited participation," he said.

The lifting of bans on former president Trump by Twitter and Facebook hammers home the point that there is little interest from social media platforms in combating election disinformation. The platforms are scaling back content moderation at a time when consistent enforcement of civic integrity policies can be most impactful. The next year is pivotal, not just in state legislatures but for people's attitudes toward democracy and the information they receive about it.

The effects of online disinformation on the 2022 midterm elections, reflections from the grassroots volunteers behind Common Cause’s Social Media Monitoring campaign, and how to get involved in the modern fight for democracy!