Nov. 5: Viral election misinfo boosted on X

This is a shortened version of Get Smart About News, a free weekly newsletter that explores trends and issues in misinformation, social media, artificial intelligence and journalism. Subscribe HERE.

Top story of the week

Content moderation on X isn’t effectively weeding out election misinformation through Community Notes, its crowd-sourcing feature, according to a new report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. About 74% of accurate Community Notes for misleading posts weren’t being shown to X users, or 209 out of 283 posts sampled in the report.

The social media platform has also introduced incentives to post sensational false claims and conspiracies: X now pays Premium X users based on engagement. In a recent investigation, BBC interviewed X users who are doing this — including one who makes thousands a month sharing AI-generated political memes and images.

X owner Elon Musk has also shared election misinformation on the platform to more than 200 million followers, creating what one election official called a “huge problem” in battleground states that are outmatched by X’s algorithm.

Engage:

X is not as popular for kids as platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Even if they’re not using X, chat with them about this topic. If they were in charge of a tech company, what rules would they have in place to moderate content? What role do algorithms play in determining the information we see on social media? What is the impact of election misinformation on American democracy?

Related:

• “An Elon Musk-backed political group is posting fake Kamala Harris ads on Facebook” (Bobby Allyn, NPR).
• “Georgia official demands Elon Musk take down fake migrant voting video” (Justin Glawe and Andrew Perez, Rolling Stone).

Note:

False claims about election integrity — such as destroyed ballots, illegal voters and voting machines flipping votes — spiked in the days leading up to the election. Prepare for election night by reading this new NLP blog post, which has helpful tips to counter misinformation and links to a guide with five election disinformation trends to watch for.

RumorGuard posts of the week

NLP created RumorGuard to fact-check viral rumors and help you build news literacy skills. Sign up to push back against misinformation HERE.

Viral video falsely claims to show Trump votes being destroyed

❌ NO: This video does not show someone destroying genuine ballots for the 2024 presidential election with votes for former President Donald Trump in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

✅ YES: The Bucks County Board of Elections and the Bucks County Republican Committee both released statements confirming the video is fake and the ballots are not authentic.

★ NewsLit takeaway

The News Literacy Project’s Misinformation Dashboard: Election 2024 is seeing a sharp uptick in false claims related to election integrity. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Approach online claims about politics with skepticism.
• Practice patience while scrolling on social media, as misinformation travels faster than facts.
• Consider if the source of a claim is trustworthy.

A media forensics expert told the global news agency AFP that the video was likely created by a Russian propaganda group aiming to undermine confidence in elections in the United States. Social media users can expect to see similarly deceptive claims in the days ahead. When in doubt, check claims against standards-based news outlets and local election officials.

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No, states aren’t cheating if they don’t have results on election night

✅ YES: Election officials in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania say they don’t expect to be finished tallying and certifying votes by election night on Nov. 5.

❌ NO: A delay in certifying the results is not evidence of election fraud.

✅ YES: Some key swing states prohibit processing mail and absentee ballots until Election Day and others expect to report results in the days after due to high turnout or other reasons.

★ NewsLit takeaway

Misinformation about the election process spreads online to create doubts about the credibility of the results. Keep these points in mind:

1. A winner may not be confirmed on election night, especially if the race is close. This is common and not evidence of voter fraud.
2. Learning about the election process can safeguard against election misinformation.
3. Pause and think critically about the source of a viral claim before sharing it.

False claims often target gaps in our knowledge. This viral claim, for example, is built on a common misconception about the vote counting process, suggesting that a normal delay is something more sinister.

Kickers of the week

➕ What exactly are journalists so busy doing on Election Day? Here’s a peek at how The New York Times and The Associated Press cover the results.

➕ Press freedom conditions in four major swing states — Arizona, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania — show major shortcomings like hostility to media and lack of economic viability of news outlets, according to a new Reporters Without Borders report. Most journalists surveyed (94%) said that public records requests were stalled or ignored.

➕ Spanish-language misinformation is less likely to be corrected than falsehoods in English and tends to survive longer in apps popular among Latinos, such as YouTube and WhatsApp. Experts say culturally appropriate solutions, like understanding Venezuelans’ apprehension of government, must be considered when countering misinformation.

One last thing...

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