Disinformation and New Technologies
Expert Trainer: Melissa Price Kromm
Melissa Price Kromm is the Chair and Executive Director of North Carolina For the People, where she has served as the leader of the statewide pro-democracy coalition for the past fourteen years. The coalition coordinates advocacy in structural democracy, voting rights, campaign finance reform, government ethics and transparency, redistricting reform, judicial independence, the right to protest, and election crisis prevention. Price Kromm led efforts to pass campaign finance disclosure reform, voting rights reform, and stop attacks on judicial independence. Recently, Price Kromm led the coalition to stop bills promoting campaign finance secrecy, attacking the freedom to vote, limiting the right to protest, and spearheaded pioneering legislation to prevent election sabotage. Before joining, Kromm was part of a successful effort to pass same-day voter registration at early voting sites in North Carolina and pre-registration of 16 and 17-year-olds.
KEY IDEAS
Voter suppression and intimidation is nothing new, but the social media era has created next threats and contexts.
Today, disinformation can spread rapidly at no cost. This content builds on and amplifies division and inequality, stoking fears of a multiracial democracy and creating conditions where violence is deemed acceptable.
Disinformation draws on common messages and themes.
Disinformation often spreads false information about the date, time and manner of the election, including the presence of law enforcement at the polls. It also attempts to sew distrust in the election process and outcome, making claims about illegal voting and/or unsolicited ballots, and taking isolated incidents of human error out of context in an effort to make sweeping claims about the integrity of the election process.
North Carolina faces specific challenges.
In addition to direct and indirect voter intimidation, such as the group that harassed voters about their registration status in 2022, North Carolina has been inundated with disinformation related to Hurricane Helene and FEMA, including false information about how the disaster impacts voters’ ability to cast their ballots.
The quantity of disinformation online has increased significantly, and only a fraction of that content will be reviewed and taken down.
Not all disinformation meets social media platforms’ standards for removal under their terms of service. Platforms are also limited, both in their capacity and their will, to remove content that does violate their terms of service. While flagging disinformation for removal can occasionally be effective, it is important to have other rapid response tools to address false claims.