Disinformation and New Technologies
Expert Trainer: Jesse Littlewood
Jesse Littlewood is the Chair and Policy Director with the Voter Protection Corps. From 2016-2022 Jesse led the counter disinformation work for the largest national non-partisan voter protection coalition. As Vice President for Campaigns at Common Cause, Jesse led a campaign that recruited 40,000 Election Protection volunteers in 2020. Jesse has decades of experience in democracy, environmental and public interest advocacy, growing grassroots online and offline support and raising millions in small dollar funding for nonpartisan causes. His leadership in the field brought him to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government as a lecturer, where he designed and taught course titled “Social Change in the Digital Age.” Jesse lives in Boston.
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.
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.