Protecting Elections from Disinformation

Doctored images, deceptive campaign ads, incorrect information about the location of polling places and suspicious text messages. These are all tactics for spreading election disinformation - or false and misleading information intended to influence how citizens vote..

Since the Brexit referendum and U.S. election in 2016, concern about election disinformation has increased worldwide.

Election disinformation is a particularly tricky challenge for civil servants. Its spread reflects what some see as a troubling decline in political elites’ support of and adherence to democratic processes. And without political support, civil servants can be limited in their ability to address it.

Laws and policies to stop election disinformation are too often poorly enforced around the world

In recent years, some countries with strong institutions and supportive political elites have used a range of levers to curb the spread and impact of election disinformation. But others have struggled as political players have actively promoted false and misleading information in an attempt to achieve their political goals.

A virtual exchange held on July 14 by Apolitical - in partnership with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the Reset Initiative — brought together 50 civil servants and experts to discuss the state of election disinformation and review efforts to stop. While acknowledging the political nature of the problem, the participants highlighted steps that civil servants, media and civil society can take.

Enforcing existing laws and policies

Many countries already have laws to protect elections. France, for example, has a strong and long-standing legal framework to curb the impact of misinformation on elections. Since 1966, France has prohibited paid political advertisements in the six months before an election. In 2011, this law was updated to explicitly include social media.

A 2018 law empowers judges to remove false and misleading content during election campaigns. The law also puts the responsibility on platforms to ensure the transparency of algorithms, promote legitimate news sources and promote information literacy.

To determine the scope of election disinformation, civil servants and academics need access to publicly valuable data now held by platforms

Other countries — like Canada and Ireland — have employed strategies like media blackouts (stopping news coverage for a set period of time ahead of an election) and bans on foreign advertisements to stop the spread of election disinformation.

But, unfortunately, laws and policies to stop election disinformation are too often poorly enforced around the world. Participants said that the responsible institutions — like local boards of elections — can be underfunded and understaffed. Civil servants also need support to gain the technical literacy to identify when an election is being manipulated — departments need to have a data scientist to interpret.

Pressuring tech platforms to act and increase transparency

Like governments, many tech platforms already have good policies in place, but do not always prioritize their enforcement. Civil servants outside of the U.S. — and particularly in Southern democracies — can struggle to reach the people within tech companies with the authority to stop the spread of false and misleading content during an election. Given the urgency of the challenge, platforms need to be more accessible and responsive to their concerns.

Furthermore, to determine the scope of election disinformation, civil servants and academics need access to publicly valuable data now held by platforms. Participants said that governments should require the release of at least some of that data to public institutions.

Platforms can also do more to elevate credible nonpartisan voices and the reliable election information that they provide - particularly in the days and weeks leading up to an election. Information from these types of sources — like election commissions and local boards of election — should be prioritized by platform algorithms.

Increasing cross-country collaboration

Ultimately, the participants did not believe that tech platforms would do enough voluntarily to stop election disinformation. As with other types of disinformation, false and misleading election content is often highly engaging — and therefore highly profitable for tech platforms which rely on ad revenue.

International collaboration is needed to require that platforms put in sufficient safeguards. Participants affirmed the power of international cooperation to increase pressure and make platforms more willing to act. While different countries have different needs, working together to push for overarching principles of cooperation can help move platforms to action.

Despite the challenges, more cross-country collaboration is critical to tackling disinformation

Cross-country collaboration is also vital for knowledge sharing. Civil servants and academics need more safe spaces to work together to better understand the scope and scale of the problem and what is effective in the fight against election disinformation. Learning what’s working elsewhere can help public servants to adapt those policies for their own contexts.

However, cross-country knowledge sharing can also be challenging in this context. Countries look at the issue differently, and collaboration would be aided by more common standards and language. Electoral timeframes also vary - which means that when one country is ramping up its effort to protect an upcoming election, others may be moving onto other issues.

Furthermore, approaches to addressing election disinformation must consider the country context. The 2018 French law faced significant criticism from critics, who felt it went too far in restricting speech and gave too much authority to judges to be arbiters of truth. And indeed, the French law does reflect the country’s willingness to accept limits on speech that may be considered too severe elsewhere.

But despite the challenges, the participants agreed more cross-country collaboration is critical to tackling disinformation. With a global problem of this scale and severity, national efforts alone will never be enough.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)