Misinformation on midterm elections likely to run rampant on Twitter, report says


After new Twitter owner Elon Musk fired a significant portion of the company's staff, election researchers are bracing for a slew of misinformation to hit the platform ahead of the midterms, Reuters reported Tuesday.
These researchers studied the dialogue on Twitter and found that "threats, offensive language, and false rumors of election fraud have been circulating widely," per Reuters. One common narrative stated that delays in vote counting are a result of fraud, a notion FactCheck.org reported as false.
Reuters highlighted a press briefing from Common Cause, a non-partisan organization aimed at monitoring social media for misinformation. Jesse Littlewood, the group's vice president for campaigns, said that misleading posts about the election were spreading on both Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Littlewood added, "We know that disinformation will spike after Election Day." While Twitter users are able to report false or misleading posts, Littlewood said the company's layoffs had already caused a "big slowdown" in responses to those reports.
Twitter responded in a statement, "It has taken Twitter much longer than normal to adjudicate if these tweets violate their policies." Per Reuters, tweets that were reported on Friday were still marked as "under review" as of Monday.
Eddie Perez, a board member of the election security nonprofit OSET Institute, also told Reuters that Musk's urging of a GOP-led Congress was also causing divisions. "If the billionaire owner of Twitter is supporting one side, users may give credence to false claims simply because they may be aligned with his apparent preferences," Perez said.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.
-
Film reviews: The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Cloud
Feature A space-age superhero team mounts a redo and Reality catches up with an online reseller
-
'Grief and condolences are not enough'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Senate confirms Trump loyalist Bove to top court
Speed Read The president's former criminal defense lawyer was narrowly approved to earn a lifetime seat
-
Senate confirms Trump loyalist Bove to top court
Speed Read The president's former criminal defense lawyer was narrowly approved to earn a lifetime seat
-
Ghislaine Maxwell offers testimony for immunity
Speed Read The convicted sex trafficker offered to testify to Congress about her relationship with late boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein
-
Judge halts GOP defunding of Planned Parenthood
Speed Read The Trump administration can't withhold Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood, said the ruling
-
Trump contradicts Israel, says 'starvation' in Gaza
Speed Read The president suggests Israel could be doing more to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians
-
Trump executive order targets homeless
Speed Read It will now be easier for states and cities to remove homeless people from the streets
-
Columbia pays $200M to settle with White House
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the school of failing to protect its Jewish students amid pro-Palestinian protests
-
Florida judge and DOJ make Epstein trouble for Trump
Speed Read The Trump administration's request to release grand jury transcripts from the Epstein investigation was denied
-
Trump attacks Obama as Epstein furor mounts
Speed Read The Trump administration accused the Obama administration of 'treasonous' behavior during the 2016 election