Battling Digital Disinformation Takes More Than Government, Platforms, FEC Told
Fighting digital disinformation and its potential to affect the 2020 elections requires lawmakers, academia, think tanks, the public, civic society and digital platforms, said speakers Tuesday. They noted tensions between battling disinformation and jeopardizing free speech. The Federal Election Commission organized the event with PEN America and the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center.
Several urged more coordination among intelligence agencies and with state and local authorities. “Congress must ensure that federal agencies share -- rather than silo -- intelligence about specific threats,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla. Congress should enable intelligence officials to share information with state and local authorities, which is often stymied because they lack security clearance, she said.
“We need to understand that disinformation operations are part of a larger strategy to undermine our democracy,” said Laura Rosenberger, director of the bipartisan Alliance for Security Democracy. “Identifying malicious actors requires new information sharing within government.” She urged better use of open-source information.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., backed international development of new rules for cyber and information operations and better enforcing "existing norms.” The U.S. needs to build international support for rules that “embrace a free and open internet” and apply to governments and the private sector, he said: Companies that help authoritarian governments build censored apps are “just as big a threat to a free and open internet as government actors.”
Warner and others noted lack of regulation for internet platforms. That some 40 bills are in Congress and none has passed is “an appalling indictment of our legislature and our government,” said Kara Swisher, Recode editor-at-large.
Aimee Rinehart, a First Draft editor, emphasized digital literacy training so people distinguish between legitimate sources and disinformation and call out the latter. Boyer recommended computer programmer ethics courses.
Much criticism targeted Facebook and Google. They declined to participate, but had representatives attending, said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. Two people raised their hands as those representatives, with one saying he attended “to listen and learn.”