Why Disinformation Is a Major Threat to the 2020 Election

Social media companies have found no magic bullet to fight disinformation, or “fake news,” since the 2016 U.S. elections. If anything, America’s adversaries, including Russia and China, have become “more adept at using social media to alter how we think, behave and decide,” according to the U.S. intelligence community’s threat assessment, and they have branched beyond politics to other hot-button issues including the coronavirus pandemic. Disinformation isn’t just a foreign threat, as it’s becoming a more common tactic within American politics.

U.S. intelligence agencies warned that countries including Russia, China and Iran see the 2020 election as another opportunity to promote their strategic interests. On Aug. 7, those agencies reported that China and Iran would like to sway U.S. voters against President Donald Trump while Russia is using tools including social media and Russian television to work against his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden. Facebook and Twitter say the Russian group that interfered in the 2016 presidential election, the Kremlin-connected Internet Research Agency, is active once again, using fake accounts to undermine Biden’s candidacy. Facebook and Twitter said they were warned about the renewed Russian efforts by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.