WASHINGTON – With just five months left until voters go to the polls, the U.S. may be more vulnerable to foreign disinformation aimed at influencing voters and undermining democracy than it was before the 2020 election, the leader of the Intelligence Committee said Monday. of the Senate.
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, based his warning on several factors: better disinformation tactics by Russia It is Chinathe rise of national candidates and groups who are themselves willing to spread misinformationand the arrival of artificial intelligence programs that allow you to quickly create images, audio and video that are difficult to distinguish from the real thing.
Additionally, tech companies have scaled back their efforts to protect users from misinformation, even as the government’s own attempts to combat the problem have become mired in debates over surveillance and censorship.
As a result, the U.S. could face a greater threat from foreign disinformation ahead of the 2024 election than it did in the 2016 or 2020 presidential election cycles, Warner said.
“We may be less prepared 155 days earlier in 2024 than we were under President Trump (in 2020),” Warner told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.
Observing similar campaigns in 2016 It is 2020Security officials, democracy activists and disinformation researchers have warned for years that Russia, China, Iran and domestic groups in the U.S. will use online platforms to spread false and polarizing content designed to influence the race between Trump, a Republican, and the president. Joe Biden, a Democrat.
Warner’s assessment of U.S. vulnerability comes just weeks after senior security officials told the Intelligence Committee that the U.S. greatly improved its capacity to combat foreign disinformation.
Several new challenges, however, will make safeguarding the 2024 elections different from previous cycles.
AI programs have already been used to generate misleading content, such as a robocall that imitated Biden’s voice telling New Hampshire voters not to vote in that state’s primary. Misleading deepfakes created with AI programs also emerged ahead of the elections in India, Mexico, Moldova, Slovakia and Bangladesh.
Federal agencies’ attempts to communicate with technology companies about disinformation campaigns have been complicated by court cases It is debates on the role of government in monitoring political discourse.
Tech platforms have largely moved away from aggressive policies banning election disinformation. X, formerly Twitter, fired most of its content moderators in favor of a hands-off approach that now allows neo-Nazi hate speech, Russian propaganda and disinformation.
Last year YouTube, owned by Google, reversed its policy banning debunked election claims and now allowing videos that argue the 2020 election was the result of widespread fraud.
Questions about China’s influence on TikTok led Congress to pass a law that would ban the popular site in the US if its Beijing-based owner refuses to divest.
Meta, owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, prohibits information that interferes with electoral processes and regularly removes foreign influence operations when he identifies them. The platform also claims that it will label content made with AI. But the company also allows political ads that claim that the 2020 elections were riggedwhich critics say undermines its promises.
“I’m not sure that these companies, other than the press release, did anything significant,” Warner said.
Representatives for X and TikTok did not immediately respond to messages Monday.
