Now that Election Day is here, so is a torrent of misinformation. Election officials, campaigns and others have had to continuously monitor and refute false social media posts, and, in some cases, the odds and algorithms appear to be stacked against truth. Late Monday, federal authorities issued a lengthy statement documenting multiple instances of election-related misinformation generated or promoted by agents of Russia and Iran.

(Since Friday, the U.S. Intelligence Community) has been observing foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans. The IC expects these activities will intensify through election day and in the coming weeks, and that foreign influence narratives will focus on swing states.

The most important principle to fighting misinformation is to "flood the zone" with accurate information so that your audience knows where to find it. This is where establishing relationships long before major events plays a role. If people already know you, they're more likely to trust you when controversies arise. It's also where generative AI can help you create your own targeted content faster. Promoting better scrutiny of content before sharing it also would help. (See the "SIFT Method" below.)

Tips to deal with misinformation now

• Be vigilant and ready to communicate rapidly and effectively when misinformation shows up. On Friday, the FBI posted a statement to X soon after fake videos purporting to be from the agency were published. The FBI message directly refuted the fake content and told people where to get authoritative information.

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• Responding to misinformation does not necessarily mean coming out and directly saying “that’s wrong.” Directly replying to a social media account that posts misinformation likely amplifies it. Instead, make sure that the audience sees what's accurate. Cite or link to false information only if absolutely necessary.

• When facing misinformation, understand where it's coming from. Your reaction to a sincere but misinformed member of your community must be different from misinformation originating from foreign interests or others whose goal is disruption. In some cases, community members inadvertently spread foreign-created misinformation because they believe it and don't realize its genesis.

"U.S. citizens pick up this information and pick up these videos, and then they promote it on their own accounts and on their own social media platforms like Facebook," said Chris Krebs, former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, in an interview Sunday on CBS Face the Nation. Krebs credited Georgia election officials for quickly and definitively knocking down false reports about ballot destruction.

According to the Washington Post, Russia employed a former Palm Beach County, Florida sheriff’s deputy to create deep fakes that targeted American voters, including a faked video smearing one of this year’s candidates that was seen more than 5 million times on X in just 24 hours. Just a few days ago, another video that U.S. officials say was created by Russian agents purported to show ballots being destroyed instead of counted in Pennsylvania. These videos have been posted to X accounts that previously promoted false conspiracy theories. U.S. intelligence officials also blame Russia for fueling misinformation related to recent hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina.

Promote news literacy and healthy skepticism

Even if you have systems in place to detect misinformation and AI-generated fake content, the SIFT Method is a good practice both to follow and teach to others.

1. Stop and think before sharing content. Some of the most dangerous misinformation spreads because it appears to be urgent.

2. Investigate the source. If cited to a media outlet, is it one that is reputable, or could it be fake?

3. Find better coverage of the issue or event. Go to a trustworthy media outlet, a fact-checking website or other source.

4. Trace the claim to see if the media outlet you are reading was the originator or if the story was "picked up" from elsewhere. Dig to get as close to the primary source as you can. This is especially important for images.

Find out more

If you're interested in worksheets to improve messaging when confronting misinformation or booking a workshop on using AI to improve communications, let's talk.