{"id":37637,"date":"2019-09-14T09:14:47","date_gmt":"2019-09-14T16:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=37637"},"modified":"2019-09-14T09:14:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-14T16:14:47","slug":"everyday-erinyes-183","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2019\/09\/14\/everyday-erinyes-183\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #183"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

Today’s article does not really contain any new information, even to the furies, but it puts a great deal of information together which we have looked at sepratatey, and does so at a good time. If you think you have already seen this article this week, you have – because The Conversation uses a Creative Commons license, it is easy tp republish their material, and several good sites did. But that only shows how important the information is. And, if you missed it, it might be easier to find it hear to review down the road than many of the other places it’s found.
\n==================================================================<\/p>\n

How disinformation could sway the 2020 election<\/h1>\n
What people read online could really disrupt society and politics.
\nigorstevanovic\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paul M. Barrett<\/a>, New York University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In 2016, Russian operatives used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube<\/a> to sow division among American voters<\/a> and boost Donald Trump\u2019s presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

What the Russians used to accomplish this is called \u201cdisinformation,\u201d which is false or misleading content intended to deceive or promote discord. Now, with the first presidential primary vote only five months away, the public should be aware of the sources and types of online disinformation likely to surface during the 2020 election.<\/p>\n

First, the Russians will be back. Don\u2019t be reassured<\/a> by the notorious Russian Internet Research Agency\u2019s relatively negligible presence during last year\u2019s midterm elections. The agency might have been keeping its powder dry in anticipation of the 2020 presidential race. And it helped that U.S. Cyber Command, an arm of the military, reportedly blocked<\/a> the agency\u2019s internet access for a few days right before the election in November 2018.<\/p>\n

Temporarily shutting down the Internet Research Agency won\u2019t be enough to stop the flow of harmful content. Lee Foster, who leads the disinformation team at the cybersecurity firm FireEye, told me in an interview that the agency is \u201ca small component of the overall Russian operation,\u201d which also includes Moscow\u2019s military intelligence service and possibly other organizations. Over time, Foster said, \u201cAll of these actors rework their approaches and tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s more to fear than just the Russians. I\u2019m the author of a new report<\/a> on disinformation and the 2020 election published by the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights. In the report, I predict that the Russians won\u2019t be alone in spreading disinformation in 2020. Their most likely imitator will be Iran, especially if hostility between Tehran and Washington continues to mount.<\/p>\n

Disinformation isn\u2019t just Russian<\/h2>\n

In May, acting on a tip from FireEye, Facebook took down nearly 100 Iranian-related accounts<\/a>, pages and groups. The Iranian network had used fake American identities to espouse both conservative and liberal political views<\/a>, while also promoting extremely divisive anti-Saudi, anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian themes.<\/p>\n

As Senate Intelligence Committee co-chair Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, has said, \u201cThe Iranians are now following the Kremlin\u2019s playbook<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

While foreign election interference has dominated discussion of disinformation, most intentionally false content targeting U.S. social media is generated by domestic sources<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I believe that will continue to be the case in 2020. President Trump often uses Twitter to circulate conspiracy theories and cast his foes as corrupt<\/a>. One story line he pushes is that Facebook, Twitter and Google are colluding with Democrats to undermine him<\/a>. Introducing a right-wing \u201csocial media summit\u201d<\/a> at the White House in July, he tweeted about the \u201ctremendous dishonesty, bias, discrimination<\/a>, and suppression practiced by certain companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters of Democrats also have trafficked in disinformation. In December 2017, a group of liberal activists created fake Facebook pages<\/a> designed to mislead conservative voters<\/a> in a special U.S. Senate race in Alabama. Matt Osborne, who has acknowledged being involved<\/a> in the Alabama scheme, told me that in 2020, \u201cyou\u2019re going to see a movement toward [political spending from undisclosed sources] on digital campaigns in the closing days of the race.\u201d He suggests there could be an effort to discourage Republicans from voting with \u201can image of a red wave with a triumphal statement that imbues them with a sense of inevitable victory: \u2018No need to bother voting. Trump has got it in the bag.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Spreading fake videos<\/h2>\n

Also likely to surface next year: \u201cdeepfake<\/a>\u201d videos. This technique produces highly convincing \u2013 but false \u2013 images and audio. In a recent letter to the CEOs<\/a> of Facebook, Google and Twitter, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, wrote: \u201cA timely, convincing deepfake video<\/a> of a candidate\u201d that goes viral on a platform \u201ccould hijack a race \u2013 and even alter the course of history. \u2026 The consequences for our democracy could be devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n