I monitored social media in shifts with grassroots Election Protection volunteers. We were monitoring for election disinformation and voters with questions about voting.
Here’s what we saw.
But first, definitions!
On Tuesday I led a small but mighty team of Election Protection volunteers in monitoring social media. We monitored social media platforms for posts from voters in need of support, and for posts from Bad Actors containing disinformation about the elections and voting.
Disinformation:
Intentional attempts by Bad Actors to mislead those seeking information.
Misinformation:
False information shared by good or neutral actors in an earnest attempt to inform.
Bad Actor:
A partisan, or financially interested actor, who knowingly deceives for personal gain.
Election Protection Volunteer:
someone who volunteers their time during elections to ensure that voters are informed and supported while voting, regardless of their political affiliation.
Disinformation is obscured as to not further amplify harmful election falsehoods. For more information about methodology or for access to the full list of disinformation narratives tracked on election day, reach out to me at contact@raelyn.info
A new generation of Democracy Workers Supported voters while social media users kept misinformation in check.
Post from a user experiencing serious “I voted” selfie FOMO (fear of missing out)
On TikTok and Instagram, the newest generation of election workers shared pro-democracy content, polling location updates, and tips for a smooth voting experience. Some posted ‘get ready with me’ videos and others posted early morning Q&A (question and answer) videos while waiting for voters in their community to arrive at the polls.
On all platforms, “I voted” selfies from voters of all ages steadily trickled in throughout the day. This off year election saw record turnout in NYC, Texas, and Minneapolis.
In comparison to previous years, we found very few voters in need of support, posting on social media. Yet, calls to the Virginia Election Protection hotline received a record number of calls. On Reddit and Twitter (X), we were happy to see users calling out disinformation and correcting each others’ misinformation.
Posts containing election disinformation over-performed on social media.
After a conducting key term searches on all platforms for posts containing the words “vote” or “election”, we found that posts containing election disinformation had the highest engagement. These posts are largely concentrated on Twitter (X) and Truth Social, with little crossover to more mainstream online spaces.
The disinformation themes used by Bad Actors were:
Debunked claims of non-citizen voters
Baseless claims of election rigging and fraud
Misrepresentation of isolated clerical errors and voting disturbances as a coordinated conspiracy to steal the election.
Grok AI contained misleading and politically biased claims in response to user prompts regarding the elections
XAI’s chatbot Grok AI was seen routinely generating responses that showed political bias. To the upset of users, Grok appeared to endorse voting for Democrats, then backtracked with anti-trans disinformation when users questioned the partisan endorsements.
Throughout the day Grok was seen citing the Heritage Foundation, advocating for voter suppression laws, and emphatically validating Elon Musk’s posts containing Voter ID disinformation. The most shocking response was when Grok seemingly provided instructions for completing voter fraud.
Thank You <3
A special thank you to the Voter Protection Corps for contracting my services to support their non-partisan election protection work for the Virginia elections. It was truly a pleasure to work alongside your team and inform grassroots advocacy and mobilization strategy. Your support ensured that my programming remained free and accessible, and that my needs for the month were met.
To Amanda, Alexis, Denine, Michelle, and Raz- thank you for volunteering your time to monitor in community alongside me. I am forever inspired by your principled senses of civic duty. Your activism serves as a guiding light towards information, especially so during dark times ( aka- long shifts on Truth Social and Twitter ; )
What are your thought?