Worried about internet trolls and foreign powers spreading false news, census officials are preparing to battle misinformation campaigns for the first time in the count's 230-year history. Who participates in the 2020 census count could influence how U.S. congressional seats and billions of federal
1 / 2Census MisinformationFILE - In this April 23, 2019, file photo, immigration activists rally outside the Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments over the Trump administration's plan to ask about citizenship on the 2020 Census, in Washington. Worried about internet trolls and foreign powers spreading false news, census officials are preparing to battle misinformation campaigns for the first time in the bureau’s 230-year history.
Fake posts about the census began popping up days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration could not ask about citizenship status on the 2020 census: Conservative bloggers, Twitter users and pundits falsely blamed former President Barack Obama for scrubbing the question from the form in 2010.
Story continues"In terms of the bad actors that are pushing this type of content — absolutely, foreign parties, particularly Russia and China, are concerns in the case of the census, as well as domestic operators," Ghosh added. As a first line of defense, census officials have spent months forging relationships with dozens of technology companies that keep close guard on their massive datasets and proprietary information.
Facebook will use a mix of people and artificial intelligence to spot, review and remove troublesome posts. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Congress on Wednesday that the company would soon release a new census policy similar to its election rules, which prohibit false content about voting hours, location and registration on its site.
There are precedents for such partnerships. Many Silicon Valley companies have worked with governments to manage emergency preparedness, anti-vaccine misinformation and protect voter registration rights.
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