Disinformation in 2020: How Breaking News is Being Used to Suppress the Online Vote

This session speaks to social media analysts, researchers and reporters who are examining how breaking news stories like the COVID-19 crisis or Black Lives Matter protests are being used to encourage Black voters not to go to the polls. The social media accounts under examination by this team are the American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS), Candace Owens, Tariq Nasheed and Umar Johnson. According to an investigation conducted by special agent Robert Mueller, in 2016 the Internet Research Agency (IRA) created Facebook and Instagram accounts with names like the “Blacktivist” and “Woke Blacks.” These operatives initially used these accounts to celebrate Black culture and history, but as the presidential election grew closer IRA agents started to suggest Black voters should not go to the polls. This is an act of online voter suppression, a new front in the war to strip African Americans of their constitutional rights to vote. In this session we discuss the groups under investigation, discuss our initial research on their activity and leave journalists with an insight into the impact the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide Black Lives Matter protests will have on the 2020 election.