Fast Company: Mistrust may lead to disinformation spread

UC study raises concerns that state officials won’t be able to contain voting misinformation

As the election approaches, experts fear that disinformation campaigns will cause Americans to believe that the election results are somehow illegitimate. A new study, cited in Fast Company, was conducted by UC’s Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy research team looked at public trust regarding election outcomes.

The team of political scientists and communications experts at the center surveyed nearly 9,000 Americans to determine the effect of positive messaging from state boards of elections to counter election disinformation.

Preliminary findings, published in The London School of Economics American Politics and Policy blog a week ahead of one of the most contentious presidential elections in modern history, concluded that attempts to correct disinformation about elections are generally ineffective, regardless of whether the voter is a Democrat or a Republican.

Read the entire Fast Company magazine article

Read more about the study

Featured image shows person holding a cell phone and scrolling through data. Photo/Maxim Ilyahov/Unsplash

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