Please don't amplify conspiracy theories!

The reality is that it always takes time for some states to count all the votes; when these rumors started ramping up, there were over ten million uncounted ballots in California alone. But, many people don’t know that this is how things always work. So, with emotions high in the aftermath of the election, disinformation purveyors are taking advantage of the opportunity to get well-intentioned people to help amplify conspiracy theories.

If you see allegations of “millions of missing votes” or voting machine fraud, please don’t amplify them! Instead:

  • If it’s somebody you know, send them a private message letting them know that they’re unintentionally amplifying a false rumor.

  • If it’s not somebody you know, report it to the moderators as disinformation.

  • The Nexus of Privacy@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
    92·
    2 months ago

    Sure, if it’s somebody you know or trust who’s saying this, then it’s not disinformation; agreed about helping them contact election officials and/or other authorities, and if you think it’s useful to amplify it, then I’m not trying to talk you out of it.

    If it’s not somebody you know or trust, then amplifying it is quite possibly helping out a disinformation campaign.

    And in any case, amplifying individual claims is very different from the unsupported claims about “millions of missing votes”, and that’s what I am trying to talk people out of.