{"id":1640707,"date":"2022-09-14T07:34:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T11:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1640707"},"modified":"2022-09-14T07:34:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T11:34:22","slug":"heres-how-big-tech-plans-to-rig-the-2022-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-how-big-tech-plans-to-rig-the-2022-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s How Big Tech Plans To Rig The 2022 Midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fheres-how-big-tech-plans-to-rig-the-2022-midterms%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1640707&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>As the 2022 midterms loom, big tech companies are again announcing their plans to meddle in U.S. elections by censoring news and information. Social media censorship ramped up dramatically following President Donald Trump\u2019s 2016 victory, leading to companies such as Twitter and Facebook\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/confirmed-fbi-colluded-with-big-tech-to-prevent-voters-from-learning-about-hunter-bidens-laptop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">colluding<\/a>\u00a0with Democrat operatives in intelligence agencies to censor and suppress factual\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/10\/12\/one-year-later-the-posts-hunter-biden-reporting-is-vindicated-but-still-buried\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stories<\/a>\u00a0that harmed then-candidate Joe Biden during his 2020 campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, following heavy\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/09\/02\/exposing-biden-regimes-collusion-with-big-tech-to-suppress-conservative-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">documentation<\/a> of the meddling,\u00a0big tech companies are intent on using the same strategy. And they\u2019re openly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/23\/technology\/midterms-misinformation-tiktok-facebook.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitting as much<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Facebook\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Nick Clegg, president of global affairs for Meta \u2014 Facebook\u2019s parent company \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2022\/08\/meta-plans-for-2022-us-midterms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>\u00a0in a blog post that Facebook\u2019s approach to the 2022 midterms will be \u201clargely consistent with the policies and safeguards\u201d from 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Posts rated as false or partly false by one of Facebook\u2019s 11 so-called\u00a0\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/formedia\/mjp\/programs\/third-party-fact-checking\/partner-map\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fact-checkers<\/a>\u201d\u00a0will receive a label titled \u201cfalse information,\u201d causing their outreach to be dramatically limited. During the 2020 election, NeverTrump outlet The Dispatch \u2014 one of the fact-checkers \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/10\/16\/nevertrump-website-the-dispatch-colludes-with-big-tech-to-censor-sba-lists-pro-life-ads\/\">published an inaccurate \u201cfact-check<\/a>\u201d that shut down public communications from pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List just weeks before the election.<\/p>\n<p>Lead Stories, one of Facebook\u2019s many left-wing \u201cfact check\u201d censors, is <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/12\/14\/facebooks-nonpartisan-fact-checking-arbiter-trashed-republicans-on-russian-propaganda-outlet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">partly funded<\/a> by the Democratic National Committee as well as Beijing-based ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok. In 2020, Lead Stories was responsible for censoring The Federalist\u2019s own correct <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/12\/07\/no-the-georgia-vote-counting-video-was-not-debunked-not-even-close\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reporting<\/a> about the Georgia election. After The Federalist criticized Lead Stories for its fake \u201cfact-checking,\u201d it was censored <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/12\/07\/china-funded-facebook-fact-checker-is-now-censoring-criticism-of-its-fake-fact-checks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">again<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While accurate stories about\u00a0Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop were never fact-checked, their reach was also limited in 2020, as Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BN3PIGLDscQ\">admitted<\/a> in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. According to Zuckerberg, the FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/30\/zuckerbergs-admission-of-fbi-meddling-in-2020-election-is-even-bigger-than-it-seems\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pressured<\/a> Facebook to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story by falsely claiming it was Russian disinformation. <\/p>\n<p>Such collusion between the intelligence community and Facebook is sure to continue: in its <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Factsheet-2.0_Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2022 Factsheet<\/a> outlining its approach to the U.S. midterms, the company writes that it will be\u00a0\u201cworking with federal government partners including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, as well as local and state election officials and industry peers, to make sure we\u2019re all preparing for different scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While discussing their approach to the midterms with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/23\/technology\/midterms-misinformation-tiktok-facebook.html\">The New York Times<\/a>, Facebook employees said\u00a0the company will take a \u201cgreater interest\u201d in censoring information that it claims could lead to \u201creal-world violence\u201d like the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. <\/p>\n<p>According to internal documents obtained by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/facebook-suppresses-political-movements-patriot-party-11634937358\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a>, Facebook\u2019s Disaggregating Harmful Networks Taskforce tracks hundreds of thousands of users and pages that could \u201cdistribute potentially harmful content.\u201d Once Facebook employees identify a \u201cdangerous information corridor\u201d \u2014 networks of accounts, pages, and groups \u2014 they work to undermine it, usually by removing popular accounts or severely restricting users\u2019 ability to transmit information. This is the same strategy Facebook applied when it censored more than 700,000 \u201cStop the Steal\u201d supporters after the Jan 6. riot. <\/p>\n<p>Yet Facebook took no action against the Democrat-funded and coordinated operation to question the legitimacy of the 2016 election by falsely accusing Donald Trump of being a traitor who stole the election by colluding with Russia. That lie, which led to mass public hysteria and years of investigations, is allowed free rein on its platform. Facebook\u2019s so-called \u201cfact-checkers\u201d included journalists who participated in spreading the lie or otherwise allowed it to continue without censorship via fact-checking.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this open political double standard, an internal memo from the task force claimed \u201can individual can question election results. But when it\u2019s amplified by a movement, it can damage democracy. There is harm in the way movements shift norms and an understanding of collective truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Twitter\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In August, Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TwitterSafety\/status\/1557713456098312195?s=20&amp;t=ACy_trOJpbvpRfarVfBQDg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a>\u00a0it would begin enforcing its \u201cCivic Integrity Policy\u201d for the 2022 midterms. This means taking \u201caction against misleading claims about the voting process, misleading content intended to intimidate or dissuade people from participating in the election, or misleading claims that may undermine public confidence in elections outcomes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Like Facebook, Twitter will label what it claims is \u201cfalse or misleading\u201d information as misinformation. Oonce labeled, such content will not be distributed by the company\u2019s algorithms. Twitter may also remove \u201cfalse or misleading\u201d tweets entirely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn cases where there is potential for harm associated with the false or misleading claim, the Tweet may not be liked or shared to prevent the spread of the misleading information,\u201d a company blog post\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.twitter.com\/en_us\/topics\/company\/2022\/-our-approach-to-the-2022-us-midterms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reads<\/a>. Such a policy is unlikely to apply to disinformation from the left. For example, during the 2020 election, Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/news\/twitter-says-viral-mailbox-misinformation-does-not-violate-companys-policies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused<\/a> to censor viral tweets pushing misinformation about USPS mailboxes that negatively affected the right. <\/p>\n<p>Ironically \u2014 as Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/12\/the-2024-election-is-being-rigged-right-now-in-plain-sight\/\">notes<\/a> \u2013 Twitter was probably the single greatest source of disinformation during the 2020 election. Just weeks before the election, the social media company worked overtime to censor The New York Post\u2019s story on First Son Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop, even locking the Post\u2019s account and those of other users\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/10\/14\/kayleigh-mcenany-locked-out-of-twitter-for-sharing-posts-hunter-biden-story\/\">who tried to distribute it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As such, Twitter \u201cbrazenly hid a story from its users that, had they seen it, would have been quite damaging to Biden and certainly would have caused some people to change their votes,\u201d Davidson wrote. Davidson was later <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/30\/twitter-locked-my-account-for-telling-the-truth-about-rachel-levine\/\">deplatformed by Twitter<\/a> for saying scientifically accurate truths about biological distinctions between men and women. Twitter routinely bans effective communicators who question left-wing narratives pushed by its company and other activists.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, no censorship comes close to the level of Twitter (and Facebook)<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.twitter.com\/en_us\/topics\/company\/2020\/suspension\"> banning then-President Trump<\/a>, leader of the Republican Party, from their platforms after the Jan. 6 riot \u2014 effectively cutting off communication from the president of the United States to his supporters and the rest of the country. <\/p>\n<h2>TikTok<\/h2>\n<p>Arguably the most popular social network in America right now, TikTok <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.tiktok.com\/en-us\/our-commitment-to-election-integrity\">announced<\/a> that it would also be countering so-called election misinformation through its Elections Center, a segment of the app that\u00a0will\u00a0\u201cconnect people who engage with election content to authoritative information and sources in more than 45 languages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As Federalist Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/23\/tiktoks-new-elections-center-is-a-massive-threat-to-national-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, this gives the Chinese-owned social media company access to the voting profiles of all American users who opt to use TikTok\u2019s Elections Center. As TikTok\u2019s parent company, ByteDance, is connected to the Chinese Communist Party, TikTok\u2019s Elections Center \u201cwill put detailed voter profiles in the hands of a company based in Beijing, stocked with party members and state employees, subject to laws that allow the Chinese government data access.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As Jashinsky notes, China could influence the midterm elections using this data, as well as censoring American public discourse in favor of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s geopolitical ambitions by either fomenting public discord or undermining anti-CCP politicians under the guise of \u201ccombatting misinformation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>YouTube<\/h2>\n<p>YouTube was the last major social media platform to announce that it, too, had a plan to combat misinformation leading up to November\u2019s general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a\u00a0Sept. 1<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.youtube\/news-and-events\/the-2022-us-midterm-elections-on-youtube\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> blog post<\/a>, the company wrote that searches for midterm-related videos will prioritize \u201ccontent coming from authoritative national and local news sources like PBS NewsHour, The Wall Street Journal, Univision and local ABC, CBS and NBC affiliates,\u201d although many of these corporate media outlets possess a heavy left-wing bias. Any content deemed \u201cborderline\u201d misinformation will be prevented from being widely distributed.<\/p>\n<p>YouTube also claimed it will remove \u201celection content that violates our policies,\u201d including \u201cmisleading voters on how to vote, encouraging interference in the democratic process, inciting violence, or advancing certain types of election misinformation,\u201d which includes \u201celection integrity\u201d content. <\/p>\n<p>While this policy will be enforced regardless of \u201cpolitical viewpoint,\u201d the company emphasized that videos \u201cclaiming widespread fraud, errors, or glitches occurred in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, or alleging the election was stolen or rigged\u201d would violate its policies. YouTube allows members of the Democrat Party to continue using its platform to claim elections it loses are rigged or stolen.<\/p>\n<h2>Snapchat<\/h2>\n<p>Democratic organizations were accidentally granted access to a trove of Republican voter data on Snapchat, enabling them to hone their political ads leading up to the 2022 midterms. As Federalist Staff Writer Shawn Fleetwood <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/09\/snaps-gop-voter-data-abuse-is-just-another-example-of-big-techs-election-interference-on-behalf-of-democrats\/\">reports<\/a>, a \u201cslip-up\u201d by Snapchat gave groups such as the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams\u2019 gubernatorial campaign access to voter data by Republican-aligned firm i360. Such groups used the data to create targeted political ads to sway voters.<\/p>\n<p>While Snapchat claims it is working to rectify such supposedly accidental data sharing, \u201cthe blunder underscores the sensitivities surrounding reams of voter data that have become a highly valuable political commodity,\u201d Axios <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/09\/08\/snap-voter-data-republican-democrats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writes<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>While the data breach affected both Republican and Democrat data firms, the data\u2019s \u201cuse by political groups was significantly more prolific on the Democratic side.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>What This Means<\/h2>\n<p>Much like in 2020, Big Tech companies are actively censoring information they deem harmful to their official narrative or preferred candidates. By falsely labeling factual information from conservatives \u201cmisinformation,\u201d such companies have the power to control the flow of information that informs voters and rig elections in their favor. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been heavily reported that companies like Facebook and Twitter have colluded with the Biden administration to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/01\/bombshell-emails-show-the-biden-administration-colluded-with-big-tech-to-censor-covid-misinformation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censor information related to Covid-19<\/a>. As the Biden administration already has plans\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/23\/yes-biden-is-hiding-his-plan-to-rig-the-2022-midterm-elections\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to massively influence the 2022 midterms<\/a>, they and other Democrats will continue to collude with big tech to swing high-stakes congressional races come November.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Victoria Marshall is a staff writer at The Federalist. Her writing has been featured in the New York Post, National Review, and Townhall. She graduated from Hillsdale College in May 2021 with a major in politics and a minor in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @vemrshll.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the 2022 midterms loom, big tech companies are again announcing their plans to meddle in U.S. elections by censoring news and information. Social media censorship ramped up dramatically following<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1130,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1640707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1640707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1640707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1640707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1640707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1640707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1640707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}