back to article Twitter unveils US midterm election integrity plans, upsets almost everyone

Twitter has announced its plans to fight misinformation during the 2022 US midterm elections, including activating its Civic Integrity Policy (CIP). The CIP, first enacted in 2018, "covers the most common types of harmful misleading information about elections and civic events," the social media company said in a statement …

  1. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
    Mushroom

    world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

    That genie is out of the bottle and I don't think it can ever be brought back. Whatever Twitter et all do, will be too little too late (unless they decide to dissappear voluntarily)

    Politicians left and right [1] realized that being obnoxious, disrespectful bullies on social media paints them as being "closer to the people"[2] and on the whole earns them more simpatizants than detractors, at the slight cost of polarizing the societies even more. I.e: populism with a sprinkle of Web 2.0 magic.

    We are on an accelerating race to the bottom and I don't see how it can get better.

    1. I am not talking only of the bad-haired usual supects. The same phenomenon repeats itself in consolidated democracies, former dictatorships, 1st, 2nd and 3rd World countries.

    2. What does this say about the societies is a thought too horrible to contemplate on a Friday afternoon, without a semi-lethal dose of acohol.

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

      Politicians left and right
      Anyone who's been paying attention to politics anywhere in the Anglosphere should know that "but both sides!" is horseshit of the highest order.

      As they say, "every accusation by a Republican is actually a confession"...

      1. jmch Silver badge

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        "every accusation... is actually a confession"

        The "by a Republican" part is redundant.

        1. gandalfcn Silver badge

          Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

          Trump ranted about people invoking their Fifth Amendment rights, he stated only “the mob takes the fifth” yet he has just done exactly that over 440 times, as have most of his associates

      2. InsaneGeek

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        Maybe you are just in a bubble....

        2016 Hillary Clinton and DNC intentionally rigged the primary against Bernie Sanders (proven true)

        2020 Democrats drum up bountygate hoax used repeatedly by Biden (proven to be false accusation)

        2020 DNC sue in Wisconsin to get Green party kicked off ballot claiming thousands of valid signatures are invalid because some of the forms had the old address of the candidate who moved to a new home in the middle of the signing drive.

        2020 Dems accuse Kyle Rittenhouse of bringing gun across state line (gun proven to have never left Wisconsin)

        2020 Dems intentionally twist and take Trumps words out of context claiming covid is a Dem hoax (politifact, factcheck, snopes, etc all verify Trump did not say or mean that)

        2021 Dems claim ivermectin overdoses are clogging Oklahoma hospitals causing shooting victims to die (proven false)

        2021 DNC group pay members to act as white supremacists at Youngkin rally (group admitted to doing this and issued apology)

        2022 DNC go through N. Carolina Green Party signatures, DNC members call up the signatures represent themselves as Green Party reps and request them to rescind their signature to not affect Democrat chances, reducing the signatures enough to get Green Party kicked off ballot. Federal Court blasts DNC for undermining Democracy and puts them back on the ballot.

        2022 Dem PAC place adds about Lauren Boebert claiming she worked as an escort (proven false, group issued apology)

        2022 Dems accuse border patrol agents of intentionally lashing immigrants with their horse whips (proven false)

        2022 Connecticut Dem party forced to apologize to black Republican for racist "curious george" attacks

        1. DryBones

          Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

          Hey look, Whataboutism comes in economy size too!

          If you actually look you can see a difference. Democrats admitting they were wrong. The Republicans seem to have forgotten how to do that, in addition to being deathly allergic to the truth.

          Are you actually willing to hold Republicans to the same standards?

        2. gandalfcn Silver badge

          Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

          Whataboutism is the last resort of a failed argument.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        If you think you can do no wrong, then you have already lost, because you deny the possibility of self improvement.

        Democrat and Republican parties currently both have historically lower registration rates of about 27%. The recent Dem peak was in 2008, before Obama's first election: ~40%.

        1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

          Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

          To be clear, I'm not suggesting for example that "Republicans lie and Democrats don't". I'm saying the scale of their lies is completely different.

          But only one side of politics in Australia, the UK and the USA has been actively trying to undermine or even destroy democracy.

          1. Denarius

            Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

            dunno about poms and yanks, but all parties in Oz are destroying democracy because their constituents/funders want some form of privilege, IMHO. The terms left and right are mere distractions for the itchy keyboard types. The choices of freedom, responsibility and accepting consequences versus versions of bureaucratic hell holes are not given.

            The resurgence of censorship, or worse, complete non-reporting In Oz it is so bad one has to go to German and French TV channels or websites to find out any news outside of vapid "celebrities" and panic of the week stories. Even ElReg has lost its bite since the Great Cleansing

      4. gandalfcn Silver badge

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        Some years back "Politicians left and right" were reasonably well mannered and then Trump bulldozed in with his abusive rhetoric, not only to his political opponents but also to his hand picked bestest advisers and experts in the word when they refused to go along with his lies.

        Similarly with the Tories in the UK with the ERG leading the way.

        I used to have some hope, but no longer.

    2. Version 1.0 Silver badge
      Meh

      Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

      Twitter unveils US midterm election integrity plans, upsets almost everyone

      FTFY - Yes, I am a social media atheist. (Brendan Behan quote updated)

      1. Version 1.0 Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        And a "reply" on Sunday after writing that comment and thinking about my adaption of Brendan Behan's quote - in the days before Social Media virtually everyone had the same social environment on a Sunday when they went to Church and talked happily with everyone after listening to the service. And then we spent lunchtime, or the evening after the service, in the village pub with our friends.

    3. the GCHRD

      Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

      There is a growing awareness that a healthy public discourse is essential to the stability of democracy. I've been advocating for basic standards of democratic process for decades, have given up, and recently started again.

      Disinformation and conspiracy theory was more of an amusement, when we used to talk about 'Elvis is not dead.' Unfortunately the nexus of frictionless communication and surveillance capitalism has left us with a ticking time bomb and the bad guys know it. The shameless push to achieve autocratic power in many western nations should strike fear in every heart.

      There are however, tools close at hand to turn the tap off. In Canada, we have codified the fact that some forms of communication serve no purpose in a healthy democracy. Since 1970, it has been a criminal offence for any citizen to make hateful statements about another. Our hate speech legislation has served to remove the worst offenders from the public stage before they can do significant damage.

      Now we all need to consider that a new class of curb must be placed on those who seek any public profile; media, politicians, celebrities, social media influencers. Those who transmit false statements or foment should face the criminal charge and jail time of our hate speech law.

      Of course we already afford these protections to money. Contract law, advertising regulation and defamation laws describe the template that should extend to protecting the peace and good order of democracy.

      Thankfully, some of note are now specifically raising the concept;

      https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/18/the-big-idea-should-we-have-a-truth-law

      My own writing on the matter is here;

      https://medium.com/@theGCHRD/lies-fomenting-and-hate-speech-4b71a045c9b8

      https://medium.com/@theGCHRD/the-truckers-are-victims-just-not-of-mandates-8fc840356095

      If you have ideas that would add traction to the adoption of these regulations, a bit of wind in the sails would certainly be appreciated. Brexit, climate change, antivax, Putin, Trump; it's well past time to wrest control from the liars.

      1. gandalfcn Silver badge

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        "Disinformation and conspiracy theory was more of an amusement, when we used to talk about 'Elvis is not dead.'" Indeed, then I encountered AGW deniers who led me to the Flat Earth cult and on to the YEC evolution deniers and so on, and a common thread is that they are all right wing.

        I received this comment from one of them in 2016 : "It’s time for people to understand that government USA bunch of lying devils. Trust God and Trump in that order. God is using President Trump to expose the truth about these lying devils like God used Noah, Moses and Abraham."

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

          There are some (but very few) of us who "trust God" enough to recognize Trump is the devil's pawn. And we don't (usually) vote right-wing, but we do trust the Bible's description of creation (YEC).

          Still, I can't argue with the last 100-200 years of hard data indicating AGW. Such a travesty that humanity was given creation, told to take care of it, and has failed due to pride (greed for resources, ignored God and our purpose of stewardship). If the troubles to come are God's judgment, we are indeed guilty, so let's repent and at least TRY to do something.

          So there... count me as "one" who doesn't fit the stereotypes. (I also don't use Twitter; maybe that's a factor?)

      2. nintendoeats

        Re: world leaders and politicians should be held to a higher standard when tweeting

        I believe that preventing people from saying stupid things turns them into martyrs. Banning certain types of speech is bad enough; putting people in jail over it? All you are doing is making it impossible to have a public discourse with people who hold these positions, which also prevents you from publicly exposing that their positions are untenable.

        I am opposed to all infringement of free speech, no matter how much I dislike that speech (barring "fire in a crowded theater" exceptions of course, which would include direct incitement to violence).

  2. JimmyPage Silver badge

    Sigh..

    we already have the concept of "Fire !!" in a crowded theater (US spelling now being used as standard).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sigh..

      I wonder if the Boris/Trump outright lying "Grass is Blue" is better/worse than the Blair/Clinton legal not-lying "the public inquiry determined that the PM was speaking of the Kentucky music genre from which we can infer that grass in the sense of Bluegrass is blue, no deception was intended" ?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sigh..

        "...grass in the sense of Bluegrass is blue..."

        No. Bluegrass music is termed from the sheen of grass looking blue at a certain time of day and year in certain parts of Kentucky. Kentucky's state motto is "The bluegrass state".

        1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: Sigh..

          And so the report saying Kentucky had WMD was true even if the actual WMDs weren't and so our invasion of Kentucky was perfectly legal

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sigh..

      Please look up the historical context of "Fire in a crowded theater" and then delete your account. Even the Supreme Court justice who wrote it felt deeply embarrassed and ashamed of that moment later on.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Sigh..

        >Supreme Court justice who wrote it felt deeply embarrassed and ashamed

        A weakness which has been bred-out of subsequent appointees

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sigh..

        Why should I ? You're the one who brought any history of that quote with you to my party.

        Regardless of what phrase I choose to use, the underlying principle that freedom of speech carries a weight of responsibility still stands. No matter who said it and how.

        No wonder the standard of debate has gone down the shitter.

      3. DryBones

        Re: Sigh..

        Shame on you. Exercise of rights without believing there's any responsibilities commensurate with them is a very immature point of view.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sigh..

      "Yelling fire in a crowded theater" is in fact perfectly legal, even if there is no fire. Well, at least until this Supreme Court gets to punish a Democrat for doing so.

      The "crowded theater" case involved war protestors, not people yelling fire in a theater.

      Thanks to the First Amendment, there aren't many types of actually illegal speech in the US.

      Welcome to the freak show, etc. etc.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you form your world-view from social media

    More fool you.

    Social media is the true opiate of the masses.

    “That which creates a feeling of false happiness, contentment, or numbness to reality.”

    Doubt even this.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: If you form your world-view from social media

      >Social media is the true opiate of the masses.

      Actually it turns out OxyContin is the true opiate of the masses,

  4. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    There's an arguement that if everyone thinks your plan is bad it's probably half-decent.

    1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

      Not everyone thinks the plan is bad

      I am sure there are plenty that do and plenty of others who think the plan is tolerable but lack confidence that it will be implemented competently or evenhandedly.

    2. Ordinary Donkey

      But please don't use that argument to assess whether to pour molten metal over your children. Sometimes a bad plan is just obviously bad.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Said every wanna be dictator.

      In this case the criteria is simply maximizing revenue, that's all.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If EVERYONE thinks your plan is bad, there's definitely something wrong with it you're not seeing.

      If they all just don't like the plan, it might be an ok compromise. Even then, beware any plan that absolutely no one else likes.

  5. Blank Reg

    If blocking lies is an attack on conservatism, them maybe conservatives could consider not lying.

    1. Strahd Ivarius Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Conservatives are there to keep traditions alive, don't expect them to break with a 10 millennia old tradition of lying to the masses...

    2. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge

      Calling something a lie soley on the basis of who said it does not mean it is a lie.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Unless it's a politician stating it, in which case the odds are pretty good.

    3. SundogUK Silver badge

      They're not blocking lies. They're blocking truths that reflect badly on the Democrat Party. See: 'Biden, Hunter' for details.

      1. Tom 38

        I didn't know Hunter Biden is a candidate in this election

      2. Blank Reg

        "truths" with no evidence are lies

      3. DryBones

        Funny, I checked that and got "Obvious and desperate attempt at political deflection" and a referral to the "Trump Kleptocracy".

  6. J.G.Harston Silver badge

    "You may not use Twitter's services for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes"

    *ANY* communication with an elector is an attempt to manupulate an election. I put hundreds of leaflets through letterboxes in order to attempt to manipulate people's opinion of me in order to get them to vote for me. Am I to be banned from buying paper and printer toner, and walking up and down the streets? Am I to be banned from talking to electors?

    1. IGotOut Silver badge

      "Am I to be banned from talking to electors?"

      No, so long as the same voter gets to hit you with a wet kipper for every promise you fail to keep.

    2. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Am I to be banned from buying paper and printer toner, and walking up and down the streets? Am I to be banned from talking to electors?

      Yes. You're responsible for the thousands of those damn disposable corrugated signs that litter the roadways around here, that clutter up the place long after the election is over.

      And no, I do not want your leaflet in my mailbox or my mail or let through as spam in my Google mail.

      I don't want your condescending TV ads either insulting the opposition or trying to be some smarmy baby-kisser.

      GTFO.

      (edit: and I do note those signs. I write them under the heading "bloke to vote against")

    3. Old Used Programmer

      In the US, unless you've paid postage on those, putting them in letter boxes *is* illegal. The Postal Inspectors have the highest conviction rate of any US Federal law enforcement organization.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Twitter, et al, were by far the worst manipulators in 2020.

    That the Hunter Biden laptop story that was disparaged and outright censored by social media and big tech... and then turned out to be completely true... arguably threw the election. I say this as somebody who has never endorsed, supported (aside from giving him the rare comparison to a broken clock), or voted for Trump. There was some pretty solid evidence of graft and corruption by Biden in those emails. This does not make Biden special in any way. That sort of behavior is par for the course, and one of the main reasons that US senators manage to attain such high net worths on such marginal salaries. Ukrainian oil companies are not putting his crackhead son into no-show, six-figure board member jobs because of the wisdom and understanding he would bring to the board meetings if he ever bothered to attend them. Chinese manufacturers are not paying him piles of money for his deep insight into ... something other than banging hookers while high.

    Never mind the blatantly obvious senility that was in play during the election and continues to worsen to this day. You can literally watch him losing track of where he is and what he's doing during an appearance, and then have "fact checkers debunk" the notion that there was no ice cream truck music playing at the site. No shit, Sherlocks. The point is that something was happening in his head that was completely incongruent with what was happening in reality, and the ice cream truck music is pretty fucking funny under those circumstances. Watching the President of the United States wandering glassy-eyed around the stage like a lost puppy is not a good look, especially when anybody smarter than a bag of rocks saw this coming.

    Of course, partisans will justify this on the basis of "anything is better than Trump." Maybe they're right and maybe they're wrong. But setting up a Social Media Ministry of Truth and believing that it won't be used against each and every one of us is one of the most breathtaking examples of the absolute fucking stupidity of short-term gain / long-term pain thinking in the history of the human race. Let's just let ourselves be ruled by Big Tech and see how that turns out. Idiots.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Twitter, et al, were by far the worst manipulators in 2020.

      A phrase containing the sub-quote '... than a box of frogs' comes to mind.

      'Murica' is doomed if the blind tribal so called politics continues ...

      I wonder if I am watching a realtime experiment in dismantling a Democracy from the inside.

      [Yes, I know it is stretching the definition of Democracy to use the word in relation to the US of A but old habits die hard.)

      US Politics has always been flawed and sure as hell did/does not represent all of the people all of the time .... but it is now in its final death throes.

      People need to see beyond 'tribal' and actually see the 'walls' are falling down !!!

      Why am I concerned ?

      Because it can, will, is happen(ing) elsewhere, 'Murica' leads the way ..... as ever !!!

    2. MachDiamond Silver badge

      Re: Twitter, et al, were by far the worst manipulators in 2020.

      "But setting up a Social Media Ministry of Truth and believing that it won't be used against each and every one of us is one of the most breathtaking examples of the absolute fucking stupidity of short-term gain / long-term pain thinking in the history of the human race."

      That's the problem from so many angles already well documented. Twitter has clamped down on many things, calling them lies and harmful, when a short time later those "lies" turn out to be truth and Twitter's official truth turns out to be rather tainted. I'm not saying that they don't get it right from time to time or even a majority (51%) of the time, but it's awfully damning when they are wrong and have ostracized people by using a very high-handed approach to "filtering".

      I don't use Twitter, but I am perfectly capable of ignoring the worst of political discourse online. I don't find it hard to separate ad hominem attacks from well developed criticism and critiques of proposed policies. I have to hope there are enough people who make the effort to vote to negate all of those that are easily spoon-fed dreams of utopia by even bigger idiots that have pretty hair and talk gud.

    3. DryBones

      Re: Twitter, et al, were by far the worst manipulators in 2020.

      Go take your medication. You seem to have forgotten it again.

  8. Pirate Dave Silver badge
    Pirate

    "Twitter plays a critical role in empowering democratic conversations …"

    This bullshit is why I deleted all my "social media" accounts in 2021 after FB kicked Trump off. Nothing to do with Trump, per se, I just couldn't stand the sickeningly pompous self-righteous self-aggrandizement of the tech companies. They run servers, write software, and push ads. They are not, and should not be, the unelected gatekeepers of society because they are not, nor are they required to be, fair or honest or transparent in what they do.

  9. Grunchy Silver badge

    People still use Twitter?

    Last I heard Musk wanted to buy it so I deleted my ~50 odd posts I had ever made and deleted my user account, and have never been on it since. I actually never communicated with anybody on Twitter and literally could not care less about the “hashtag” scheme. Perhaps I fundamentally just never understood what it was for? I guess you could “follow” somebody, but I couldn’t think of anybody who says anything of any merit on Twitter.

    (As you can imagine, my few 50 posts had zero impact on anyone anyway.)

  10. OldCrow 1975

    Dump Twitter

    Your best choice here is to dump Twitter. Close your Twitter account. It is mostly bots anyway.

    To those fortunate lads and lassies

  11. OldCrow 1975

    Dump Twitter

    Your best choice is to dump Twitter.

    It is for boys anyway

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Dump Twitter

      Your best choice is *not* to take advice from random people/bots/Russian or Chinese political influencers/Scam merchants/Blockchain enthusiasts/Crypto Currrency pushers/etc on the Internet.

      This of course, includes me !!!

      P.S. Did I leave anyone/thing 'important' out ???

      :)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Dump Twitter

        "P.S. Did I leave anyone/thing 'important' out ???"

        The dolphins would like to have a word...

  12. Winkypop Silver badge
    Trollface

    I tried social media once….

    Nah

    No I didn’t, just kidding.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: I tried social media once….

      el'reg launches its own anti-social media app

  13. Finegancjt

    Twit off Twitter

    Elon Musk might get stuck with Twitter…Not I.

    Bots contributing most of content scunners me.

    I was arguing & trying to convince algorithim.

    Got tired beating my head against brick wall.

    If I wanted that, I could have spoken to my boss

    Talking to my hand, is better, maybe 1-way,

    But at least I can have intelligent conversation

    With “smartest guy in the room” vs. stupid bot.

    I disabled and deleted my account yesterday.

    If I want 1-sided news, I’ll read Russian newspaper.

    …same thing as bot I can’t convince about reality.

    Supermarket tabloids have more imaginative fiction

  14. Big_Boomer Silver badge

    Waaaaah!,...

    We want our sides lies to be allowed and the other sides lies to be reported/blocked. What a shower of self-centred babies! Do you really believe that your "side" in this is any better than the other "side"? Almost all politicians are the same. They are lying, corrupt, bottom-feeding pond-scum and never have AND NEVER WILL represent you. They represent whoever pays them the most and under our current systems, they always will. The only difference Twatter/Farcebook, and other anti-social media systems have made is that now you can get your daily dose of confirmation bias and mis-information (Why not just call them ****ing LIES) at WARP SPEED, and our flawed "democracies" have yet to take that into consideration. Previously it took days for the newspapers to try to whip people up to fever pitch over some fabricated pile of steaming horse crap. Now Twatter/Farcebook can do that in hours if not minutes, and the gullibles can't be bothered to check if the utter bullsh!t they just read is true or not since it agrees with their biases anyways.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Waaaaah!,...

      It's almost as if The Internet is too strong a tonic for society...

    2. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Waaaaah!,...

      Politics is always about the choice of the lessor of two evils.

      Learn to tell the difference and quit whining.

  15. aerogems Silver badge
    Holmes

    Double Edged Sword

    There was an interesting comparison not too long ago comparing the US and England. They used the implosion of the Johnson PM-ship as the example for the comparison. In England there's no guarantee of free speech, so the government can (and does) crack down on misinformation in the press. That means that everyone in England was working from the same set of basic facts as every major news source covered the story more or less accurately. On the other side of the Atlantic, free speech guarantees means outlets like Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax can air things that are just blatantly false and it's very difficult to hold them accountable in any meaningful way. This also means that Americans are often working from two competing sets of "facts" which are often little more than talking points for the Republican or Democratic party.

  16. ecofeco Silver badge

    Twiiter needs to fly away

    The most useless app in the world needs to go away.

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