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Dear Friends,
American democracy is at a crossroads. Will we allow disinformation to corrode our elections and our society, or will we demand that our political parties and elected officials be held to a higher standard?
In 2016, Russian agents waged disinformation campaigns with the aim of influencing our electoral process―stoking political polarization and sowing distrust in democracy. And more recently, in 2018, domestic actors increasingly utilized similar techniques as a bare-knuckled political tactic.
There is a real danger that fraudulent news―demonstrably false information presented as fact with the intent to deceive―may become a new normal in political campaigns.
We call on the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) to create party-wide frameworks to discourage and prevent disinformation tactics, insist that our parties’ candidates make similar commitments, and denounce fraudulent news―including when it is directed at a political opponent or promoting a political cause that they or their candidates support.
Join PEN America and our partners and sign the petition to the DNC and RNC today!
PEN America’s 2019 report Truth on the Ballot: Fraudulent News, the Midterm Elections, and Prospects for 2020, documented that fraudulent news and disinformation in the 2018 midterm election cycle tended to have one of three objectives:
- Attacking individual candidates;
- Dampening turnout or stoking distrust in the voting process; or
- Amplifying a desired narrative about a particular political event.
Key examples of the latter included disinformation regarding the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh as well as the contingent of Central American migrants that moved toward the United States in the fall of 2018.
During elections, individual candidates, political parties, and party committees have a critical role in protecting the integrity of our civic discourse and the public’s ability to make informed decisions about who will represent them.
Recently, the Association of State Democratic Committees passed a resolution calling on the DNC to “discourage and prevent the use of the kind of illicit campaign tactics used by Russia against our party in 2016. . . .”
Now it’s time for both the national parties—Democrats and Republicans alike—to affirm the importance of fighting against disinformation tactics and acknowledge the threat that domestic actors can also play in creating and disseminating fraudulent news.
With the 2020 elections quickly approaching, we must act immediately to defend our democracy. Sign the petition to the DNC and RNC demanding that both parties discourage and prevent disinformation tactics.
Fraudulent news risks eroding our democracy and free expression. Take action today!
Thank you,
Nora Benavidez
Director of U.S. Free Expression Programs
PEN America
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