<
https://theconversation.com/the-fake-election-bomb-threats-caused-chaos-online-its-a-perfect-breeding-ground-for-conspiracies-241785>
"In the 2020 US elections, Joe Biden’s win against Donald Trump prompted the
Trump campaign to file more than 60 lawsuits challenging the result, mostly
focusing on swing states.
Trump falsely claimed widespread voter fraud, although none of the proceedings
found any evidence of this. Yet he continued to use these baseless claims as a
key part of his 2024 campaign.
Such rhetoric undermines trust in the electoral process – and it’s in this
context that we must assess the conspiracies and reactions to the fake bomb
threats that have emerged since polling began today.
As misinformation researchers, we spent election day monitoring a wide range of
hashtags and keywords on X and Reddit to identify political misinformation. Our
goal was to collect data that will help determine where, how and through whom
misinformation and conspiracy theories spread in the wake of breaking news.
Regarding the fake bomb threats, we observed an online reaction that
demonstrates a clear erosion of citizens’ trust in the election process."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
