Fight Disinformation

September 2022 - Disinformation is a rampant and growing insidious enemy of evidence-based science and legislation, including progressive legislation on peace and the environment. Disinformation takes many forms: 

• Creation of false impressions of public support
• Recommendations to users of misleading information sources 
• Passing off counterfeit science as legitimate research
• Harassment of scientists with ‘inconvenient’ views
• Purchase of credibility through academic or professional societies
• Manufacture of uncertainty about science where little or none exists
• Manipulation of government officials to inappropriately influence policy

A bill in Congress, HR 6796, would attack disinformation in a crucial domain: digital hosting services. This bill would establish the Bureau of Digital Services Oversight and Safety within the Federal Trade Commission to provide oversight of content moderation by digital platforms (social media companies). The Bureau’s goal would be to clean out user content that is illegal or contravenes the platforms' own community standards. The bill would require that platforms set up their own community standards, policies, and procedures for content moderation, and publish periodic reports on the results. The bill provides for investigative studies concerning dissemination of illegal content or goods, and the risk of harm done by such disinformation.

ACTION: Contact your congressperson and urge him/her to support H.R. 6796: Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act of 2022. There is no Senate bill as of yet. 

CONTACT: Your Representative in Congress

• Web: Find your Representative’s namesand link to his/her websites at www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website
• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)
• Mail: Representative (first & last name) U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515

Please forward this email on to your contacts and/or write a letter-to-the-editor