The Democratic National Committee (DNC) released tips Monday for campaigns, state parties, social media companies and the public to fight disinformation online.
“The DNC is committed to harnessing its resources to protect the democratic process in the U.S., but we can’t do it alone,” the release says. “Digital disinformation is a whole-of-society problem, and it will take a whole-of-society approach.”
The DNC advised campaigns and state parties that they are “not powerless in the fight against online disinformation,” recommending they designate a point person to focus on combating it. It also recommended they stay on top of correcting the record and implementing incident response plans during breaking news situations.
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“When misinformation has reached a tipping point, aggressive responses to misinformation that seek to reframe the debate tend to be most effective,” the recommendations say.
The committee also suggested campaigns and state parties report any suspicious online behavior.
For the public, the committee recommends people obtain multiple authoritative sources for information, consider the author and their intentions, avoid being manipulated by “divisive or dishonest content,” bring the truth into debates and study the methods of those distributing disinformation.
The DNC also included a list of rules for major social media companies, which condemned companies like Facebook and Google for not refusing to run state-controlled media. It encourages these companies to be transparent about their algorithms, enforce their current rules on disinformation and develop stronger policies to combat it.
Disinformation on social media networks have become a central focus after Russia has been accused of spreading fake news stories and interfering in the 2016 election.