#DCblackout, not a real blackout! how Disinformation affects BLM protests in DC
How can a bot with only three followers grow to be a nationally trending topic on Twitter? The answer is Disinformation.
On May 31st, the streets of DC were packed with protestors and various police forces while Twitter feeds were packed with tweets about the fake #DCblackout.
The DC protest is part of the BLM movement which aims to squelch structural racism. Due to DC’s status as the political center of the US and the importance of politics in the BLM movement, DC holds extraordinary metaphorical significance within the movement, thereby making it a focus for disinformation campaigns.
The #DCblackout hashtag refers to a rumor stating that the District’s telco service was shut down by the government, which of course never happened.
An Artificial Intelligence Policy fellow at the Brookings Institute, Alex Engler, asserts that the accounts promoting the #DCblackout idea were all “clearly fake accounts”. With a tweet originating from a bot with only three followers to grow to be a nationally trending topic on Twitter, disinformation from bots is undeniably rampant and extremely threatening to democracy as it skews the media narrative.
On the other hand, several accounts spoke out to dispute the #DCblackout event. Dr. Linvill, a Clemson professor specializing in social media misinformation, interviewed several accounts and discovered that they were not even residents of DC. Thus, Linvill concludes these individuals also were manipulated by other widespread disinformation campaigns.
In response to the findings of the widespread disinformation, Twitter launched an investigation into whether this was a coordinated disorganization campaign and suspended hundreds of fake accounts involved in amplifying the scam.
When interviewing individuals who had protested in DC, the common thread in how they found out about the protests was illuminated: social media. Three individuals were interviewed for this article and voiced their intent to remain anonymous due to fears of backlash.
The first individual, a college-aged student, learned about the march she attended through “a friend reposting an infographic on their Instagram story”.
Similarly, a middle-aged woman who was interviewed was made aware of the march she attended through her daughter sharing an infographic from her Twitter feed.
Finally, the last person interviewed did not attend any specific march (for example, queer/trans rally, in Memory of Breonna Taylor, etc.), rather convening in front of the White House as there is always a crowd. However, he mentioned that he was regularly updating social media for updates on the safety of attending protests in DC.
For many individuals, social media is the lifeblood of information on protests in the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Social media is imperative in spreading organizing and safety information to BLM protestors. Hoaxes amplified by social media regarding the safety and well-being of protestors, including the notorious #DCBlackout hoax, dissuade individuals from attending protests out of fear for their safety. However, the role of bots in distorting public information about a political issue is not a new issue.
A recently published study by Carnegie Mellon researchers found that “nearly half of the Twitter accounts spreading messages on the social media platform about the coronavirus pandemic are likely bots”. The 2016 American presidential election was distorted by bots, with nearly one-fifth of the dialogue on Twitter conducted by bots, according to University of Southern California researchers. Bots are not limited to America in their political impact with Indian elections affected with bots promoting hashtags in favor and against Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a “record-breaking rate”.
Technology companies, social media platforms, and the government must do more to limit the gargantuan impact of bots in distorting democracy.
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