FBI Director: It's a Mistake To Get Election Information on Social Media (cnet.com) 77
If a Facebook page or an Instagram post is offering the location of your polling place, you should double check that with your local elections office, the FBI director said Thursday at a congressional hearing. Better yet, don't get your election information from social media at all. From a report: The House Committee on Homeland Security hosted on Thursday its annual worldwide threats hearing, where intelligence agencies in past years have warned about international cyberattacks and online disinformation. [...] The FBI director said that social networks like Facebook and Twitter have worked with the bureau to take down disinformation campaigns, but he also warned Americans against getting election information on those platforms. "It's particularly of concern to us in the election context when Americans make the mistake of getting information about elections themselves on social media," Wray said. "We're trying to make sure Americans know [that] to get information about where, when and how you vote, you need to go to your local election official's website. Don't take it from social media."
That has to be said? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:That has to be said? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm no fool, I get all my election advice on Slashdot.
Re:That has to be said? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's mostly the older ones on Facebook.
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Is that the best you have you loon?
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Facebook is by far the worst social media site for misinformation. It's audience is mostly older people, the young ones have moved on.
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Well, guess I got lucky then I stayed away completely.
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I am trying to imagine how a pile of shiteholes like Facebook, no matter how bad they are and they are really bad, could possibly be worse than idiot box advertisments paid for by corrupt corporations, oh yeah that is a better source of political information, it must fucking be, the billions they spend on that bullshit.
The FBI director also says, idiot box advertisements paid for by corrupt corporations, are the best way to select your politicians.
Hey fucking arsehole, want better, do fucking better or shut
Re:That has to be said? (Score:4, Insightful)
FBI Director: It's a Mistake To Get Election Information on Social Media
Sorry, there was a typo in that headline, it should have read:
FBI Director: It's a Mistake To Get Any Information on Social Media
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If it was just "millenials" we wouldn't be in this situation right now. The problem is that pretty much everyone younger than 30 or older than 50 gets 100% of their news from people pretending to be well-informed "peers" on social media who are actually foreign operatives, and 90% of the people between 30 and 50 who think they're smart enough to tell the truth from the lies actually aren't.
Re: That has to be said? (Score:1)
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That is a sad state of affairs. And I do agree.
Hey, do you think the anti-maskers are Russian-controlled? They do significant damage to the US after all.
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Hey, do you think the anti-maskers are Russian-controlled? They do significant damage to the US after all.
I think they're stupid enough that they started it on their own. The Russians just egg them on. It's no coincidence that so many anti-maskers are bikers/gun nuts. They're the type of people who are terrified of appearing like a pussy.
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Indeed. Makes sense to me.
Of course the real pussies are those afraid to appear like a pussy.
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You mean a meme isn’t an authoritative news source?
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Pretty sure only boomers use facebook.
Re: That has to be said? (Score:1)
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Pretty sure you did not read TFS then, because Discord has nothing to do with this, and all but one person in the world knows Twitter is a dumpster fire.
Re: That has to be said? (Score:1)
Re: That has to be said? (Score:1)
Well these retards never vote anyway, so they have no clue where their precinct is. I guess voting on a regular basis get in the way of their elitist opiod habit. Your precinct almost never changes unless you move. And when you move the first thing you are supposed to do is update your drivers license and voter registration. Most states do both at the same time. But I am sure some whiny ass millennial is going to cry voter suppression. The only voter suppression is their lack of attendance every single pri
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"Apparently some millenials thought that Twitter or Discord or whatever is the authoritative source for election information?"
Yes and everybody knows it's only Breitbart and FoxNews where authority resides.
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You joke, but there is an issue with children who grew up with always one networks and social media thinking that online resources are equally authoritative, and being incapable of seeing differences.
I have a nephew who honestly thinks the driving test app he's using to study for his drivers license is the same as using resources provided by the DMV. We attempted to explain to him that he should probably get the DMV booklet, or online booklet/test/resources FROM THE ACTUAL DMV for additional study to verify
Fixed that for ya! (Score:2)
FBI director: It's a mistake to get information on social media
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"Congressional Hearing" Right there in TFS.
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FBI director: It's a mistake to get information on social media
Exactly what I was thinking. Social media is for seeing what other people care about, finding out how your friends are doing, etc. If you're using it to try to obtain factual information, you're "Internetting" wrong.
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FBI director: Social media is a mistake
Dam never thought I would agree (Score:2)
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with Dir. Wray about anything.
Indeed. It seems things are pretty bad.
Or from any unofficial source (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Or from any unofficial source (Score:5, Funny)
Today I received a notice from the con artist urging me to request my mail-in ballot. The very mail-in ballot he claims leads to vote fraud.
I guess if anyone should know about fraud, it would be him.
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Got a source for that? No, your asshole is not a source for information. Whatever you are pulling out of there, it sure isn't facts.
The fact is, the only voter fraud we've seen this election cycle has come from Republicans. Hell, the president told his cultists to vote twice.
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Hold out for some money, some democrat groups have been found purchasing mail-in ballot so they have some money value.
Citation or GTFO.
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When Trump loses there are going to be conspiracy theory fuelled riots.
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Yeah! Just like all of those Tea Party riots back in the day.
You guys really need to get out of your SJW bubble.
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I guess if anyone should know about fraud, it would be him.
Well, for a used-car type con artist, this one has some impressive accomplishments. To bad he is mostly conning his own fellow citizens.
FUCK YOU FBI! (Score:1)
Yea, great. Thanks for speaking up about it only now, 10 years too late, after you realize you got tricked by it too. Asshats.
Just go vote normally (Score:5, Insightful)
Wear a mask, stand six feet apart, and vote in person.
If you have health problems that prevent you from doing that, THEN do absentee.
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Sure, I agree. I just can't trust mail in ballots with all the BS going on. Many states can barely handle a presidential election volume with the same methods they've used for years, nevermind last minute changes. This election is, thus far, the only thing this year that has been worth taking a risk of my health over.
But you need accurate information about polling places, and your voter registration status. It's not that straightforward either, many states offer early voting, with differing schedules and po
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Except for the states that only do vote by mail, with no in person voting: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Obviously, you should do what this FBI director says and check how your particular state wants to handle things.
I appreciate the effort here cirby but let's be clear: Slashdot is close enough to social media that the warning applies to your post too. What you and everyone should do is look at the instructions from their state.
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Why? I've been voting by mail for years now with no problem.
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...in a state that spent several years building up their systems, with lots of checks on the process?
Or like New Jersey and New York, whose voting systems crashed and burned during the primaries this year because they couldn't even manage to send out the ballots in the first place, much less get them back and count them in a short period?
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Unless you live in an area where they do voter suppression and you can't be sure the polling station will be available, or anywhere near where you live, or not otherwise inaccessible to you.
Probably best to just vote by mail. Safer, easier. Republicans don't like it because high turnout is bad for them, and because Trump is currently well behind in the polls so early voting denies him the opportunity to make up the deficit.
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Don't be annoying. "I can't be bothered go travel one mile to a poll or drop off my ballot at city hall" isn't voter suppression, it's just lazy people. And frankly: I don't really trust the opinion of people too lazy to vote.
I've voted by mail a few times over the years, and even then I always dropped the thing off at the local city hall collection box instead of mailing it in. Including the time I walked three miles on a Saturday to do it because my car had broken down and the buses weren't running.
As for
Re:Just go vote normally (Score:4, Informative)
Our state has mail-out ballots, with the option of mailing them back, but also the option of dropping them in a safe box down by the courthouse in your county. In our neighborhood there are a few house-bound families due to pre-COVID health issues, and the neighbors all coordinate with them to make sure we get their ballots to the drop location. I do think mail-in is a way too risky proposition, but the drop box solution seems ideal for our current situation. In-person voting is just a massive time-sink the few times I did it before signing up for the mail-out ballots.
Close... (Score:2)
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It's a sign of how far we've fallen that any of this needs to be said in the first place. The concepts of "official" information and source reliability seem lost on many today.......even people that should be old enough to know better.
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Indeed. Seems many people cannot handle the flood of data and fail to make sense of it. Then they create a filter-bubble that tells them exactly what they want to hear. And that they then mistake for reliable information.
I mean, come on. It is looking up a frigging date and time on an official source! It is something any halfway educated teenager should manage without problems. Yet seemingly adult people completely fail at it.
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It's a sign of how far we've fallen that any of this needs to be said in the first place.
Sort of like it needing to be said don't inject yourself with bleach or take some kind of chemical because it sounds like something else.
Facebook is outside the law (Score:2)
So let me get this straight -- Facebook has a required-real-name policy, for which they frequently demand phone numbers and driver's license pictures, but somehow provision of fraudulent voting information -- which is totally illegal and probably counts as wire fraud under these circumstance -- can't be effectively restrained.
The rule of law appears to have completely fallen apart. Rampant fraud with no consequences, while the company providing the medium for that fraud makes money from the presence of th
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So let me get this straight -- Facebook has a required-real-name policy, for which they frequently demand phone numbers and driver's license pictures.....
You know, I have had two FB accounts for years, neither of which have a speck of real information on them, and I've never been told to use my real name. In fact, I personally only know one person who has received such a demand. I think the whole thing is just "security theater" - announce the policy, but only really challenge a random few on the issue. Just enough for users to think they're on top of things, but they don't have the time-consuming task of actually challenging and verifying millions of accoun
Dude! (Score:2)
It's a mistake to get any information (outside of what meal your chatty friend from [high school, college, family, etc]).
You heard it here first, folks: (Score:5, Funny)
Only get election information from SLASHDOT.
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What is this "election" thing you are talking about?
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See you all at the polls on November 4th.
Who are the official media? (Score:1)
I agree that Facebook is not an ideal place to get accurate information about anything, but what place is reliable these days, especially for political information? And who are these "official" news outlets that the G-Man is talking about? At this point I am more wiling to trust a Facebook post from someone I know over an article in the New York Times or a story on (ugh!) MSNBC. It is the media itself that is responsible for all this distrust and confusion. They have all shown themselves to be so biased
This is precisely the problem (Score:2)
It's not entirely the issue that these platforms are full of garbage, it's that we consume their garbage so willingly and with so little careful attention. Just like politicians are not entirely the problem when it comes to a corrupt and ineffective government, it's also required that the voters wake up and vote for someone with actual integrity.
Trump Campaign Lies (Score:1)
Working for eyeball-time (Score:3)
"Don't take it from social media."
When someone on Facebook wails "Oh, no! Christmas is cancelled." No-one replies "[Citations needed.]", instead everyone responds with "I'm a victim" or SJW outrage.
Facebook should be reminding everyone "Don't believe everything you read" but they pretend they're a news site, with everyone working for free. Correction: Everyone is working for eyeball-time, so the outrage-inducing stories are paid and the truthful are penniless.
A mistake on _any_ media ... (Score:2)
... really.
Its a mistake to get any info from social networks (Score:2)
They should only be used for entertainment.
D.
Where then? (Score:1)
It's a mistake to get election information ANYWHERE. Every nook and cranny has been politicized and made partisan. At least social media sometimes allows heterodox views to be heard.
So does this mean? (Score:1)
Strange times we live in