How Is Big Tech Fighting To Save U.S. Elections 2020?

The rise of misinformation campaigns, deep fakes, political ads, foreign interference, has led big tech companies to join hands with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Can this alliance curb the spread of misinformation and safeguard the U.S. electoral process? Let’s find out.

Tech companies have often been the unsung heroes during crisis. Be it Google’s powerhouse of information or Facebook’s unparalleled accessibility, big tech companies have always proven to be problem solvers. 2020 has been a challenging year for the world, yet tech companies have diligently contributed their best to ensure public safety and business continuity. Along with COVID-19, big tech companies have even reserved their interest to safeguard the upcoming U.S. presidential elections. 

With 78 days to go for the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Silicon Valley tech companies are racing to protect the election’s integrity. This year, nine tech companies, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Verizon, LinkedIn, and Wikimedia signed a joint statement with government agencies, including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division to prepare for the upcoming Democratic National Convention (DNC) and Republican National Convention (RNC).

Today we joined other technology companies and U.S. government agencies for another regular meeting on our election security efforts. You can read our joint statement here: pic.twitter.com/zO6GD8RHX6Opens a new window

— Google Public Policy (@googlepubpolicy) August 12, 2020Opens a new window

How Can Big Tech Help in Securing the Electoral Processes?

Election meddling can easily mislead voters and rig the entire democratic system. 2016 U.S. elections were a clear case of election meddling, which saw the upsurge of fake news, misinformation campaigns, deep fakes, fabrications, illegal cyber activities, and foreign interference. 

Since 2016, tech companies have increased scrutiny of political content on their platforms and developed new features and products to ensure a transparent and safe election. In 2019, Twitter banned state-backed media advertising and political advertising from its platform, and more recently, it introducedOpens a new window labels for government officials and state-affiliated media for better transparency. This ensures that the platform is not misused for disinformation in ads, false news, or manipulating voters.

Facebook and Instagram are working hard to offer their users more control and transparency in the upcoming elections. Both the companies rolled out a new feature for U.S. users to block political ads in their feeds. Moreover, Facebook also launchedOpens a new window the Voting Information Center, an election line of defense to eliminate misinformation, voter suppression, and foreign interference.

Pledging to enhance electoral process security, Microsoft launched the Defending Democracy Program in 2018. Under the program, the Redmond giant rolled out new products —  ElectionGuard and Albert Network Monitoring. ElectionGuard is an open-source software development kit (SDK) that relies on homomorphic encryption to make the voting process secure and transparent. The Albert network monitoring leverages cloud computing and provides network security alerts to identify malicious activities by cybercriminals or foreign antagonists. 

Shelly Kramer, founding partner and principal analyst at Futurum Research, sharesOpens a new window , “What I like most about Microsoft’s ElectionGuard SDK is that it is an example of Big Tech doing more because it can, and we are starting to see this on the regular from Microsoft, whether it’s about a focus on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, or ensuring the safety of democracy. When it’s difficult to impossible to trust companies like Facebook, Twitter, and others, often motivated by ad dollars above all, it is nice to see a company doing something because they can.”

Noticing the growing spread of misinformation and voter manipulation, Google too announced new features on its search engine to help voters gain detailed and accurate information about the 2020 voting process. The search engine giant has launched several products to protect the electoral process from tools to thwart phishing attacks and combat the spread of misinformation.

Additionally, taking significant stringent security measures, the U.S. Department of State announcedOpens a new window a $10 million reward for information on foreign election interference.

Apart from the nine tech companies, several other social media platforms, including TikTok, Snapchat, have taken measures to combat election disinformation and are encouraging first-time voters to register and vote for the presidential elections 2020.

Despite significant efforts by tech firms, 74% of AmericansOpens a new window have little confidence in tech companies to prevent their platforms from influencing the 2020 presidential elections. Moreover, 72% of AmericansOpens a new window say social media platforms have too much influence in politics. To rebuild citizen’s trust, the government needs to regulate the tech industry with policies and laws that can prevent technology abuses, such as deepfakes, misinformation, data threats, and much more.

The collaboration between tech companies and government agencies is a step towards the safer and transparent electoral process. However, can big tech fight against the hurdles around the electoral process easily? With advanced technologies, it will be interesting to see what strategies big tech companies take to combat threats, misinformation, and cyberattacks in the presidential elections 2020.

Do you think big tech can save the U.S. elections 2020? Comment below or let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!