All participants shall refrain from discussing any classified or other information protected from public disclosure. Second, the committee is conducting virtual hearing in compliance with house revolution 965. And the regulations for remote proceedings. Its being broadcast live on the committees website. Because the threat posed by covid19 pandemic remains ongoing, we are proceeding this hearing remotely in order m to ensure the safety of our witnesses, members, staff andnd public. All wish we could return to all standard and person events, health and safety protocols dictate we find alternate means of carrying out or oversightht obligations. Okay, let me s remind members during remote procedures, first consistent with the regulations the committee will keep their microphonese muted to keep down background noise be they responsible for under it in themselves and they see recognition they are recognized for five minutes. Sometimes our delays when commuting or unmute in, i would ask members and witnesses to allow time before speaking to ensure the last speaker has finished. Second, members and witnesses must have the cameras on it all times for a fee to step away for the proceeding, please leave your camera on. Third, if you encounter technical difficulties please contact Technical Support the channels established prior to the hearing. Our technical stock will work to get you back up and running as soon as possible. Finally consistent with past practice i will the appropriate time recognize members for their five minutes. In order of seniority and those who been present at the commencement of the hearing. Y thank you for your patience as we proceed under these extraordinary circumstances. The vast majority of the committees work work necessarily takes place behind closed doors. But we also have a responsibility to take public testimony from those outside the u. S. Moid government and infm the public about growing transit can endanger our nation in both shortterm and longterm. Building on prior unclassified be understand the risks posed by misinformation, conspiracy theories and those online. These sources are now transnational, they canou originate and incubate overseas or at home. Once if taken root and begun to circulate our foreign adversaries can advantage their malign interest by amplifying baseless, misleading or inflammatory t claims. Over the pastra several years a picture has emerged for the threat from without and state back to media online trolls is real and substantial, we cannot ignore the threatt from wishonry which goes more pernicious every day. The online ecosystem and unwitting audiences that the crumley so ably exploited remain vulnerable to unscrupulous home actors have falsehoods of their own. If left unchecked it could be a reversible damage not only to our nations discourse, but to how we as a society discern fact from fiction. Misinformation the conspiracy theories predate the internet the very nature of socialth media can propel an accurate or manipulative content, misleading claims and outright lies far and wide. And at the speed of. [inaudible] social media platforms have made significant changes since 2016. Theyve not change the foundational features other platforms thatat expose users and recommend to them often extreme sensational or emotionally charged content. The algorithmic engines that power social media platforms keep scrolling and clicking gives human attention for their sophisticated and difficult sometimes for their own designers they fully understand the algorithms are epdeniably affected by their mission, keeping users on the platforms as long as possible. Which is a prize known that controversial extreme or untrue content often engenders the strongest engagement creating Fertile Ground for misinformation to cross the internet fringes into the mainstream. This is all come to a perilous head and a set of evolving theories and twisted beliefs falling under the banner of q and r. Its precepts are arcane but they echo antisemitic tropes and often amplify White Supremacy. Alle while positing the existence of an allpowerful cabal of elites who traffic children must be defeated in prisons or killed. Against the backdrop of Global Pandemic lockdowns and preventative measures help our communities for the movement iss witnessed a huge spike in visibility and followers. The notorious pandemic video that was ripe with false conspiratorial themes and Health Misinformation about covid19 was boosted by queuing on supporters and earned 8 million views prior to removal from social media. It is incumbent on all of us to understand here and why gypsum is security into view. Not just a Conspiracy Theory its a violent worldview with the devoted followingev of adherence that a reckoning receives their perceived foes. A recent west point report warned about potential escalating terrorist style attacks driven by cueing on style beliefs and some of its affiliates have already engaged in real world acts. Hundreds of miles with her pizza parlor here in d. C. We are told Holding Children captive in the basement for there were no basement there were no captives and no injuries despite the selfproclaimed investigator firing his weapon. A woman was arrested after attacking two strangers in waco, texas believing them to be child traffickers. Thence accused of merging mob boss last year believing that he was part of the mob bars at her boss a deep state demonized for its alleged plotting against the president bring the same man wanted to carry out a citizens arrest the president has targeted including myself. In response to the openly violent and hateful rhetoric, the social Media Companies have begun to respond. Just hours ago youtube announced a platform wide prohibition targeting the Conspiracy Theory andoh since July Facebook and twitter have initiated Large Purchase of affiliated pages, groups and accounts. These are necessary pull limit our steps such forceful responses are made to be more difficult when conspiracy theories are partially egged on by the president of the United States. Just this week he twice retweeted Conspiracy Theory alleging a sama bin laden was still live and president obama had navy seals killed as part of a coverup. Such a polluted online landscape unfortunately stays ripe for adversaries. The dhs and amplified conspiracy theories and misinformation about voting or the pandemic are part of a Disinformation Campaign originating overseas this electionin cycle. Americans are voting right now in the midst of a pandemic. It could take days or weeks to count all of the votes after election day. That will be susceptible to conspiracy theories and misinformation pretty specially if amplified by align foreign actors which potentially cast ballots on the legitimacy of the outcome itself. Or make us doubt the viability our free and open democracy. Thats the area of the heart of our National Security and the oversight mandate of congress on this committee. Social Media Companies bear some responsibility by the private sector alone cannot reverse these trends. U. S. Government must remain a credible partner to recognize and address these threats also. We must be clear eyed the conspiracy theories act with domestic terror. Each of us have personal responsibilities to. Do it we can to restore trust and genuine expertise and authoritative information. Do not reflect inor the share content are misleading claims on how quickly they can catch fire. To build bridges between the whiting chasms that exist on both online and offline so we can try to occupy same shared reality once again. Even if we have different views about how to best turn that shared reality into a brighter future. And step outside of our own personal information silos that a bulk and us as a society where we no longer seem to agree on the sameon set grof facts. The witnessesk for joining us today and i look forward to enlightening and important discussion of these issues. So lets move to opening statements. We will go alphabetically by last name first doctor john Donovan Research director at the Harvard Kennedy school center, media politics and public polic policy. Ms. Nina who is the disinformation fellow at the wilson center, next ms. Cindy otis Vice President of the althea group, and finally ms. Melanie smith head of analysis at graphic out. Welcome again to all of you. Thanks for your participation and your work. Doctor donovan, let me begin by recognizing you for five minutes. Mi thank you for having me. It is a pleasure to be here in my house testifying for you all. Thank youou german shift for organizing this hearing is a very important topic. The summer junk news operations, propagandas spot by foreign and genetic operatives targeted people seeking information. The information about the election, the pandemic in the process. As Research Director at r Harvard Kennedy center i lead a team that is analyzing media melissa and chapman at pupation for their effect on society for today and going to speak about the sectors shouldering the shoot true cost of misinformation at scale. Generate 2020, facebook published a really important statement. And i quote in the absence of regulation, facebook and other companies are left to design their own policies. We have based hours on the principal they should hear from those who wish to lead them works and all. Policies like this push Corporate Responsibility onto the public and onto other professional sectors. Facebook is on to stipulate and that same statement that it has to abide by community standards. But what happens when they coordinate to blanket social media with falsehoods. Ar these cases advertising is not necessary for spreading lies to millions. All they need is a platform to work exactly as designed. Who then is responsible for explaining why a consumer was exposed to certain falsehoods . Who is responsible for making blpublic corrections when falsehoods are identified . Yesterday we saw facebook and twitter refused to let their services be used to distribute leaked materials. Over the past year Platform Companies have taken similar actions on White Supremacy manifestoes and covid19 misinformation two. It will take some time for moderation to become part of the design of social media. Just as it took a decade for medium manipulators and distant farmers to scale their attack. Recently facebook former director ofed monetization gave testimony suggesting a policy framework kyndell compared social media to the Tobacco Industry both focus on increasing capacity for addiction by slowly modifying the product over time. Legislation about smoking had to move beyond be the rationale that was an individual choice. And except that Secondhand Smoke had Public Health effects. For some time, families, insurance companies, employers and businesses had to pay the price for smoking ill effect on society. Our Research Team has identified for clear impact zones that are charged with cleaning up after the damage caused by on moderated, unregulated and unmanageable misinformation conspiracy. Journalists for instance have had to adapt over the last four years to the normalization of misinformation on sociall media. And have developed a misinformation beach. Covering thiss information is a esain on newsrooms resources. Which could be much better spent on sustaining journalism rather than moderating content. Second area of impact is Public Health and medical professionals. Increasingly Public Health and medical professionalsfe including the w. H. O. Have turned to my team for assistance in dealing with medical misinformation. Doctor should not have to become online influencers in order to correct misinformation, pushing miracle cures and bogus medical advice. When conspiracy link up with medical misinformation it can be especially difficult to advocate for the truth. Third, civil society. We are now in a position more racialized disinformation is a seasoned tactic of domestic influence operations. Racialized information refers to campaigns that either impersonate the idea identity of those of color use racism to boost issues. Randy collins dexter testified about these issues at a hearing in june where he highlighted how Tech Companies have hidden behind clarion calls to protect free speech at all costs for that doing enough to protect those subject to medical misinformation and harassment. Lastly First Responders are unfairly shouldering the burden of rumors and lies that are being spread. Your flashpoint for violence are permeated by calls to action on social media including the tragic events in kenosha. Law enforcement are at a serious disadvantage when attempting to do their jobs amid rumors and conspiracy theories spreading like digital wildfire online. I will close by saying rather than hold onto techno nostalgia for a time and social new media was not harmful, sometimes it is worth asking, what would it take to uneventful social media so we can chart a course for the web we what, i went to promote safety, equity and democracy. Thank you. Doctor donovan, we will now go to missing janco wits. Thank you. Chairmanship and distinguished members of the committee, it is an honor to testify before you today on the degradation of our information ecosystem. And its exploitation by malign actors. This is a threathr that is dismantling democracy. As americans, right now exercise their democratic right, it is critical the nation is informed about how disinformation might blunt their voice and theirbl votes. I came to study this information to the lens of russian influencein operation. My work has led me to it an unsettling conclusion. Not only have the u. S. Government and social media platforms all but advocated the responsibility to stop the threat of foreign disinformation, domestic disinformation now runs rampant. Example fight in the media, online, in the halls of congress and from the white house itself. I does our adversaries work for them. Leaving us vulnerable to continued manipulation and leaving our democracy imperiled. Today i will outline three transit exemplify the modern Information Space. The first is the increased use of information laundering to deliver foreign disinformation. Today, malign actors like russia are increasingly amplifying their narrative by using authentic local voices or organizations to conceal the origin and lend legitimacy to a given malign narrative. Perhaps the most wellknown is the Conspiracy Theory related to ukraine and Vice President en joe biden. These unsubstantiated and misleading narratives promoted by selfinterested and corrupt individuals, seeking power and personal gain or endorsed by the president s advisors, treated as fact with the media, and legitimizes in the halls of congress. Individuals that served as sources have since been discredited, sanctioned and have active connections to Russian Intelligence Services yet this week were still talking about this theory. The use of the local actors and information laundering and backing down on disinformation through constant moderation alone is much more difficult iven First Amendment. This is why this informers take advantage of social platforms and structures to fina malign narratives andndbu contribute to the trend. Conspiracy convergence, the conspiracy of one theory are exposed to others. This year, as americans search for answers about the coronavirus pandemic, close cases online to become a Fertile Ground for amplifying misinformation. Has my co panelist cindy otis and i found conspiracies run rampant across platforms and cross pounded between communities and indoctrinate the members. In particular the problem on facebook groups. Facebook is made changes to soften the phenomena but they lead aside misinformation. Highprofile accounts, facebooks Committee Standards seemingly do not apply. President trump pushes content including falsehoods about the security of mail and balloting which is expressed against the friends of Service Nearly 30 million users on his alone. Unlike what facebook policies might imply, Disinformation Campaigns do not beginning campaign on election day. They are built over time, increase stress to undermine the democratic process. When our information ecosystem gets flooded with highly salient junk that keeps us rolling and commenting and angrily relaxing civil discourse suffers for it our ability to compromise, our willingness to see humanity and one another suffers. Our democracy suffers. But facebook profits bird in 2019 facebook generated 98 of its revenue was 69. 7 billion. And finally the third trend relevant to her brilliant allfemale panel today is that disinformation often target women and minorities. We know that the ira disproportionallyd targeted against the black vote for we know that the kremlin has targeted women was sexualized Disinformation Campaigns to drive them for participation in public life. And today, ongoing project has observed an increase in individual spreading demeaning false narratives against sender Kamala Harris ahead of election day. These campaigns are meant to affect women and minorities participation in the democratic process. Every american that should categorically reject them. Overall, these trends mean that foreign adversaries no longer need creativity or brute force to be successful. They need only sit back and watch, regurgitating it amplifying what is already endemic to our society. Nineteen days before voting closes the 2020 election, i believe they are more buildable to online disinformation from both foreign and domestic sources than ever m before. Any of the recommendations we discussed today need to have it underlying recognition fights disinformation from outside its borders cannot do so while it embraces the same methods within them. This information is a threat to democracy, no matter what Political Party benefits. It is long past due that we begin to address this challenge to the very foundation of our country and its values. My written testimony details the urgent changes needed to heal our echo system. I look forward to discussing them with you later today, thanks so much. Ms. Otis. Thank you chairman members and my co panelist. Im honored to appear before this committee specially cring this critical time in our nations history. Im here today to lay out the threats as they see them from the range of actors both foreign and domestic or doggedly selling and amplifying misinformation to influence a mini plate the american people. These threats in some form the decadence as a cia its an officer and director of analysis. Serving our country under both republican and democratic administration. Also informed by the years ive spent since reading disinformation in the private sector. Almost four years ago the Intelligence Community publicly release its unclassified assessment on russian interference. In their report, they stated that quote russian efforts to influence the 2016 u. S. President ial election represents the most recent expression of moscows lawn send desire to undermine the usled democratic order. These activitiesth demonstrate an escalation and directness, level of activity and scope of effort and previous operations. Since the release of the report and generate 2017, i seen a failure to take the necessary action to combat for an instate sponsored interference itself. As a result, and perhaps inspired by russian efforts, more countries in ever using false information to advance both their domestic and Foreign Policy goals such as china and iran. Many of these foreign actors onare actively targeting Political Division in the country to manipulate and influence american citizens. And to the Great American standing in the world and the credibility of her institutions. In the last nearly four years ive also witnessed a rise in the number of the foreign and domestic commercial entities and financially motivated individuals who felter Disinformation Services on social mediana influence. More than happy to spread disinformation and conspiracy theories if it lines their own pocket. Were also now witnessing arising nefarious activities by political campaigns and democracies around the world including ours. They embrace and deploy tactics that sound much more like foreign influence operations the tactics of good digital campaigning. In theni United StatesPolitical Division or conspiracy theories may win a candidates vote but also declare democracy for foreign adversaries as discussed by the institutions that be should be working for them and discourages people from engaging in the democratic and of peddling disinformation conspiracies work they have become effective tools and campaigns are cheap to produce. There are no meaningful consequences for the spread disinformation and no real recourse for those who fall victim to this information. Be it a foreign government, domestic groups or a forprofit entity, nursing in realtime the impact of american Information Space cluttered with voices trying to mislead and manipulate. In a Global Pandemic is the difference between life and death the situation could not be more dire. We are living today and the biggest period of false ninformation and history. And we americans are largely doing it to ourselves for the Technology Platform to largely failed to adequately address the problem, can go viral insulin social media while the truth goes longer and the platforms curate those and particular appetites to ensure clicks. They make the users easy targets for disinformation actors to spread content. Americans are losing trust in what they read and see online. Theyreor desperate for information but certain groups feel they cannot trust the traditional institutions upon they wish to which includes immediate which are now regular threatened and blamed for the events that they cover. Americans are gravitating towards more extreme ideas and sources as well. As a result dangerous conspiracy theories and groups are on the rise. In just three years queuing on but from a few posts on a form that could primarily attest tracks White Supremacy being a mainstream talking point for them running for office in the country but Many Americans may have counted the Conspiracy Theory harmless before the pendulum getes Better Seeing transparencies into realworld harm such as violence to marginalized v communities, refusals for Public Health recommendations and the targeting of young people. Foreign actors are aptly taking advantage of that. But can now take action for the longer we sell the more difficult it will be. Threat actors have taken their time, the time we have given them to build and hone their capability and tactics. Uswe must act now, thank you look forward to answer your questions. Thank you miss otis. All that much or less panelist . Ms. Smith. Two thank you. I am willing smith and grateful tom have the opportunity to talk about my research with you toda today. Ive been setting the ng movemt for over two years napper i watch it evolve for me fringe Conspiracy Theory and to part of mainstream discourse. When i first began researching it was just one of a long list of communities that represent a concern for u. S. Election integrity. Now i believe it to be the most threat to Public Institutions and democrats. The movement support a set of conspiracy theories and russian late 2017 when it began posting covid messages. As mentioned these theories revolve around the beliefun there is a members are embedded in influential conditions in government, media, finance and the arts. It represents a good and evil hero and many villains. I like to tackle two of the most frequent misconceptions i hear about why it poses a threat sprayed is been infiltrated by foreign actors and driven by fake accounts. While both of these may have been true at various points in time elect distress that it really doesap appear to be a Homegrown Movement that engages real users. The real reason it poses a threat is undermining facts and truths on topics of genuine concern. Such is the integrity of elections, the global Covenant Team pandemic. It is antisemitic truth and been involved in the coordinated harassment of individuals and organizations. Concerns about has a real appetite for coordinated action. There are three observations my research i want to highlight. and is the Flexible Work to protect the sheer volume to enable the movement to be that the president 1100 networks and with those conversations taking place around the world. And those that areqa primarily defined and those c being irrelevant those that call brexit that the audience with topics. Ign and as a result it has been very difficult for social media platforms but it remains to be seen how consistently and comprehensively the policies will be applied in those to evade detection and to correlate the platform. During the time i spent working with extremistsi movement w the difficulty of the spread of that content and straightforward with the social media platforms this is not meant to take meaningful action and the creativity found platforms with a renewed effortt that those Public Institutions and processes cannot be generated. And we thank you for bringing your expertise to bear to date now will start q a. If i can miss smith where you left off. Given that as you have indicated to cross probably with a conspiracy theories and other groups and with other misinformation and conspirac conspiracy, how platforms youtubeno and facebook the baby keeps morphing and evolving . And that gets back to the algorithmic amplification of extreme content given me a more firstaid and adaptive groups that they take . Thats an interesting question. The changes that could be made by the social media platforms and their factor average alternate platforms outside of Mainstream Media we see those fringe platforms becoming increasingly popular and mainstream social media with these ideas to garner support so we need to be talking about restriction content in the changes of the Platform Engineering to restrict the exposure of new audiences to algorithmic reinforcement i think the content removal piece pushes the content is when we restrict the content on social media that they were a treat to the fringes and and that could be impacted. And with that financial incentive and it is a way for. Thank you for the question. Perhaps at the same time perhaps you could respond to the point that was made which is the now have actors in the United States knowingly amplifying this content with an extraordinary number of people running for office with the president himself so were challenged as opposed to the platform particularly in the political speech given the broadest amount of protection . Or First Amendment f when you have elected officials including the president of the United States who are that purveyors of this false information . Thank you for the question based on what Platform Company because it is such a mixed bag scattershot approach would use the a lot of shifting between platforms between these groups were essentially trying to make up for lost infrastructure so the points that melanie made about to be resilient and multiplatform is important in terms of whatever approach policy will take the other factor is the way it has redesigned the junk news era that is extensive reporting and the recommendation of these groups that is the ahead and morality. We have a hard time studying what is being servedud in groups some of these are tens of thousands of not hundreds of thousands so it can be a difficult challenge to understand even the extent of the scope of this that is the important aspects because of those influencers if the content doesnt make money they make other content so thats important to understand especially talking about a different kind of Feedback Group which is essentially the white began the know its coming from. This is what you say in terms of when we see certain politicians using social media as a lever to cause the misinformation cascade through the entire ecosystem this is a very important topicicpo because it creates an enormous waste of resources by shifting the attention of journalistur and then have to write an entire story about something that is a real. Because that piece of misinformation or propaganda is now already reached millions of people. Overtime this is important as well because this has been going on for a decade now and the social media is no longer knew. Has matured and to the fullest form now and we know the patterns of behavior. Talking about the true cost of misinformation and it is an enormous task and ultimately Platform Companies are showing they are capable when they want to be and responsible and they went to be we need to encourage that and to converge and then the train this information so we have to think about how you dismantled israels in order to have any kind of impact in the long term on that ecosystem. I have a bunch more questions but the next fiveminute round. Thank you mr. Chairman into thenk witnesses you want to directct my question who said two things that horrified me and one is. If the members to please their microphones on mute we are hearing background loses. And then to dismantle democracy and i is skeptical of that but will fight me even more is they are fighting misinformation and maybe that was growing up in latin america in the 1970s play had an up close and personal experience with government fighting misinformation, and i am allergic to the inclusion of the word information and government in the same sentence and to evaluate we are not just breaking democracy but only in the labor with one they tend liberalism. We understand we should not be a the business with the First Amendment about what do we do . Those that we are pretty critical of like Mark Zuckerberg the strikes me as a way way to address what may or may not be a problem. Actually want to see the evidence in a meaningful way to dismantle our democracy and violence a Political Organization because of a go down that path need more than eyeballs and how this dismantles our democracy and secondly how do we get in the business of show define what misinformation is . That strikes me as harsh talk about q and on but i remember the previous president who i respected and admired toward the public to keep the Health Insurance plan they could and that turned out not to be true. D i thank you get my point im looking for the evidence of the dismantling of our democracy. So i can actually do to fix that and admire the problem . Thank you very much congressman. And the aversion to a government wordd fight back to use the ter term, basically the foundation to cloning and news lives even in singapore i believe the government should be in that businesss either that to address your first question willing to evidence there are two stories that point to us from the last couple of weeks but the first is related to the kidnapping plot against the michigan governor and the social media platforms played a huge role to allow that group to organize. Allowed the group, that led them to organize and frankly is a women online and getting harassed a lot lately is sexualized and information am acutely aware of power first et cetera i can hol transfer to violence and that is meant to keep women and minorities not only from participating in the democratic process by exercising seeing our votes but keeping it from public life and never example recently from channel four to look at have a Trump Campaign use it came Analytical Data to target black voters with Voter Suppression during the 2016 election. Again, its about participation, not just fake news stories on the internet. In fact, a lot of the best information is crowded in the kernel of truth and amendment testimony go through other examples of how online action has led to realworld action. This is it something that is just on the internet but increasinglyetf. I dont have a lot of time to do you think those were the governor of michigan they pass the test getting into the spanishamerican war over 130 yearsan ago because of the good work randolph first. We had misinformation and terrible media and Voter Suppression forever i notice media platforms have scaled but i sure both of those examples were not have happened without the social media misinformation . They are organization offo these groups without any oversight and those that will find the most from the board most likely to take action has a foreign adversaries to what people in our own country are using against the democratic participation. I love to continue this conversationk and thats what would better understand but i would like to continue this conversation so what do we actually do about it . Thank you to all of you for being here and your work so to follow up because again those that have been around on the campaign for president people on horseback are spreading lies that the biggest difference now is the ease of communication and the anonymous nature that makes is scarier and more difficult than misinformation . I will be happy to answer. Whenever the specialty of the Research Team how white supremacist get organized online and i completely agree the been along with us in very early adopters of email newsletter Type Technology all along the way to be early adopters of different technologies and have used them to turn to their advantage and also creating more targeted messaging for recruitment. But what the shift is, they can use these platforms to raise resources, money, they make money doing this and second, they broadcast their events, the case was a Vigilante Group down at the border with mexico that were hunting people and arresting them in the broadcasting if you facebook l life and then asking for donations but somehow its a promise he has shifted i will say it is the case have a different set of advantages to using sociall media and not anyone at the control switch to say this is content to mobilize other people and then to incentivize this kind of behavior. So to grow back with nixon and then gotten better at their messaging and to be more successful. And then to do something really vague and public to get on the towns paper and then to effectively circumvent and deliver that messaging directly. In 2015 researching White Supremacy and the use of the dna ancestry test when you search google for White Nationalist, didnt take it aside about White Nationalism but directly to a White Nationalist message board with a welcome do with open arms. We have tried really hard as researchers to gap platforms that kind of recruitment strategy that has important consequences especially talking about someone like to one roof into conversations about White Supremacy on google and other Search Engines on black on white crime. Thank you for your work and for being here. You are muted i cannot hear you. We are still having trouble. I will come back to you next and hopefully we can figure that ou out. Thank you mr. Chairman i find this extraordinary and provocative want to profess my question with a confession which is on some level i have a difficult time getting my arms around this problem because of the sheer absurdity of the conspiracyf promise frankly and partly to believe that but that is exactly what i want to get it all incredible systems at the sociology but what i am interested in hearing from whichever one of you would be bestld suited is not the sociology but the psychology. What are the characteristics that need people to be receptive that is ridiculous or harmful so i asked this question so its important to understand the sociology so if we might you came the closest to getting married with the expertise but any of you that my give me some insight i would appreciate that very much. I am not a sociologist nor am i a psychologist but so many of these theories completely and wholeheartedly agree with that but what we see now the way they have content now is through mainstream so with that content with that save the Children Movement of the global elite and then to organize the sex trafficking ring so it does exist so through social media the first thing is the reinforcement mechanism with a will be exposed for more content and then to impact on the psychological level but on the background to study the Extremist Movement with a lot of time and effort to understand the individuals and with those basic human desires and needs and that they are a part of something that is good and that is a natural human desire to be on the right side of victory but i think we can take lightly. And with that desire to become tribal is meant by this president stop sure to help me understand how it is used set aside. Im a fanatic member of the tribe but it does not require me to set aside all of my rationality to do that. s individual vulnerabilities to allow people to see the red and say that isop blue . I can chime in and the way Political Polarization plays into this that when political units and media elites do a wink and a nod that this is okay and appropriate content and a Movement Worth following it is another signal. There is so many ways in that it also breaking news. Ministers around Jeffrey Epstein want to talk about these conspiracy theories have a kernel of truth or just lays itself across the internet for anyone to find these easter eggs and those elements are participation with the platforms themselves and then bring that information back to these online groups and some people spend hours upon hours a day doing just that are we packaging that and a Youtube Video subpoena can follow along because edibles with corruption and that is different even on the anti somatic which only going into the theory to start to dig around and with those are do you understand what the language is calling for. And with those democratic members to participate in a hearing regrettably they decided not to that is a disservice to their constituents lets try again with mr. Castro. And as we analyze these issues essentially that social media like other industries produces a product and in this case that maybe damaging to health and democracy in public discourse. D and then to take on the media with the stereotypes with different groups ofes people. Also whats interesting is the standard line has been the best counter why is truth but these are the ideas everybody is attuned to and ultimately to sort out faster affection because we have seen the social media it is asymmetric conversation with people are two different channels and then end up believing it without ever being exposed to confronted and by the time they are they display the countervailing information. What is important for me do believe there is any kind of current on common marketplace off ideas to have a battle between fact and fiction and the truth and a lie . What is a state of American Media as we try to figure out and as legislators we try to figure out what our world is to take away tax incentives and how do we handle that . There is some writing on this. And the place i wish i think about the marketplace of ideas and the third point is that living through a moment there is such an abundance of information and inaccurate information that are circulating and if you type in the algorithm sorts and prioritizes certain information to return it toto you. And the part of the pandemic calling thiswe coronavirus this is an unbelievable search in the urls using the term coronavirus as a call that covid19 we saw another spike in the use of urls if you look at the register to figure out and is covid19 relief andnd if you are trying to find information about unemployment or where to get tested and search on google you might bump into a website that was actually a friend that made it look like you are applying for information just submitting information to a firm to call you and give you the Legal Services 100,000 and more domains in that moment meant in some instances we dont know what they were using it for they were part but others trying to get people to click on the link think and they would buy toilet paper or Hand Sanitizer or play for government funding. Part in my interruption but where do you fall farm government in terms of regulation to be completely withdrawn as we have done so fa far . Government meet needs to incentivize platforms with better content t moderation. And then when you search for something and with the consequence you should be getting true and correct information. So just picking up from where you finished i do believe the flood ofve misinformation is a trust of democracy but also you can believe whatever you have one review want not just social media. And then to take advantage of this. And then that type of the journalism from my perspective. And while it is absent in a more extreme way is any editorial function e at all that is the breakdown of any institutions where there are some obligation towh stand behind what you publish and those platforms have exemptions for whatever goes out over the platforms so number one, the wri take a leading of misinformation isnt that part of the broader change of the whole media landscape . Not just social media. And numberan two, to the extent we give deference to mr. Zuckerberg and jack dorsey to decide this is a Public Function, how do you have a Public Function to have some standards of that editorial competence without being censorship . Im sorry i feel like im speaking a lot but i do have ideas with this kind ofnd feedbackhe where people are charging the platforms with censorship and content moderation. All matters a lot less ten years ago when people didnt really think about social media and they thought about what do i get my news. This is what the fundamental changes. It is additive to the environment but. Let me be a little more direct. And should be eliminate that exemption . And with that fairness doctrine and that will eliminate it opens it up with the enormous amount of opinion based news and the facts one with the fox news model. And on behalf of the public and with with legislative authorities and with those techat giants. And then to evaluate that impact and on the information economy and come up with those recommendations right now i dont think it is advisable and i do see this platform social media provides and the ways that they communicate with each other of these features that are the problem in the way that information is sorted and by and large people can pay to play where the news across the platform so i do think we need a special regulation around the advertising component especially relating to and where is paying for it until we have a transparency nobody will not know how they are getting the information. I yield back. I am happily able to jump in and personally i would welcome there is a point to be made 1. 35 per person per year in public media that the corporation for public broadcasting is in news deserts with the local npr and pbs stations some of the only local journalism that i think we could stand to invest more with that dichotomy so there isnt a vacuum for the junk news from these sources to fill the vacuum. I am of the opinion we were benefit from the oversight agencysi we could create a new set of rules that they created for themselves are being enforced equitably because right now we rely on and those going into the to find this out and what the platforms tell us. And then to empower the new oversight body that there is transparency in the platforms are doing their due diligence. Can you hear me chairman . Yes we can. Thank you so much and that panelist for the excellent discussion. Let d me throughout the discussio discussion, we have dealt in some ways basically with jihadism on the west to be a real threat to National Security and in some ways the these parallels with the magical thinking with blackandwhite morality, and conspiracyir theories. My understanding is done a decentn job to deal with the social media influence to some extent if i am correct are there any lessons to learn with this particular theory . Because i understand intelligence agencies around the country are thinking about dealing with it. Maybe we are not yet but maybe we showed and i would like to know how. Just the one thing the potentialen restriction, this is a different issue that it was quite easy with the content that needed to be swiftly taken down from the social media platforms it was violent and harmful and will affect and Cross Community guidelines. The issues with some of that content for example. Recruits realized the recruits were turned off by theff propaganda they adopted into emphasizing the Education System that was set up and the territory they were occupying. The issue is this great area so much the content does not violate Community Guidelines in any way. The actions thus far specifically target content to say that it can induce real world harm iam i a policymaker in the sense of how to restrict the amount of content that there is on that platform that would repeat what i said earlier it does play a larger role to prevent the rabbit hole that we see john more into the content. Another quick yes or no question. Can we without any foreign actors with the social media Conspiracy Theory . Absolutely not. That was an easy answer. And noticed that movement has spread to europe hasnt spread to russia as well quick. Thats a good question and 27 Different Countries obviously it is open source is not necessarily ones that we have access to it is a good question i would be surprised for those that are at least that has been astounding and rampant. This is an excellent topic we show drill down on as we get closer to the election talking about foreigngn influence and russia and i am concerned that plays a role here and then the last question, the ways we can have that Conspiracy Theory with other ideas or stories to cars and collapse on its own . In other words can embed to pay groups against each other . I will is going to say briefly that one of the things that might do another platforms is to reinforce the circulation those hours one algorithms because they respond to that type of excitement so there is an inverse system of rewards that Platform Companies reactth and how it may or may not disrupt communities so it keeps the conversation going so there is chatter about what Different Things mean and those that are ideologically wedded to one specific idea this is the discussiont itself. Thinking representative cummings. Thank you mr. Chairman into our witnesses for being with us today it is an important discussion my connection has been bad if it still is i apologize. Ad. First of all thank you for reminding us that social media allows the platform for those who plot to kidnap a us governor to take place that is extremely important and talking about a threat to our democracy that women and blacks and other minorities are always targeted and there could be different means that the mechanism is usually the same to instilll fear i do believe it is a significant threat to our democracy it is such an important discussion i would think that we would have learned so l much with the foreign interference of what is going on here at home from 2016 so tell me what you believe are the Lessons Learned because it does seem so in in the gaps that still exist that we need to have with the media focused to bring immediate attention. Thinking representative and i will definitely be brief to the and that my team tractor that information that will they are platform sites those that have the same sort of inclinationth that governor whitmore government limited to back that w information again senator harris. 631 percent it wasnt just because if it was talked about and the number of individuals is latching onto these theories is going. I am not sure they have learned very many lessons. And that perhaps me have learned to become moree circumspect and those that might elicit a providence we have not learned from our allies and we need recognition in a foreign interference information and as the hearing demonstrates this issue has become politicized and thats the biggest recognition that we need you are all studying a great exampleof and we have some interesting things from 2016 the misinformation because the Kitchen Table topic prior to 2016 the social Media Companies some have done some things with increasing their investigative capabilities but they are still lagging behind what type of content creates real world harm and that is the harmful content and where it is seated in support of those domestic individuals with the diet of that content and that does lead to realworld violence and changing the political beliefs. Like to see moving forward of nonprofit organizations that depend on grants and funding to do the work they are doing so many times and social media and doing a significant workk and education with that c project in particular to do tremendous work to face the same threat and during that critical work. I yelled back. Representative spears. Can you hear me now . Thank you mr. Chairman and each of you those advocates for a whole genre of area we need to spend more time. I think there is a cyberwar going on and to advocate the responsibility for because most of us most of us are pretty ignorant of how the system works. Many of you have reference this oversight entity and identify that in 2018 and then twoe years later and still have other platforms just waking up to it, that suggest we do need to have the uniformity of how we address many of these issues. As part of the democratic womens caucus, sothere was the institute for Strategic Dialogue and june and july with the female candidate for republicans and democrats and the world derogatory comments being made for women and men so those comments are important and i would like to give us some more insight looking at the first president ial candidates the first minority and how comment went so far role in is part of a disgusting commentary about senator harris and the means generated are so grotesque with the platforms own mission statement. So i would like some commentary on what you like to see in terms of dispelling the misogyny and also enforcing. And the report is an excellent one that is trying after two months time. Here in the United States also female candidates including in new zealand and the uk and canada and those targeted with this sort of thing when research has shown these narratives against women so as not only an issue of our democracy but a National Security issue personally what i would like to see is much more userfriendly reporting mechanismthtt so those who see e comments and the twitter thread so they can report these more frequently i have been going to the sos met myself for every single post you have no idea what they go when in reality this is a Harassment Campaign and the use code words the same that not things that will not be picked up by a normal dirty language that is going on senator harris as well so we will have recommendations comingen out in addition to look at the changing requirements with the undue burden especially women of color in the stores translate to real world harm. I just wanted more a question and i have 29 seconds. One of the things we learned is a number of different sites to be identical information at the same time and algorithmic to target the effect the pushing that up so with the top ten poster pages and nine of them are rightwing more conservative so anyways that will face but they said you can do that but then to manipulate the system is commonplace. It was the best interest of the American Public . We were talking about is credited influence operations masquerading as news networks. And we do need Platform Companies to be more responsive to those algorithms that what we are starting to see what those resources to pay some interns and people that they would respond to and posting networks. So that is a feature of the platform but not one with very little resources can use but they are being paid to post we have seen it happen in time and time again that would need is just talking about to be incentivized with this type of behavior. And with the network harassment problem with those candidates sometimes they target the people responding to them if you are a constituent anyone to ask a politician you might then become the subject of a harassment just look at maxine waters. And those that have much less attention on minor look at thehe comments it also gets in the way of those who and interest in learning about the community. I have two followups and for a card and thank you for your yearsf of service. And as an analyst what data is most useful to you all to analyze the danger what are theyar not sharing that they showed to help you do your work . Thank you for congress on the question the social Media Companies are very different allied of the research you end up seeing focus on twitter because it gets the data were the other platforms do not. Ine think that as one of the researchers the most important as getting then data on what has been removed it on facebook you get the announcement every couple of weeks and then a couple of screenshots that sort of thing but after the content has been removed the mass Media Tracking that threat and the analysis we cannot go back and identify what is used by the actors for the campaign and the first place so what do tactics are they imploring . Thank you very much. One last question for anyone this is a dilemma but jackie mentioned for example the attack on Kamala Harris im glad she did not repeat whatever the attack was that we are in a position to have to respond to these crazy conspiracy theories so we have all too much familiarity and the more you try to respond the more i understandd, you take up the Conspiracy Theory so what word do you recommend the best way to confront this misinformation without contributing to misinformation . I can quickly way and thats the exact same question we ask ourselves every day asus well. They are working to inform the public and keep them updated onin the threats there is a huge risk to amplify something that makes any inroads to begin with so essentially is this something that has reached enough people we need to respondpo with we do respond we have to allow the groups to get new followers and increase the reach of the narrative spirit different responses for different sectors and then to engage with this does this story . Ute a but its important politicians realized w it is lowlevel on the internet but you have been targeted by the misinformation campaign. With the stories and allegations and the fact you do respond to the newsworthy story. And then to engage in mind to a journalist in this position to write about it because politicians have responded to particular misinformation campaigns. It is tricky for a lot of people they dont have to know they are targeted by thesee things and those that are circulating more broadly across the web for me as a politician or as a professional with those newsworthy individuals and then to play that role. Thank you for your testimony. And then in many respects one step forward and two steps per one two stepswh back. It is encouraging to see and with those materials or why you are receiving information and then and 2016 the russians had to make up the content and then in that space and those are certain steps to lay back and then grateful for your expertise and we will adjourn. In less than 3 percent and the majority of those rules are by nondisabled actors we want to see her souls represented because not only do we see ourselves were presented but to help destigmatize and in general and ultimately it makes the world a more inclusive place. As the director today we are having a program of how well they anticipate the worldwide pandemic