Mitigating Political Misinformation on Social Media Platforms

Abstract

With the advent of social media and its involvement in politics, misinformation is becoming an increasingly urgent issue that has the potential to significantly impact elections. To fully illustrate the problem of political misinformation on social media, I establish the complicated nature of political misinformation through current examples, the unique abilities of social media technology in promoting misinformation, the lack of necessary legal guidelines regarding online political advertising, and the limits of current misinformation detection systems. Considering the legal constraints of internet regulation and technological limitations of misinformation detection, I propose increasing transparency to limit political misinformation and its effects. First, FEC regulations should be expanded to require disclosure of microtargeting options, as well as to strengthen disclosure requirements in online settings. Second, regulations should be implemented to require social media platforms to disclose algorithmic targeting for political advertisements, in addition to keeping a public record of political advertisements, including microtargeting information.