Disinformation and the 2020 US Presidential Election

QAnon, suspicious dossiers, and dubious claims have all been key factors of the 2020 US Presidential election. Much like the 2016 election, this election has been dogged by attempts of online disinformation. The integrity of mail-in ballots have been questioned, rumours about Joe Biden’s son have gone viral, and the FBI have said that Russia and Iran have been targeting the election online. How significant was the role of disinformation in the election? What’s changed since 2016 and what can be learned for future? We explored this with Carl Miller (Research Director, Centre for the Analysis of Social Media), Siddarth Venkataramakrishnan (European Technology Correspondent, Financial Times), Marianna Spring (Specialist Disinformation Reporter, BBC), Christine Jakobson (Tech Ethics Researcher, University of Cambridge), and Areeq Chowdhury (WebRoots Democracy). This discussion took place during the WebRoots Democracy Festival in November 2020.