### Democratic Secretaries of State Urge Social Media Giants to Tackle Election Misinformation

A coalition of Democratic secretaries of state from seven states has formally urged tech giants Google, X, and Meta to disclose their plans for moderating harmful content and managing artificial intelligence (AI) on their platforms during and after election day. The officials, hailing from Maine, Rhode Island, Illinois, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and New Mexico, sent their letters on Friday, expressing deep concerns over the spread of violent threats against election officials and disinformation.

These secretaries, who oversee election processes in their respective states, emphasized the urgency of the situation, noting that misleading claims about elections are already proliferating online. They fear this trend will worsen, especially with recurring myths about noncitizens voting in large numbers and the supposed insecurity of tabulation machines. Notably, former President Donald Trump and X owner Elon Musk have amplified such claims, perpetuating a narrative that posits Democrats can only win elections through cheating.

The officials noted that previous efforts to curb misinformation have been under attack by Republicans in Congress and through legal channels, labeled as attempts at censorship. This pushback has led many social media platforms to adopt a less proactive stance in content moderation. As a result, there has been a significant reduction in personnel dedicated to trust and safety compared to previous election cycles.

Among the officials rallying for better content moderation is Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico’s Secretary of State, who has personally faced multiple threats, leading her to testify before Congress and, at one point, relocate for safety. Similarly, Maine’s Secretary of State Shenna Bellows encountered threats and had her home "swatted" after disqualifying Donald Trump from the state’s ballot following a voter challenge to his eligibility.

The letter from the secretaries of state outlines specific areas in need of attention from the tech companies. They seek detailed reports on how these platforms promote official and reliable election information, address conspiracy theories that lead to harassment of election officials, confront potential AI threats, engage with federal agencies regarding foreign interference, and manage violent threats toward elected officials.

“These threats are not hypothetical,” the secretaries underscored, referencing instances such as the doxing of Georgia election officials after the 2020 election, the spread of viral, AI-generated videos of political candidates, and the January 6 Capitol storming. They stressed that social media companies play a crucial role in either curbing or exacerbating the distribution of false content and its violent consequences.

Concluding their letter, the secretaries expressed their profound concern over the potential real-life violence that could stem from unchecked misinformation on social media platforms. They warned that such dynamics could have severe implications for both election officials and the democratic process itself.