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How Russian Efforts To Meddle Could Impact The 2020 Election

US President Donald Trump looks at Russian president Vladimir Putin during a photo at the G20 Leaders' Summit.
US President Donald Trump looks at Russian president Vladimir Putin during a photo at the G20 Leaders' Summit.

It’s no secret that Russia used social media to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Now, Moscow and its allies are trying to do so again in 2020. National security experts say voters will be exposed to lies about the election before they ever get to the ballot box.

Since the 2016 election, social media companies have made efforts to fight disinformation on their platforms. Facebook now employs third-party fact-checkers for news and ads. Twitter has clamped down on “inauthentic personas,” or bots. But is this enough?

How can voters make sure the information they’re getting is real? And what more is needed to stem the tide of disinformation online in the run-up to the 2020 election?

Copyright 2020 WAMU 88.5

Kaity Kline
Kaity Kline is an Assistant Producer at Morning Edition and Up First. She started at NPR in 2019 as a Here & Now intern and has worked at nearly every NPR news magazine show since.