Pascrell, Pallone, Maloney, Malinowski Lead Calls for Twitter to Prevent Census Interference

Letter to CEO Jack Dorsey requests company’s plans to prevent interference in upcoming national count

PATERSON, NJ – Today, U.S. Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ-06), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), and Tom Malinowski (D-NJ-07) led a letter signed by 58 Members of Congress demanding details on Twitter’s actions to prevent any undue influence on the 2020 Census count. While Facebook has stated that it is treating the upcoming census “like an election” and has promised to ban census misinformation campaigns, Twitter has made no such commitment. In their letter, the Members cite Twitter’s history as “a platform historically vulnerable to coordinated interference campaigns,” and request its plan to combat census disinformation and that Twitter allocate sufficient resources to carry it out.

“As you know, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Twitter was used by malicious actors for the purpose of manipulating the American electorate,” the Members write. “Any attempt by a nefarious actor, foreign or domestic, to unduly influence our democracy is an affront to our nation and its people. As social media platforms continue to face interference attempts in our elections, these platforms must also be prepared for efforts to undermine our upcoming 2020 Census.”

The Members continue, “[a]s a platform historically vulnerable to coordinated interference campaigns, Twitter must lay out its plan to combat census disinformation and allocate people and resources to carry it out. Banning false census information and making significant improvements in the moderation of suspected automated bot accounts will help ensure public trust in our 2020 Census.” The letter concludes: “We request that you share your plan to prevent census interference with policymakers and provide updates on its implementation ahead of the census.”

Amid recent reports on the serious risks posed to an accurate Census count by online disinformation campaigns, this letter is the latest in Rep. Pascrell’s efforts to prevent malicious interference in our public affairs. Rep. Pascrell has led efforts in the Congress to prevent the Trump Administration from impeding the 2020 Census, with its obvious attempts to cause an undercounting among immigrant populations. As early as January 2017, Rep. Pascrell began leading calls for an independent investigation into Russia’s 2016 election interference and has remained committed to that effort through votes to strengthen our election security and ardent support for sanctions on Russia in response to the Putin government’s attacks on American democracy.

The Members’ full letter can be viewed here, the text of which appearing below.

November 4, 2019

Jack Dorsey

Chief Executive Officer

Twitter, Inc.

1355 Market Street, Suite 900

San Francisco, CA, 94103

Dear Mr. Dorsey:

We write to express our concerns about Twitter being used to spread disinformation related to the upcoming 2020 Census, and to request information about how your company is guarding against this threat. As you know, during the 2016 presidential campaign, Twitter was used by malicious actors for the purpose of manipulating the American electorate. Any attempt by a nefarious actor, foreign or domestic, to unduly influence our democracy is an affront to our nation and its people. As social media platforms continue to face interference attempts in our elections, these platforms must also be prepared for efforts to undermine our upcoming 2020 Census.

Through our census every ten years, the United States Government determines where to allocate congressional districts and over $800 billion in annual federal spending. Misinformation campaigns to discourage any American, including targeted demographic groups, from participating in our national count would be an attack on our democracy with potentially far-reaching consequences for decades to come. We believe social media platforms must do more and do better than was done in 2016 to deter and mitigate interference in our upcoming count.

As Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller described in Volume I of his ‘Report on Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election’ , the Internet Research Agency (IRA), an arm of the Russian Government, carried out a concerted propaganda campaign primarily through Facebook and Twitter during the 2016 presidential campaign. In the course of their interference of our national politics, the IRA “made over 80,000 [Facebook] posts before their deactivation … and these posts reached at least 29 million U.S persons” (p. 26). Further, “IRA-controlled Twitter accounts separately had tens of thousands of followers, including multiple U.S. political figures who retweeted IRA-created content” (p. 15) and they “operated a network of automated Twitter accounts that enabled the IRA to amplify existing content on Twitter” (p. 26). Similar tactics to discourage participation in our national count must be anticipated and moderated without delay.

The Census Bureau is taking this threat seriously by hiring specialists to build local awareness surrounding the census and is seeking to collaborate with social media platforms to prevent a redux of the 2016 presidential election.  Facebook has promised to ban misinformation campaigns surrounding the census and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg committed to put “people, policies, and technology in place to protect against Census interference” in a census protection plan that Facebook intends to finalize later this year.   We will follow the enactment of these promised census interference efforts by Facebook carefully.

You stated in testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce on September 5, 2018, “abuse, malicious automation, and manipulation detracts from the health of our platform” and that “[w]e are committed to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress” (p. 1).  It is vitally important that you follow through on your promise for Twitter to do better. As a platform historically vulnerable to coordinated interference campaigns, Twitter must lay out its plan to combat census disinformation and allocate people and resources to carry it out. Banning false census information and making significant improvements in the moderation of suspected automated bot accounts will help ensure public trust in our 2020 Census. Finally, we appreciate your recent step to prevent the spread of misinformation in paid advertisements on Twitter  and urge you to ensure proper census outreach efforts reach users on your platform.

We request that you share your plan to prevent census interference with policymakers and provide updates on its implementation ahead of the 2020 Census. We appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

U.S. Reps. Pascrell, Pallone, Maloney, Malinowski, Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA-47), Albio Sires (D-NJ-08), Alma Adams (D-NC-12), Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH-02), Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA-18), Barbara Lee (D-CA-13), Bill Foster (D-IL-11), Bobby L. Rush (D-IL-01), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), Charlie Crist (D-FL-13), Darren Soto (D-FL-09), David Cicilline (D-RI-01), Deb Haaland (D-NM-01), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ-10), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX-30), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Eliot L. Engel (D-NY-16), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO-05), G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-01), Gilbert R. Cisneros, Jr. (D-CA-39), Grace Meng (D-NY-06), Gwen Moore (D-WI-04), Harley Rouda (D-CA-48), Hank Johnson, Jr. (D-GA-04), James P. McGovern (D-MA-02), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), Jerry McNerney (D-CA-09), Jim Cooper (D-TN-05), Joseph Kennedy, III (D-MA-04), Juan Vargas (D-CA-51), Judy Chu (D-CA-27), Linda T. Sanchez (D-CA-38), Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH-11), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Max Rose (D-NY-11), Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Mike Quigley (D-IL-05), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), Nita M. Lowey (D-NY-17), Peter DeFazio (D-OR-04), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ-03), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-07), Susan Davis (D-CA-53), Tom Suozzi (D-NY-03), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15), William Lacy Clay (D-MO-01), and Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY-09)

______________

cc: Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Executive Officer, Facebook

Mr. Steven T. Dillingham, Director, U.S. Census Bureau