Synthetic Media and Potential Safeguards

In the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, disinformation on social media platforms threatened the integrity of the electoral process. Specifically, Russian troll farms and bot armies created thousands of social media accounts that spread false information and stoked political tensions in an attempt to sow confusion and impact the election outcome. Within the United States, extremist groups latched onto these efforts and spread their own disinformation and propaganda with the goal of affecting election outcomes. In the wake of the election, other countries experienced similar challenges online.

Social media platforms have assured the public that maintaining election integrity is one of their top priorities ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. However, synthetic media and other forms of manipulated media present new and critical challenges for platforms in maintaining this integrity.

To help address these challenges, Carnegie’s Silicon Valley office is convening a series of private, nonattribution dialogues where platform representatives and leading experts share insights about different facets of the problem and solutions. The first convening, in 2018, sketched out the problem space and potential safeguards. Subsequent convenings in 2019 have sought to advance feasible safeguards ahead of the 2020 U.S. election.

The convenings are conducted under the Chatham House Rule. Summaries are available for meetings where participants permit a nonattribution disclosure.

Convenings

• The Legal, Ethical, and Efficacy Dimensions of Managing Synthetic and Manipulated Media

  • November 15, 2019

  Carnegie has commissioned pieces on the legal, ethical, and efficacy dimensions of election-related synthetic and manipulated media.

• June 2019 Convening on Defining Inappropriate Synthetic/Manipulated Media Ahead of the U.S. 2020 Election

  • June 19, 2019

  Platform representatives and leading experts debated appropriate and inappropriate synthetic and manipulated media, and whether definitions should focus on harm to users or the intent of the creators.

• November 2018 Convening Mapping Synthetic Media’s Problem and Solution Space

  • November 16, 2018

  A group of experts and platform representatives who have insights into addressing the problems that synthetic media presents for platforms specifically and society more broadly gathered with the goal of creating a set of potential safeguards and a road map for implementing those safeguards.