60 Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrumpl), “@Twitter is now interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election…,” Twitter, May 27, 2020, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1265427538140188676; Donald Trump (@realDonaldTrumpl), “Twitter is completely stifling FREE SPEECH, and I, as President, will not allow it to happen!,” Twitter, May 27, 2020, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1265427539008380928.
61 “Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship,” White House, May 28, 2020, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-preventing-online-censorship.
62 “Remarks by President Trump Announcing an Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship,” White House, May 28, 2020, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-announcing-executive-order-preventing-online-censorship.
63 David Shepardson, “Biden Revokes Trump Order That Sought to Limit Social Media Firms’ Protections,” Reuters, May 17, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/technology/biden-revokes-trump-order-that-sought-limit-social-media-firms-protections-2021-05-15.
64 Anne Applebaum, “Democracy Is Surprisingly Easy to Undermine,” Atlantic, June 17, 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/trump-fraud-stop-steal-copycats/619226/.
65 Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conpiracism and the Assault on Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019), 7–14.
66 Ibid., 34–35, 74.
67 Benkler describes this cycle as an elite-driven mass media disinformation campaign, coming from the top, propagated through Trump’s statements, and spread through right-wing supports (communication teams at the White House and for reelection, the Republican National Convention, Republican officials, right-wing media) and through mainstream media coverage. Cable, network, and local TV and news are more important than some people assume—lots of folks get their political info here rather than from online debates. Yet Trump’s Twitter handle (@RealDonaldTrump) is “on par with the most influential media sites” and is “the most influential source with a right-wing audience orientation.” Trump tweets something, and because he is president, it triggers a wave of coverage across the media ecosystem—including in centrist/mainstream media. The right-wing influencers repeat his claims and develop them; then mainstream media covers this as if it’s a fair, partisan debate rather than disinformation. Yochai Benkler et al., “Mail-In Voter Fraud: Anatomy of a Disinformation Campaign,” Social Science Research Network, January 1, 2020, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3703701.
68 “Statement from CISA Director Krebs on Security and Resilience of 2020 Elections,” Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, October 20, 2020, https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/news/statement-cisa-director-krebs-security-and-resilience-2020-elections.
69 Center for Internet Security, “Reporting Misinformation to the EI-ISAC,” US Election Assistance Commission, https://www.eac.gov/sites/default/files/partners/EI_ISAC_Reporting_Misinformation_Sheet102820.pdf.
70 The “Long Fuse” report. See Chapter 1 of the EIP final report, “The Long Fuse,” for a full description of outside partnerships and workflows. Online at “The Long Fuse: Misinformation and the 2020 Election,” Stanford Digital Repository, March 3, 2021, https://purl.stanford.edu /tr171zs0069.
71 Casey Nelson, “Postal Service Investigating Mail Found in Greenville Ditch,” 94.3 Jack FM [Green Bay, WI], September 23, 2020, https://943jackfm.com/2020/09/23/postal-service-investigating-mail-found-in-greenville-ditch.
72 Jim Hoft, “BREAKING: US Mail Found in Ditch in Rural Wisconsin—Included Absentee Ballots,” Gateway Pundit, September 23, 2020, Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20200926103923/https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/09/breaking-us-mail-found-ditch-greenville-wisconsin-included-absentee-ballots.
73 Center for an Informed Public, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Graphika, and Stanford Internet Observatory, “The Long Fuse: Misinformation and the 2020 Election,” Stanford Digital Repository: Election Integrity Partnership, March 3, 2021, https://purl.stanford.edu/tr171zs0069.
74 Patrick Marley, “Mail Found in Greenville Ditch Did Not Include Any Wisconsin Ballots,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 1, 2020, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/10/01/mail-found-greenville-ditch-did-not-include-any-wisconsin-ballots/5883960002.
75 E (@ElijahSchaffer), “If you have further evidence that these are legitimate…,” Twitter, September 25, 2020, https://twitter.com/ElijahSchaffer/status/1309400335988019201.
