For Immediate Release: March 12, 2020

Color Of Change Responds to Report Exposing Facebook and Twitter Misinformation Campaign Linked to Russian IRA

NATIONWIDE — Following the release today of a report from Facebook, Twitter, CNN and Graphika revealing a misinformation campaign run out of Ghana with close ties to the Russian IRA, Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization, issued the following statement from President Rashad Robinson:

“Finally we are seeing how misinformation can and should be handled by social media companies — swiftly, cooperatively and in partnership with the communities targeted by these harmful campaigns. Facebook and Twitter paid this situation the attention it deserves, and as a result, our community — for once — has answers.

While we appreciate the effort and transparency from Twitter and Facebook this time around, there’s work to be done to prevent even minimal harm from comparable misinformation efforts in the future. Tech companies must act on their promises to commit resources to legitimate ad review and account verification processes, in order to protect people of color online.

With false details about the Census and upcoming elections still circulating on social media, and now misinformation about COVID-19 spreading like wildfire across the internet, tech companies must assume responsibility for the content presented on their platforms. Not only does our democracy depend on it, but now our safety does too.”