ISD’s Jiore Craig: be vigilant on election day, but not intimidated

ISD’s Head of Elections and Digital Integrity, Jiore Craig, spoke to CNN about the police-call for ‘vigilance’ on Nov. 8, and the escalation of misinformation in spaces like Elon Musk’s Twitter.

In conversation with CNN anchor Erin Burnett, Jiore explained that while Americans should be vigilant considering the rise in poll watchers, they should not be intimidated or allow themselves to be dissuaded from voting. “I think vigilance is the key word, but you shouldn’t feel paranoid. Social media shows us the vitriol and at the same time it doesn’t show the people turned off by it. It is important to try to remain vigilant but not let this have a suppression effect and stop people from going out to the polls because of all of this.”

Burnett asked Jiore about Elon Musk officially taking control of Twitter and if this is concerning for researchers. “I think all of us researchers are concerned that we’ll continue to see social media platforms fail even more in having the right policies to stop the hate, division and threats of violence,” she said. “While he talks a big game, we don’t have any evidence that he knows anything about what keeps a platform like Twitter safe.”