Florida U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (FL-26), along with other Hispanic members of congress, are asking the FBI to investigate what she says is a disinformation campaign targeting Hispanics.
“Disinformation is really nothing new online, we saw this in 2016. We had several meetings with the FBI where they confirmed that Russia had interfered in our elections and they were targeting Floridians at that time on Facebook and really at the time helping then-candidate Donald Trump to win the election," said Mucarsel-Powell. "What we’re seeing now is that they’re doing the same thing in 2020.”
In a letter to the FBI last month Mucarsel-Powell cited a social media post that claimed presidential candidate Joe Biden supports killing newborn babies, and that if he were to win, it would mean the U.S. would fall into a dictatorship led by Jews and Blacks. In recent weeks both Facebook and Twitter have announced tightened policies in an attempt to try and thwart attempts to mislead the public.
A recent survey released by the Pew Research Center shows nearly one in five adults get their political news from social media. That number increases to nearly 50 percent for adults between the ages of 18 and 29.
