Calling all Social Media Enthusiasts:  Now is your Opportunity to Help Fight Election Misinformation!

Become a SQUINTer!

Calling all Social Media Enthusiasts:  Now is your Opportunity to Help Fight Election Misinformation!

We are all aware of the tremendous amount of misinformation on social media, including election misinformation. For example, in a recent primary, there was a rumor on social media giving the wrong factual advice that anyone over 60 should not go to the polls due to the coronavirus. So how do we get control over this, and make sure our election officials can combat this dangerous disinformation?

There’s an app for that!  Really. Our Fairfax League is going to participate in a critical new project working to fight election misinformation in social media. As a member, you are invited to participate.  

In a nutshell, a major company (MITRE Corp) has developed an election misinformation tracking and reporting system called SQUINT to assist state and local elections officers with combating deception and misinformation on social media. Local and State Leagues have been asked to participate because we are non-partisan and we have a mission to protect election integrity and voting rights. MITRE has the same values and mission. The Fairfax League is the first in Virginia to participate in the program. 

Become a SQUINTer!  Briefly, SQUINTers install the SQUINT app on their iPads/smartphones, or desktops, and receive an individual user number to ensure anonymity. They use the app to report any factual misinformation they see on social media to MITRE by simply pressing an owl symbol on the app to capture and send a screen shot of the posting to MITRE. That is the end of the SQUINTers’ task. MITRE verifies the screen shot and sends it to the appropriate election official who can then take action, such as notifying the social media displaying inaccurate posts and/or the public as needed. 

Learn more: Watch a brief video on this project.

Read a two page brief here. 

Peruse the LWVFA MITRE SQUINT PowerPoint.

View the MITRE prepared Information Flyer.

This project is only for current members of the LWV of Fairfax. Sign up here to become a SQUINTer.