The Leadership Conference Calls on Social Media Companies, Elected Officials to Prepare for Online Disinformation Onslaught After Trump Guilty Verdict

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / LINK
Contact: Mariah Wildgen, [email protected]

WASHINGTON Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement in response to former President Trump’s felony convictions:

“The verdict in Manhattan today is going to generate massive amounts of online content, and a big chunk of it will be lies, disinformation, or conspiracy theories from white supremacists, political operatives, chaos agents, and maybe even adversarial foreign governments. In this overheated environment, it’s vital for social media companies to enforce their content moderation policies and prevent lies from spreading unchallenged. This environment is ripe for the worst actors online to sow mayhem and discord, and social media companies simply cannot allow that to happen. 

“At the same time, elected officials must denounce lies and attacks on a process that followed the rule of law. As we saw in the lead-up to the January 6th insurrection, when our leaders foster a political environment that winks and nods at violence, we are not immune from threats turning into actual violence. January 6th showed that when politicians allow lies to grow and spin their followers into a fever-pitch rage, anything is possible. 

“Social media companies and elected officials have deep responsibilities to protect our society.  We urge them not to permit falsehoods to flourish online or spill over into violence on our streets. The stakes could not be higher, and the consequences of inaction could not be more  severe.”

In May 2024, The Leadership Conference Education Fund released Cause for Concern 2024: The State of Hate, which notes the failure of social media companies to adequately address hate speech and disinformation. 

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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