Why Latino Voting Rights Activists Are Worried About Election Disinformation

Activists say the nefarious material is more widespread, sophisticated and complex than ever.

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María Teresa Kumar, the chief executive of Voto Latino, speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

Good evening! Tonight, my colleague Jazmine Ulloa has a look at why Latino voting rights activists are more worried than ever about the threat of disinformation. Plus, we look at how the Harris campaign is using technology to get to people who are hard to reach through traditional canvassing. — Jess Bidgood

By Jazmine Ulloa

A year ago, while María Teresa Kumar was conducting focus groups with Latino voters in Arizona and Nevada, she began to hear eerily similar anti-American sentiments repeatedly crop up.

Kumar had noticed videos and memes proliferating online that appeared to be sowing distrust in American government and participation in its democratic system. Had content like that, she wondered, reached these voters?

Activists like Kumar, who runs Voto Latino, the largest organization dedicated to mobilizing young Hispanic voters in the United States, have been contending with disinformation targeting Latino voters since 2016. But this year, they say, nefarious material is more widespread, sophisticated and complex than ever — and they are trying to sound the alarm.

Kumar’s worries led her to raise the issue of disinformation aimed at Latinos with President Biden during a visit to the White House in the spring. He appeared to be aware of the problem and suggested that it was worse than they thought. “He said, ‘You don’t know the half of it,’” Kumar recalled.

Worries about foreign influence

When it comes to disinformation and Latino voters, Kumar and other voting rights activists have a long list of concerns.

The threat of foreign influence on this year’s election is among them. In recent months, the Justice Department indicted an American commentator for Russian television and his wife. The United States has accused Russia’s global television network, RT, of serving as an arm of that country’s intelligence agencies, and social media companies have escalated their efforts to block content from the station and other Russian media outlets.

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