Brenda Marie Rivers
The U.S. Census Bureau has enlisted the help of Facebook, Twitter and Google to stop the spread of online “fake news†the agency believes could disrupt the next decennial count, Reuters reported Wednesday.
The report noted cybersecurity and data experts warned that foreign entities and right-wing groups might use disinformation campaigns to discourage immigrants from joining the 2020 census.
Ron Jarmin, deputy director of the Census Bureau, told Reuters the agency has been conducting meetings with tech companies since 2017 to identify potential courses of action on the issue.
The bureau previously launched a forum in Silicon Valley to discuss potential election disinformation threats with representatives from technology firms such as Microsoft, Uber and Twitter.
Census officials also approached Facebook on potential collaborative efforts with the agency as well as the Department of Defense.
