LETTER: ‘False information is bad for our democracy’

In an earlier letter to the editor, people were encouraged to support and believe information relating to election fraud. I would encourage people to do their own research. Claims of election fraud have been debunked but continue to be repeated.

About 1 in 5 Americans get their news from social media according to the Pew Research Center. The spread of misinformation across social media communities is a worsening problem.

All media companies, not just social media platforms, should implement better quality control for the content that ends up being shared. We as consumers should be more selective by rereading and researching information before sharing it with other people. Who published it? Is it a well-known new outlet or a suspicious website? You should never repeat false information.

There has been no evidence that votes were manipulated in Michigan and a hand-counted audit of votes in the county referred to in the Absolute Truth film affirmed the outcome in that county. Election officials and cybersecurity experts say there is no credible evidence that China invested or had access to any files with two companies that provide election technology.

Finally, Michigan officials have said and verified that ballots were not scanned multiple times to skew the results of the election.

Inaccurate and false information is bad for our democracy and in a pandemic it may be a matter of life [or] death.