Platform-fueled harms to U.S. election workers

Project

Combatting real-world harms to patriotic election workers — fueled and funded by Big Tech.
Our research uncovered how social media platforms profit from and reward harassment targeting patriotic Americans who work to safe elections in their communities. These harms affect workers and voters of all political parties, often target seniors, and generate many millions of dollars in earnings for violators and platforms alike. We work with non-partisan leaders in litigation, law enforcement, and regulation to halt Big Tech's exploitation of harms to election safety.
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In recent surveys, more than 1 in 3 local US election officials say they have experienced threats, harassment, or abuse, and 1 in 5 local election officials report they are unlikely to continue to serve in the 2026 midterms.

In 2024 Pluro Labs applied new digital research methods to uncover an unknown driver of this problem: social media platforms are publishing, promoting, and heavily monetizing content depicting real-world election harassment and interference acts taking place across the country. Many of these incidents include lawbreaking - and they target workers and voters of all party affiliations.

This content, which includes hundreds of cases across dozens of US states, include incidents of violence at polling sites, repeated lawbreaking and arrests, and even have led to voter intimidation lawsuits. Despite this, Big Tech widely monetizes this content to earn profits - at the expense of patriotic Americans working to ensure safe elections in their communities.

Armed with this research, Pluro Labs is partnering with nonpartisan leaders in election safety, litigation and law enforcement, technology reform to protect patriotic election workers from Big Tech's abuses, by:

* Advancing strategic legal action to put a halt to Big Tech's exploitation of election worker harms for profit
* Supporting election workers, election safety, and law enforcement to build resilience against platform-fueled harms
* Informing regulatory and advocacy actions to protect election workers and voters from platform abuses.

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More than 1 in 3 local election officials say they have experienced threats, harassment, or abuse.

“Local Election Officials Survey — May 2024.”

Brennan Center for Justice, May 1, 2024.