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Recognizing this would be a problem in 2020, and beyond, Amalia Deloney of the Media Democracy Fund helped establish the Disinfo Defense League. The DDL, now composed of more than 200 grassroots organizations across the U.S., is helping to mobilize minority communities to counter disinformation campaigns.

\"The idea is to be a real research resource, a sharing network designed specifically to disrupt the voter suppression campaigns that are using racialized disinformation tactics to deliberately depress Black, Afro-Latinx and Latinx community votes,\" said Deloney, the DDL's director.

\"PHOTO:
Kathleen Flynn/Reuters
PHOTO: Dana Clark, and her son 18-month-old Mason, wait in line at City Hall as early voting begins for the upcoming presidential election in New Orleans, Oct. 16, 2020.
>
\"PHOTO:
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
PHOTO: People their cast ballots at the Richland County Voter Registration & Elections Office on the second day of in-person absentee and early voting on Oct. 6, 2020 in Columbia, S.C.
>

The organization has purposely avoided the spotlight, partly to not attract more trolls but also because they want to spread their message not through traditional media sources or even public social media but in closed direct messaging areas such as Facebook Groups or WhatsApp groups. Much of the group's messaging is via SMS. Deloney said that post-election there will be less of a need to operate below the radar and the DDL will take on more of a public stance.

Rather than trying to grow an online user base, the DDL seeks to leverage trust among its members and their communities to more effectively combat misinformation. Much of the disinformation is being circulated in closed groups, like private Facebook Groups, and private messaging groups on WhatsApp or WeChat, and the only way to counter that disinformation is through members of the public who already are in these private spaces online.

Deloney said the organization is not unlike \"The Justice League,\" a popular comic book series.

\"We wanted to create a space where you could sit at the table with other superheroes and together you could do more than what was possible on your own,\" Deloney added.

The basic premise is that by educating people about disinformation tactics and teaching them how to spot it, that helps inoculate the electorate against it.

\"PHOTO:
Ron Harris/AP
PHOTO: Hundreds of people wait in line for early voting in Marietta, Georgia, Oct. 12, 2020.
>

Next week, two member organizations, MediaJustice and United We Dream, are organizing a full week of events that will include training sessions and a Twitter town hall. The DDL also offers training and resources in Spanish and works with many Latinx groups, including Mijente.

Claire Wardle, director of First Draft, one of the expert disinformation organizations that advises the DDL, said that communicating directly with minority communities is key in battling falsehoods.

\"We've learned in 2020 that, as institutional trust in things like the CDC or the news media or academia has dropped, people are turning to one another for information,\" Wardle told ABC News. \"When it comes to fighting disinformation, there are real opportunities there for communities who trust one another to say, 'Let's help one another figure out what's true or false and which bits of information are designed to divide us.'\"

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