Mucarsel-Powell calls for FBI investigation into Spanish-language disinformation
Miami Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell wants the FBI to investigate Spanish-language disinformation on social media and traditional media outlets after a South Florida radio station, Radio Caracol, played a 16-minute racist rant, and el Nuevo Herald distributed an insert containing racist and anti-Semitic writings inside its print edition for eight months.
Herald leadership apologized for the insert from LIBRE, a Spanish-language newspaper, ended the company’s relationship with LIBRE and pledged to investigate how the paper’s objectionable content was not reviewed before it was sent to readers.
In a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray, Mucarsel-Powell and Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro requested an immediate investigation into the origins of disinformation that typically spreads on social media but has also increasingly permeated mass media in South Florida.
“As we rapidly approach Election Day, Latino circles in South Florida have witnessed a surge in posts containing false or misleading information on social media,” Mucarsel-Powell and Castro wrote in a letter to Wray. “As the FBI works to secure our elections, we urge you to keep the Latino community in mind and consider efforts of foreign actors to spread disinformation and sow doubt in our election systems among Latinos, especially in South Florida.”
Their letter also singles out Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram as sources of disinformation for Latino voters. In 2016, Russian intelligence actors used social media to organize rallies and events promoting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, and the lawmakers are worried about ongoing disinformation efforts with Election Day less than six weeks away.
“On Facebook and other social media sites, Russian actors organized pro-Trump rallies in South Florida in an attempt to build support for then-candidate Trump and influence voters against candidate [Hillary] Clinton,” the lawmakers wrote. “But these attacks are not relegated to 2016 — the FBI has recognized, as has the intelligence community at-large, that malign Russian actors are working to interfere with our 2020 elections, along with other hostile foreign nations.”
The lawmakers are asking for a briefing within two weeks. Millions of mail ballots will begin going out to Florida voters starting tomorrow. The election is Nov. 3.
Mucarsel-Powell is facing a competitive reelection challenge from Republican Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez for her seat in Congress. Her district, Florida 26, includes Miami’s western and southern suburbs along with the Florida Keys, and is majority Latino.
