Facebook, Twitter Commit to Combatting Disinformation, Scams Targeting Vets

misinformation and fraud, including requirements that users use their real names and rules against user misrepresentation. He notes the company has more than 35,000 employees focused on safety and security, three times the amount in 2017. The platform “took down over 2 billion fake accounts in the first quarter of this year alone,” he wrote. Twitter Public Policy Manager Kevin Kane cites the company’s decision to update its policies on “scam tactics” in September. He cites the prohibited activity on the platform: relationship/trust-building scams, money-flipping schemes, fraudulent discounts and phishing scams. “All people who use Twitter -- including veterans -- must have confidence in the integrity of the information found on the service,” he says. Proactive detection and transparency efforts from platforms allows insight into scams, but the data currently available only allows piecemeal analysis, says Graphika Science Director Vladimir Barash. There’s a need to understand “how simple metrics related to reach and engagement, such as follows, retweets, and page clicks, translate to the changing of hearts and minds,” he says. Vietnam Veterans of America Chief Investigator Kristofer Goldsmith suggests the committee encourage the White House to create a politically appointed cyber health secretary to focus on healthcare issues. He also asked that the committee fund a study “on the physical and mental health effects of cybercrimes and propaganda campaigns that are directed at veterans.”