Think of a neighborhood watch, but for the health of democratic information. During the 2025 Australian federal election, a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne tested a bold idea: could trained volunteers, working from their own social media feeds, monitor and classify election-related misinformation in a way that is reliable, scalable, and genuinely useful? The project arrived at a moment of widespread concern about online falsehoods, especially in a country with compulsory voting, where voters have a legal responsibility to inform themselves. Professional fact-checking is rigorous but slow, while automated detection systems often struggle with the subtle, contextual,…

In recent years, the landscape of American elections has been quietly but persistently reshaped by a troubling force: the growing presence of election deniers and the spread of misinformation about how votes are cast, counted, and certified. The American Civil Liberties Union has been tracking this trend closely, most recently in its report titled “The Election Denier’s Playbook, Part Four: Defending Democracy from a New Wave of Threats.” That report pulls back the curtain on some of the most alarming tactics being used today, especially those coming from former President Donald Trump and his allies. Among the most prominent is…