Five types of misinformation to watch out for while ballots are being counted — and after

Joe Biden has won the U.S. presidential election. But as final vote counts in some states continue, Republican politicians, partisan activists, conspiracy theorists, and others are exploiting public uncertainty and anxiety to attempt to delegitimize the election results.

A growing number of narratives alleging electoral wrongdoing have been spreading on social media, shared through millions of tweets, Facebook posts and TikTok videos, often using hashtags like #riggedelection and #StopTheSteal. These types of narratives rely on “evidence” of ballots that are lost or found after the election, dubious statistics, misleading videos and allegations of foreign interference. People seeking to delegitimize election results are weaving real-world events, such as isolated confrontations with poll workers or broken voting machines, into claims of broader malfeasance by nefarious partisans on one side or the other.