Michigan attorney general has low expectations for fighting 2024 disinformation

What they're saying: "[We] had a lot of success in the 2020 election cycle getting false information taken down from social media, but unfortunately, a lot has changed since that time," Nessel told reporters at the National Press Foundation's elections journalism fellowship program in Detroit on Monday.

• Nessel added that social media companies now have fewer people working on election disinformation efforts, and Elon Musk's ownership of X could mean more falsehoods are amplified.

Zoom in: In 2020, it often took only one phone call to Facebook, YouTube or TikTok to get posts taken down that included false information about how to vote and where someone's voting location is, Nessel said.

• "I don't know that that is going to be the case this time," she added.

State of play: Michigan is a key battleground state, and it's been a breeding ground for election-related disinformation that's targeted people of color or proclaimed that noncitizens are going to be able to vote.

Between the lines: Officials also told reporters Monday that the federal government doesn't provide enough resources for state and local elections.

• "It blows my mind that it is such a heavy lift to ask the federal government for funds to support our federal elections that are the foundation for their entire leadership," Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told reporters.
• The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has pulled away from its previous role as a switchboard for election officials and social media platforms to relay reports about posts containing lies about the voting process.

The bottom line: "We're going to have to educate the public to only look at trusted sources," Nessel said.