Election Day is prime time for conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims on social media.

Firsthand accounts about confusing ballots, rigged voting machines, voter intimidation and poll worker collusion are amplified by influencers with large followings then picked up by “strategic actors” who “reframe, decontextualize or exaggerate the impact of the content to align with existing political narratives that fit the audience or the region,” warns the Election Integrity Partnership, a group of research organizations studying misinformation campaigns.

Unchecked election misinformation circulating on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms for months can erode faith in voting and lead to violence, says Daniel Jones, president of Advance Democracy, a nonprofit organization that researches misinformation.

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"For some time now, we’ve been seeing prominent posts casting doubt on the midterm elections on multiple social media platforms, with numerous users predicting fraudulent outcomes,” Jones said.  “Some users are suggesting they will engage in violence in response to what they expect will be another ‘stolen’ election.”

Midterm election misinformation has been building for months

More than 1 in 10 recent Twitter posts about the midterm elections mentioned election fraud, according to research Advance Democracy shared exclusively with USA TODAY.

Tweets promoting false election fraud claims – including unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen – did not contain warnings about election misinformation, Advance Democracy found.

Advance Democracy also identified posts on other social media platforms that predicted fraud in the midterm elections and promoted violence.

• On TikTok, videos using hashtags associated with unsubstantiated election fraud claims received millions of views, Advance Democracy found. Some users called for violence in the comments.

• One in 30 Facebook posts about the midterm elections mentioned election fraud.

• Claims of 2020 election fraud also spread on smaller, conservative-leaning platforms, Advance Democracy found. Gab, Gettr and .win forum users pushed claims that the midterm elections would be fraudulent.

• Truth Social users continued to promote election fraud narratives with some appearing to view perceived election fraud in Brazil as a rallying cry for the U.S. midterm elections, Advance Democracy found.

• On 4chan, some users called for violence against government officials and for armed monitoring of polling sites.