November 8, 2023 – Rep. Ed Diehl: Facebook Post
1st Amendment Rights of citizens are being threatened in the State of Oregon.
My Oregon House Republican colleagues and I signed a letter to the Oregon Secretary of State
demanding an immediate halt to the implementation of a UK-based, AI company to “combat misinformation” about Oregon elections. This company (Logically), uses AI to develop counter-narratives and then reports to and urges social media platforms to suppress users if the SOS deems our speech in violation.
We have seen censorship like this play out on a national level by the Biden Administration against American citizens and we will not stand by while the Oregon SOS attempts the same infringements.
I am pleased that so many of my House Republican colleagues joined me in this call to protect the 1st Amendment rights of Oregonians from government overreach.
“Secretary Griffin-Valade:
We call on you and your office to immediately halt implementation of the “Misinformation, Disinformation, and Mal-information (MDM) Analysis Platform Services” Contract (IT Services Contract per Bid Solicitation S-16500-00007470). We have learned that the purpose of this system is to continually monitor and actively manipulate the free speech of Oregonians. We believe that this system as described in the Request for Proposal (RFP) violates Oregonians’ First Amendment rights.
Logically (logically.ai), a UK-based company, was awarded the MDM contract last month. As detailed in the RFP (link here), the system will “.. identify and mitigate harmful information online as it relates to elections (mis-, dis-, and mal- information, or “MDM”).” The Logically system will monitor Oregonians’ social media posts for MDM on a nonstop basis and use artificial intelligence to “identify perceived threats” and “recommend countermeasures”, including promoting an Al-generated counter-narrative to Oregonians’ speech. The system will also report anything it determines is a possible threat or constitutes speech that “violates community guidelines and or policies of different sites to those social media platforms. It will report “urgent information” to the FBI and State Police.
The problem is that the state will determine which content is labeled MDM. Also concerning is how such determinations will be made and by whom. These terms and processes are not defined either in the contract or in any Oregon statute. Instead of focusing on the primary role of ensuring confidence and transparency in Oregon’s elections, the Secretary of State’s Office has chosen to monitor and encourage the censoring of citizens who voice legitimate concerns, some of which may question government practices or policies, on public platforms such as social media.
We reject the idea that any elected official or agency has the authority to constantly surveil, track, and attempt to suppress or manipulate the free speech of Oregon’s citizens. We urge the Secretary of State’s Office to halt implementation now and we call on the Legislature to address this pressing Constitutional issue during the 2024 session. Oregonians deserve a transparent government that prioritizes service to its people. Our government should never use secretive processes and AI programs to tip the scales by suppressing some citizens and augmenting only those who voice consensus with the state. Using artificial intelligence in this manner does nothing to improve confidence or security in our elections; instead, it will deepen the ongoing divide we are all working to heal.
We look forward to your reply.”
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