Klobuchar, Morelle press Bezos on plans to prevent election misinformation on Alexa

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) pressed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Thursday about his plans to prevent election misinformation on the e-commerce giant’s virtual voice assistant Alexa.

The two Democrats sent Bezos a letter in response to a recent report from The Washington Post that Alexa was repeating false claims about the 2020 election.

When asked about the election, Alexa reportedly said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud” and was “notorious for many incidents of irregularities and indications pointing to electoral fraud taking place in major metro centers,” according to the Post.

Amazon told the Post that the responses were “errors that were delivered a small number of times” and were “quickly fixed.” However, various specific questions apparently could still prompt claims of election fraud.

“This spreading of election-related misinformation and disinformation is particularly troubling given the emerging use of artificial intelligence to mislead voters,” Klobuchar and Morelle wrote in Thursday’s letter.  

The two requested answers from Bezos about Amazon’s policy on election misinformation and disinformation on Alexa and its plans to improve the accuracy of information and prevent the spread of misinformation in the run-up to next year’s elections.

“With some ballots for the 2024 election being sent out as early as this December, it is important that proactive measures are promptly taken so that voters can trust the information that is provided to them,” they said.