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In rural Madison, West Virginia, the primary lesson on a fall day at Scott High School is on lies and liars.“Don’t fall prey to it,�� cautions the instructor, who wears a suit and tie while speaking to about 150 juniors and seniors during a late-morning assembly.That guest speaker is West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner, the state’s chief elections official.The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel is on an unusual mission across the Mountain State’s 55 counties, visiting dozens of high schools on a quest ahead of next year’s presidential election to reach America’s youngest voters �� before the enemy does."You are on the front line of this war with Russia,�� Warner, a Republican, declares to the students in a booming voice. “The social media war �� they have targeted YOU." Part preacher, part prophetIn exactly one year, on Nov. 3, 2020, Americans will pick a president.Warner sees the coming election as part of an ever-expanding battle for truth. And he’s determined to warn his 17- and 18-year-old constituents.In this, he is part preacher, part prophet: teaching about disinformation ads, posts and videos while predicting the escalation to come."We know it's going to happen in 2020. And the best defense is you being educated,�� Warner says in the middle of his PowerPoint presentation, which shows students examples of foreign influence campaigns on the most popular social networks and explains how to spot the deception.“I get pretty incensed about this, alright?" Warner tells the students.Below, view a portion of the disinformation presentation shown to high schools in West Virginia; courtesy: West Virginia Secretary of State’s office Later, in an interview in his Capitol office in Charleston, Warner readily agrees there is an “onslaught�� of disinformation targeting Americans seeking to divide and confuse. He then pivots to the No. 1 lesson he seeks to impart during his hour-long presentations at schools.“I tell the students this: If you are moved emotionally by what comes across your social media, that is a red flag�� If you are moved emotionally, stop. When it's too good to be true, it probably is." ‘I don’t know what to believe’After the disinformation assembly at Scott High School, seven students �� all juniors and seniors �� gathered in the library to share with the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit what they learned.“It's actually very scary,�� Jessica Fleming, 18, said. Austin Williams, 17, said, “It was kind of unbelievable to me.”Chloe Older, 18, said, “I don't know what to believe�� among the political ads and stories shared by her “click happy�� relatives that increasingly fill up her Facebook feed.When asked how many of them think they’ve shared false information on social media, every single student raised their hands; they nodded their heads when asked if it’s “just easier to share�� than to fact-check. “The most surprising thing today,�� explained 16-year-old senior Chase Caserta, “is not the fact that misinformation is spread so frequently, but that misinformation is not a fault of ignorance but a product of another country �� intentionally trying to harm us.”All of the students said they didn’t realize information could be used as a weapon against them until watching Warner’s disinformation presentation.One of the biggest surprises to the students was the existence, sophistication, and prevalence of “deepfake�� videos, clips digitally edited to put words in someone’s mouth that the person did not actually say.In this deepfake video, below, the actor Jordan Peele provides the words for a digitally altered video of President Obama; Courtesy: WV Secretary of State’s Office "It was just like: 'Can I believe anything anymore?' It was just crazy watching it,�� Older recalled.“Like, have any of the ones I've seen on Twitter, on Instagram, on Facebook�� are they true? How do I check if these videos have been manipulated myself?"Politicians allowed to lie on social mediaVoters won't always get the truth from the social media companies.Facebook now says it will let politicians �� but not political groups �� post lies in ads without fact-checking them, saying it's not the tech company's role to "intervene."But that stance drew scorn from Capitol Hill during a hearing Oct. 23 before the House Financial Services Committee.�� gives politicians a license to lie,�� Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said.Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) asked Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “Why should politicians that lead our country be held to a lower standard?”Zuckerberg, the hearing’s sole witness, began to respond, “This isn't about helping the politicians. It's about—�� when Rep. Tlaib interrupted: “But, Mr. Zuckerberg, it is hate speech. It is hate and it’s leading to violence and death threats in my office.”Twitter disclosed on Oct. 15 world leaders can break its rules due to the "public interest" value. But in a reversal just two weeks later, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey announced in a tweet that the company would ban all political advertising on its platform worldwide effective Nov. 22.“Internet political ads present entirely new challenges to civic discourse: machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes,�� Dorsey wrote. “All at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale.”Snapchat told the National Investigative Unit in a statement that all political ads on its platform are reviewed, but it would not say if they're fact-checked.Social media manipulation doublesThe threat is real.In a recent report, the Oxford Internet Institute found organized social media manipulation has more than doubled in just two years, with Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela launching foreign influence operations on Facebook and Twitter.It’s that ever-multiplying threat �� and the prospect of not-yet-deployed digital division campaigns �� that is bringing West Virginia’s elections chief to campuses like Scott High School."That's what they're doing to America: they're pushing the fringes further out on the left and the right to get us to fight with one another,�� Warner said. National effort launches The disinformation lesson plan is soon going national.On Nov. 12, the National Association of Secretaries of State will launch a 50-state campaign using the hashtag: #TrustedInfo2020, according to people familiar with the effort.Individual NASS members �� who act as the chief election officials in 40 of the 50 states �� will determine how to incorporate the messaging in ways that work best for their voters, those sources said.The U.S. House last month passed a bill called the SHIELD Act, short for Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy, that would require more transparency in online political ads. No vote has yet been scheduled in the Senate.President Donald Trump in September signed an executive order that could impose sanctions on countries found to have spread election disinformation.For the students in West Virginia, deleting the deception now becomes the toughest homework of all."If we want to better the country, we need to make better decisions and research ourselves,�� said Fleming, the senior at Scott High School.Added Kaylee Ferrell, also a senior: "Now I feel this is an obligation of me as a young adult.”Below, see more of what the seven students from Scott High School in Madison, West Virginia, said during a group interview with Chief National Investigative Correspondent Mark Albert:Travis Sherwin and April Chunko contributed to this report. Know of election security vulnerabilities or concerns? Send investigative tips, information, and documents about this topic to the National Investigative Unit at [email protected].