pn807. The Sharp Increase in Misinformation and Disinformation on Covid: the threat to our social cohesion, freedom of expression, inclusion, and safety.

The 3000-odd protesters who blocked Wellington streets yesterday are but one sign of the spread of false information on Covid which has allowed a range of right-wing groups to attach their anti-Māori, anti-immigrant, pseudo-Christian,  anti-gay, anti-media and anti-Jacinda agenda banners to the anti-vaxx and so-called "freedom" movement. 

Since February 2020 a small interdisciplinary team, The Disinformation Project, has been observing and analysing open source, publicly available data related to Covid-19 mis- and disinformation on social media, mainstream media, and in physical and other digital forms of information and knowledge dissemination.

Since 17 August 2021, when Aotearoa New Zealand’s Delta outbreak meant a shift into Alert Level 4 across the country, there has been a sharp increase in the popularity and intensity of Covid-19-specific disinformation and other forms of ‘dangerous speech’ and disinformation, related to far-right ideologies.

Over the past twelve weeks, The Disinformation Project monitored this material, observing key trends and analysing impact. This brief working paper introduces some of our key findings so far on the infodemic – around engagement, content, reception to the Covid-19 vaccine, language, approaches employed, and targeted groups.

The working paper is eight pages long and won't take long to read, and a large section on the methodology used can be skimmed. Click here to read the post and the working paper attachment.  For less patient readers, here are the conclusions: 

Conclusions (my emphasis)

Since the return to Alert Level 4 settings across the country on 17 August 2021, there has been a sharp increase in the popularity and intensity of Covid-19 specific disinformation and other forms of ‘dangerous speech’ and disinformation, related to far-right ideologies. 

This intensification has included a number of key trends and observations: 

•  an increase of both posts and engagement across an ecology of platforms; 
• a shift in reception to the Covid-19 vaccine from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine resistance; 
•  the use of memetic material and emotive testimonies; 
•  the intensification of language, and the normalisation of that intensification;
•  the use and abuse of Māori motifs and symbols by Pākehā mis- and disinformation spreaders; 
• and the targeting of minority groups and key public figures, particularly those who belong to some intersection of identity.

The ecologies and spread of mis- and disinformation point to a broader threat: that Covid-19 and vaccination are being used as a kind of Trojan Horse for norm-setting and norm-entrenchment of far-right ideologies in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Such ideologies include, but are not limited to: 

• ideas about gun control, 
• anti-Māori sentiment, 
• anti-LGBTQIA+, 
• conservative ideals around family and family structure, 
• misogyny, and
• anti-immigration. 

Mis- and disinformation and ‘dangerous speech’ pose a significant threat to social cohesion, freedom of expression, inclusion, and safety.

Footnote: Fortunately, most New Zealanders take no notice of the protestors. As of today, 89% of the 12+ population has received one dose of the vaccine and 79% are fully vaccinated.   There were 147 new cases today (Auckland, Northland, Waikato), 81 are in hospital and 11 in ICU.

Related. See https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/126936813/covid19-parliamentary-protest-of-those-who-feel-unheard-will-just-be-ignored