As the 2022 Midterm election on Nov. 8 draws nearer, fake news has ramped up seeking to nullify the growing influence of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.
So where is all the fake news coming from? In all the articles read by Views From the Edge, no one was able to point fingers at any single entity. The mis/disinformation is coming from multiple sources with multiple agendas, from foreign entities who wish to destabilize US society to radical Republicans who want to dominate Washington politics to advocates of a single issue like abortion or affirmative action.
Jinxia Niu, CAA’s Chinese Digital Engagement program manager, warns that Chinese-language mis/disinformation poses an even greater challenge than English-language disinformation because WeChat’s closed nature and censorship makes it difficult to share accurate information.
“Although we monitor disinformation daily and have published more than 900 Chinese-language articles across our WeChat channels and websites, this is not nearly enough — and we can’t do this alone,” Niu says. “The public, policy makers, social media platforms, and community partners need to be aware of the threat of disinformation so that we can address it together.”
Fake news targeting older Indian immigrants was widespread on WhatsApp, including claims that ballots would not count if voters selected Democrats for every post or if election officials signed dropped-off ballots.
“There’s just a lot of inaccurate information for an already confusing process and this year is different for everybody because we’re relying on virtual connections more than ever,” North Carolina Asian Americans Together Executive Director Chavi Khanna Koneru told Reuters in 2020.
Desifacts, a project of the advocacy group Indian American Impact, began publishing explainers on relevant topics focusing on South Asian American communities in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil this year.
“The pervasive spread of mis- and disinformation exacerbates partisan disagreement, erodes trust in our democracy, stifles or prevents voter participation, and has tremendous consequences on health outcomes such as personal decisions around getting vaccinated,” read a statement on the Desifacts website. “In South Asian communities, misinformation has fueled Islamophobia and racism against other communities of color.”
Viet Fact Check, one of the few multilingual groups that debunk false information, has observed an uptick in falsehoods targeting Vietnamese American communities online.
“There’s definitely a hyper-targeting of messaging,” said Viet Fact Check co-founder Nick Nguyen. “This is where a lack of English-language fluency can make populations vulnerable.”
In Virginia, tweets the day before and the day of the election sought to sow distrust in the election results before polls even closed. The following tweet made false accusations about Democrats “stealing” the election. Others stated that the Republican candidate should win and any other election outcome would indicate fraud, disregarding the fact democratic electoral systems give each candidate a fair shot.
Additional tweets both leading up to and after the recall election of California's Gov. Gavin Newsom attempted to falsely attribute various perceived ills of California, such as homelessness and crime, to one candidate. Not surprisingly, several popular tweets surrounding the recall originated from in-language media outlets known for promoting fake news and baseless conspiracy narratives.
As the political influence of Asian Americans increases, bad actors have worked to build sprawling misinformation networks, including a vast media empire bankrolled by Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui, targeting members of the Asian American diaspora, says community advocates such as Advancing Asian American Justice (AAAJ).
“The conservative right-wing are better organized, and they know how to manipulate the concerns and fears of the Chinese-speaking community,” says Elaine Peng, president of the Mental Health Association for Chinese Communities. “It is easy for the community to believe and trust them. The right-wing rely heavily on misinformation and disinformation to advance their conservative agendas."
Harmful narratives are one of the greatest challenges facing Asian American and
Pacific Islander communities in today’s world. They are making communities less safe,
our trust in the election systems weaker, and even tearing some families apart.
Disinformation is explicitly designed to
expose the frictions, fault lines, and tensions
within and across our various diasporic
communities while also working to
deplatform AANHPI communities from democracy and create
divisions with other communities of color.
Dis/misinformation exposes frictions, fault lines, and tensions
within and across our various diasporic communities, according to a report by Asian American Disinformation Table, a coalition of AANHPI organizations that coordinates research, strategies, policy recommendations, pop culture, messaging interventions, & corporate accountability around issues of domestic & transnational misinformation and disinformation impacting Asian Americans.
The Table's study found problematic narratives span three key themes:
1. Using Asians as ‘wedges’ against other communities of color;
2. Exploiting internal divides and hierarchies within Asian communities;
3. Weaponizing current and historical traumas.
W
So where is all the fake news coming from? In all the articles read by Views From the Edge, no one was able to point fingers at any single entity. The mis/disinformation is coming from multiple sources with multiple agendas, from foreign entities who wish to destabilize US society to radical Republicans who want to dominate Washington politics to advocates of a single issue like abortion or affirmative action.
Certainly most of the messaging of fake news leading up to the Midterms is coming from the radical right. However, their conservative political goals easily leak into other issues that -- in their perspective -- are all interconnected: affirmative action, social security, Medicare, what histories and books are being taught in the US schools, anti-abortion, the role of big government on social issues to advocates of any number of strategies that fatten the pockets of billionaires. And we cannot forget the White racists who are afraid of losing their dominance and influence on US society.
Self-proclaimed newscasters on YouTube have become a primary news source for some Chinese speakers in the US, offering political hot takes that often slide into misinformation, says Jenny L., who helps track disinformation and misinformation for AAAJ.
She asked Medium that her last name be withheld to avoid online harassment. “It’s pretty easy for them to skirt the minimal moderation YouTube has in place for non-English content,” she says.
The AANHPI communities, particularly first-generation immigrants who are English-language learners, are among the most vulnerable to false narratives often due to limited language access to available resources and information. Many rely on community-translated content for important information such as voting and the election process, leaving room for bad actors to inject falsehoods.
She asked Medium that her last name be withheld to avoid online harassment. “It’s pretty easy for them to skirt the minimal moderation YouTube has in place for non-English content,” she says.
The AANHPI communities, particularly first-generation immigrants who are English-language learners, are among the most vulnerable to false narratives often due to limited language access to available resources and information. Many rely on community-translated content for important information such as voting and the election process, leaving room for bad actors to inject falsehoods.
Falsehoods spread range from harmful health misinformation to lies about the 2020 presidential election. Through translations of false claims and original content creation, these well-resourced groups have made mis/disinfo “accessible” to in-language communities, carefully exploiting home country biases and sensitive topics such as the Chinese Cultural Revolution to cater their messaging to vulnerable diaspora communities.
These efforts have not been effective. A growing subset of the Asian American community — largely first-generation immigrants for whom English is not their native tongue — subscribe to “the big lie,” question the integrity of electoral processes in the United States, and believe their children are being “indoctrinated” by “critical race theory” in public schools.
The success of this misinformation helped propel politicians to victory in elections, including in the 2021 Virginia governor’s race, and if left unchecked, this infodemic has dangerous implications for the 2022 midterms.
Chinese-language content on Twitter, YouTube, and WeChat leading up to and immediately after the 2021 California recall election and the 2021 Virginia governor’s race was rife with false claims and misleading information.
These efforts have not been effective. A growing subset of the Asian American community — largely first-generation immigrants for whom English is not their native tongue — subscribe to “the big lie,” question the integrity of electoral processes in the United States, and believe their children are being “indoctrinated” by “critical race theory” in public schools.
The success of this misinformation helped propel politicians to victory in elections, including in the 2021 Virginia governor’s race, and if left unchecked, this infodemic has dangerous implications for the 2022 midterms.
Chinese-language content on Twitter, YouTube, and WeChat leading up to and immediately after the 2021 California recall election and the 2021 Virginia governor’s race was rife with false claims and misleading information.
Unfortunately, attempts by social media platforms to monitor false information have failed to stop the spread of fake news. When it comes to monitoring the misinformation in a foreign language those efforts are even less effective.
In response to growing mis/information, several groups have emerged to fact-check and counter the misinformation.
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA) launched its pioneering Chinese Digital Engagement program in 2019 to provide accurate information to the Chinese American community about issues related to social justice such as immigration reform, racial justice, and affirmative action. Its work includes three WeChat channels and the websites JusticePatch.org and PiYaoBa.org. Launched in early 2022, “PiYaoBa” means “let’s fact-check it” in Mandarin Chinese and is the first centralized Chinese-language fact-checking website to combat right-wing disinformation.
“We saw how people were being manipulated by fake news and rumors,” says Vincent Pan, CAA’s Co-Executive Director. “It is imperative that there be trusted sources providing factual information. As a civil rights organization with a long history serving our community, CAA stepped up to fill the need.”
The Chinese Digital Engagement team at CAA systematically researches and documents misinformation and disinformation. As detailed in the report, from April 1 to September 15, 2022, the team found 320 major disinformation narratives from 138 different social media accounts and channels. Some examples of the rumors being spread include the false assertion that the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago is a Democratic Party conspiracy to rig the midterm elections. The most popular conspiracy theories push the narrative that election fraud is prevalent, threatening the very foundation of our democracy.Jinxia Niu, CAA’s Chinese Digital Engagement program manager, warns that Chinese-language mis/disinformation poses an even greater challenge than English-language disinformation because WeChat’s closed nature and censorship makes it difficult to share accurate information.
“Although we monitor disinformation daily and have published more than 900 Chinese-language articles across our WeChat channels and websites, this is not nearly enough — and we can’t do this alone,” Niu says. “The public, policy makers, social media platforms, and community partners need to be aware of the threat of disinformation so that we can address it together.”
To counter the mis/disinformation trying to confuse AANHPI voters, a number of community advocates have created fact-checking sites.
“There’s just a lot of inaccurate information for an already confusing process and this year is different for everybody because we’re relying on virtual connections more than ever,” North Carolina Asian Americans Together Executive Director Chavi Khanna Koneru told Reuters in 2020.
Desifacts, a project of the advocacy group Indian American Impact, began publishing explainers on relevant topics focusing on South Asian American communities in Hindi, Bengali and Tamil this year.
“The pervasive spread of mis- and disinformation exacerbates partisan disagreement, erodes trust in our democracy, stifles or prevents voter participation, and has tremendous consequences on health outcomes such as personal decisions around getting vaccinated,” read a statement on the Desifacts website. “In South Asian communities, misinformation has fueled Islamophobia and racism against other communities of color.”
Viet Fact Check, one of the few multilingual groups that debunk false information, has observed an uptick in falsehoods targeting Vietnamese American communities online.
“There’s definitely a hyper-targeting of messaging,” said Viet Fact Check co-founder Nick Nguyen. “This is where a lack of English-language fluency can make populations vulnerable.”
To further combat the spread of mis/disinformation within AANHPI communities, Advancing Justice — AAJC has been tracking messaging trends on social media to gain a better understanding of how bad actors will likely amplify their disinformation campaigns leading up to the November midterms this fall. This is what they found:
Twitter
Several tweets, many with hundreds of likes or retweets, were direct translations of false claims from individuals like former president Donald Trump and Sidney Powell or news organizations like Newsmax; these tweets (see example below) often linked to original English-language videos or posts that perpetuate false claims, such as referencing the presidential election scam or baselessly asserting mail-in ballot fraud.
Several tweets, many with hundreds of likes or retweets, were direct translations of false claims from individuals like former president Donald Trump and Sidney Powell or news organizations like Newsmax; these tweets (see example below) often linked to original English-language videos or posts that perpetuate false claims, such as referencing the presidential election scam or baselessly asserting mail-in ballot fraud.
In Virginia, tweets the day before and the day of the election sought to sow distrust in the election results before polls even closed. The following tweet made false accusations about Democrats “stealing” the election. Others stated that the Republican candidate should win and any other election outcome would indicate fraud, disregarding the fact democratic electoral systems give each candidate a fair shot.
 |
| NBC |
Additional tweets both leading up to and after the recall election of California's Gov. Gavin Newsom attempted to falsely attribute various perceived ills of California, such as homelessness and crime, to one candidate. Not surprisingly, several popular tweets surrounding the recall originated from in-language media outlets known for promoting fake news and baseless conspiracy narratives.
YouTube
Another common feature in disinformation targeting Chinese Americans and immigrants is showcasing anti-CCP, anti-communism narratives that incite fear among Asian American communities. Similarly, the video below posted at the beginning of September included various pieces of misinformation concerning existing California laws, including a false assertion about Proposition 47 despite facts stating the law does not end prosecution of thefts under $950 in the state, and misrepresentations of the effects of affirmative action. The video also made incorrect claims about perpetrators of anti-Asian violence. Though some high-profile videos have attempted to paint a different picture, most anti-Asian attacks are perpetrated by white people whose hate is driven by white supremacy and racism.
For example, in Virginia, education-focused topics, especially surrounding critical race theory (CRT), dominated election-related misinformation narratives on YouTube, reflecting the broader campaign on the right to misinform the public about the true nature of CRT. In the video below, a Chinese American volunteer for a political candidate was interviewed to speak about how opposition to CRT, which the individual incorrectly stated “caused discrimination,” helped galvanize Chinese American support for the candidate. In the months leading up to the election, the following video of a Chinese American mother of a Loudon County public school student falsely conflated CRT with the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
WeChat
WeChat misinformation was used to successfully organize Chinese American voters against San Francisco's progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin and prematurely end his term.
This social media site based in China and flew under the radar for years until right-wingers began using it to garner political support and organize. Despite polls showing Asian America's overwhelming support of affirmative action, in 2014 conservative Chinese were able to garner headlines in mainstream media and distort the narrative to defeat a California measure attempting to overturn the state's anti-affirmative action law.
“There was no such mobilization [among the Chinese American] community before WeChat happened,” says Steven Chen, a Los Angeles–area computer engineer who immigrated to the United States from mainland China in the late 1980s.
“There was no such mobilization [among the Chinese American] community before WeChat happened,” says Steven Chen, a Los Angeles–area computer engineer who immigrated to the United States from mainland China in the late 1980s.
WeChat articles available to the public also showed extensive mis/disinfo narratives. A WeChat article detailed reasons for supporting the Republican candidate and promoted disinformation including “irregularities” and “fraud” in the 2020 election relating to unfounded claims. Similar to mis/disinformation trends on Twitter and YouTube, several WeChat articles contained various misrepresentation of the current governor’s policies and statistics regarding crime and economic growth in California.
These articles repeatedly made false assertions and perpetuated lies that seek to incite fear and anxiety among first generation immigrant communities and fuel division between communities of color, who have been working in solidarity to dismantle racism and white supremacy throughout our nation’s history
Virginia saw similar misrepresentations of its former governor’s policies and beliefs. Some WeChat articles made baseless claims that he introduced “CRT” into Virginia schools as early as 2015 and lowered academic standards, when the truth is critical race theory is not a part of the K-12 curriculum in the state. Others continued to perpetuate conspiracy theories and false assertations on the integrity of our electoral system, further galvanizing voters.
Chinese-language mis/disinfo related to the recall and the Virginia governor’s race appeared to be largely recycled mis/disinfo narratives from certain English-language channels, with additional emphasis on areas especially important to a Chinese American audience, such as crime, education, and anti-Asian hate. These mis/disinfo stories played on the Chinese American and immigrant community’s fears that California and Virginia would “turn into China” and heightened anxiety around perceived threats of socialism and communism.
Disinformation is also being used to direct hate towards AANHPI communities, and pit those ethnic groups against other people of color. This issue will only continue to grow if big, structural changes are not made, making it critical that we are prepared and able to respond.
“WeChat is a monster,” says Janelle Wong, a political scientist and professor of Asian American studies at the University of Maryland. “There’s nothing like it on Earth,” she told The Atlantic.
What can be done?
Valiant efforts by grassroot organizations trying to counter or expose the spread of mis/disinformation is not enough.
Tech companies, social media platforms, and politicians alike need to take more concrete actions to protect AANHPI communities from mis/disinformation in their native languages; content in different languages cannot continue to be treated as a “foreign” problem. Steps such as hiring more content moderators with appropriate language and cultural competency, banning the use of discriminatory algorithms, and creating greater platform transparency could make a large difference in shielding communities from harmful mis/disinformation narratives that pose tangible threats to US democracy.
“A growing subset of the Asian American community — largely first-generation immigrants for whom English is not their native tongue — subscribe to 'the big lie,' question the integrity of electoral processes in the United States, and believe their children are being 'indoctrinated' by 'critical race theory' in public schools,” AAJC explained.
“It’s not that we only have a WeChat or a WhatsApp problem; these platforms are accelerants,” said Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action and co-founder of Asian Americans Against Trump, who is familiar with misinformation on WeChat. “It accelerates a lot of vulnerabilities that Chinese and other Asian immigrants with limited English proficiency have. They live in (an information) scarcity, under tremendous social and economic pressure and uncertainty.”
“It’s not that we only have a WeChat or a WhatsApp problem; these platforms are accelerants,” said Vincent Pan, executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action and co-founder of Asian Americans Against Trump, who is familiar with misinformation on WeChat. “It accelerates a lot of vulnerabilities that Chinese and other Asian immigrants with limited English proficiency have. They live in (an information) scarcity, under tremendous social and economic pressure and uncertainty.”
“Tech companies, social media platforms, and politicians alike need to take more concrete actions to protect Asian American communities from mis/disinformation in their native languages; content in different languages cannot continue to be treated as a 'foreign' problem,” AAJC pointed out.
Social media's false information poses dangerous implications for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island voters this year in the Midterm elections when AANHPI voters can tilt the scales in key races deciding whether Democrats or Republicans control the House and Senate.
EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.
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