Groups alarmed by May 13 disinformation, hate speech on social media

 

A group of civil society organisations have expressed alarm and dismay over what they say is a well-coordinated and paid attempt on social media to generate anti-DAP and anti-Chinese fear and hatred.

In a joint statement, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Architects of Diversity (AOD), Justice for Sisters, Beyond Borders, Sisters in Islam (SIS), KRYSS Network, Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor and Pusat Komas are alarmed at the current disinformation and hate campaign at a time of political uncertainty.

“CIJ’s social media monitoring programme for GE15 has found what seems to be a well-coordinated and paid attempt on social media to generate anti-DAP and anti-Chinese fear and hatred since the elections.

“Inflammatory posts, which are mostly on TikTok, have been pushing an anti-DAP agenda while calling for mainly Perikatan Nasional (PN) to govern the country.

“These posts demonstrate trends that include a rewriting of the history of May 13, 1969, including that the DAP was the cause of the race riots,” said the groups.

They said that the posts then evolved into videos containing images of weapons and guns, with messages warning the Malay majority to beware of DAP and Pakatan Harapan. 

“They also threatened a return of racial unrest,” said the groups.

Disinformation consistent with PN campaign

CIJ executive director Wathshlah Naidu said that there is significant engagement on TikTok but these posts have also gone viral across platforms such as Twitter. 

“There seems to be a well-coordinated and resourced trend of paid partnership where young content creators are being used and netizens being manipulated to spread this content.

“User-generated comments are also significantly coordinated with certain accounts amplifying these hate messages.

“These contents using the May 13 incident are creating fear, polarising the already divided society along racial and religious lines, and at times inciting outright violence while leveraging the deepened social tensions,” she said.

There are also allegations that PN has engaged professional agencies to coordinate these narratives, added the groups.

A significantly lower number of positive and moderate voices were also seen, especially on Twitter, when some netizens attempted to counter these hate narratives.

“The May 13 content that surfaced post-election is consistent with PN’s election campaign, which relied on the demonisation of Harapan and its key leaders to distort voters’ perception,” stated Thilaga Sulathireh, founding member of Justice for Sisters.

“Given the allegations and blatant linkages of the May 13 content with PN, it is important for the Election Commission to undertake an investigation of PN’s campaign tactics, in line with Section 4(a) of the Elections Offences Act.

“The investigation should also look into the ethics surrounding engagement of content creators, especially young content creators,” she added.

“AOD, CIJ, and our partners have reported these messages to social media platforms such as TikTok and Twitter, and a number of these posts have since been removed. 

“It is critical for social media platforms to strengthen their content moderation and ensure it invests in necessary resources to mitigate the risk by removing content that propagates hate and incites violence. Failure to act promptly will allow for further amplification of such narratives,” added Jason Wee, co-founder of AOD. - Mkini