advertisement
(Editor's Note: This story was first published on 9 March 2021 and is being republished from The Quint's archives on the occasion of International Women's Day.)
“With women, misinformation is used for a gendered sort of targeting. I have seen this with myself and other women activists. It’s often very sexual in nature. ‘Look at Gurmehar, she’s drinking and dancing in a car’, so what good is her word anyway? It’s used to discredit me.”
Gurmehar Kaur, a 24-year-old activist and author, has been a target of mis/disinformation campaigns since the day she decided to take a stance against the violence at Delhi University’s Ramjas College back in 2017. A video of an unidentified girl dancing in a car went viral with social media users falsely identifying her as Kaur in a bid to malign the activist’s character.
Kaur is among the many women who often find themselves at the target of malicious mis/disinformation. As microcosms of the society, social media platforms too have to deal with the prevailing prejudices and notions that exist in the world. But why have online spaces only become increasingly toxic for women, especially those who ‘dare’ to voice their opinions?
A report by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women notes that as compared to men, women were attacked more often by social media accounts that shared a “greater volume of content containing false information.”
While the findings were based on a US-centric research, which used AI to track Twitter commentary during the US Democratic Primaries, the report states that similar instances of gendered disinformation have been recorded in countries like India and Ukraine.
Ambika Tandon, senior researcher at The Centre for Internet and Society, says that while it’s difficult to quantify if women are targeted more than men, several reports show that gender is one of the key identity markers on which misinformation is concentrated.
In a survey of women from 51 countries around the world, The Economist’s Intelligence Unit found that among the different threat tactics deployed to harass women online, misinformation and defamation were the most prevalent.
But why do women become targets of such mis/disinformation?
Tandon argues that the disproportionate harassment of women stems from the gender gap in access to social media platforms. According to GSM Association’s Mobile Gender Gap 2020 report, women in India are 50 percent less likely to use mobile internet.
“So if you were to characterise social media as a public space, then that public space is primarily populated and dominated by men. Given that we live in a patriarchal set-up, gender becomes a key vector along which misinformation is spread,” says Tandon.
This is echoed in an article by the think-tank, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which states that when women, especially politicians, display characteristics that are traditionally associated with men – such as ambition and assertiveness – they are perceived as “transgressing traditional social norms.” This becomes a reason for targeted harassment and disinformation campaigns.
The EU Disinfo Labs, in a recent analysis on ‘misogyny and misinformation’, defines gendered disinformation as the “dissemination of false or misleading information attacking women, basing the attack on their identity as women.”
While analysing the misinformation prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers found that false information was spread to either
In India, we have seen multiple instances of both.
While fake claims were made around her religion, painting her as a Christian, a Times Now article falsely calling her a ‘single mother,’ led to barrage of misogynist social media posts against the activist.
Similarly, social media trolls also used sexualised misinformation to target Safoora Zargar, an MPhil student of Jamia Millia Islamia, who was arrested in connection to the violence in anti-CAA protests.
Several people falsely claimed that she is unmarried and that her pregnancy was discovered when she was lodged in Tihar Jail. Rubbishing these claims, Safoora’s sister confirmed that she is married and went on to state that, “such vicious attacks on her by social media trolls are the least of our concern right now.”
Rana Ayyub, a journalist and an author, has been a frequent target of misinformation, too. From fake tweets in her name calling Afzal Guru a ‘martyr’ to falsely attributing her with controversial remarks on the Paris beheading, she has seen it all.
Perhaps the most vicious form of disinformation aimed at the journalist was a deepfake video.
There have also been instances of misinformation around female politicians in the country. A photo of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi photoshopped to look like she’s sitting on the lap of former President of Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, is often revived on the internet.
Disinformation campaigns from opposing ideologies or political parties not only target women in the public eye, they also ‘use’ women through manipulated content and viral videos shared with false contexts to form a particular narrative.
As an example, The Quint’s WebQoof team has debunked several false claims that fan the right-wing conspiracy of ‘love jihad.’ Either images of interfaith couples are shared with misleading claims that the Hindu girl was ‘trapped’ into marriage or the religion of one of the spouses in the same-faith marriage is conveniently faked.
The impact of such gendered misinformation online has very real consequences offline.
Tandon notes that there’s a strong parallel between the ways violence online and offline happens and thus, the effects are also quite similar.
They may take down their pictures or change their persona to hide their real identities.
Kaur also notes a similar phenomenon, recalling conversations with her friends who refuse to share their opinions on public platform or among large followings because they would rather not deal with the repercussions.
In fact, she too had decided to take a step back from her campaign in 2017 against the violence in Ramjas College, realising that the misinformation surrounding her own life, childhood, and parents was taking away the limelight from the movement.
Tandon further states that the effects are greater when the woman lacks a support system. If the family doesn’t approve of her social media usage, after an incident of online violence, her device may be confiscated.
The article by the think-tank, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, suggests that tech giants like Facebook and Twitter need to take major steps to tackle gendered misinformation through content moderation.
However, it also notes the skepticism by experts over the lack of transparency and inadequacy of the existing content moderation policies.
“People in content moderation should be well-versed with the context they are operating in. Misinformation in India largely depends on the context and language being used,” she states.
She also recommends that media literacy campaigns that seek to sensitise students on use of online spaces are required.
“With the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more young girls have gained access to digital devices, and they should be encouraged to use social media platforms. Sensitisation as part of school education is certainly a measure we can take,” she adds.
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: 09 Mar 2021,05:16 PM IST