A new report documents the online spread of disinformation and anti-transgender hate in New Zealand during March-April 2023.
The non-peer-reviewed report from The Disinformation Project looks in-depth at the aftermath of controversial British anti-trans activist Posie Parker’s visit to Australia and New Zealand early in 2023.
One of the main conclusions of the report is that “community bridging” is occurring, where more extreme far-right and neo-Nazi content is being embedded in online disinformation groups.
The SMC asked experts to comment on the research.
Dr Michael Daubs, Co-Director for Kōtaha | The Internet, Social Media and Politics Research Lab, Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington, comments:
“This latest report from The Disinformation Project continues their work tracking the rise in and spread of violent extremist or far-right rhetoric. A key element if this paper is the discussion of what the authors refer to as ‘community-bridging’ which describes a process in which ideas from one community can spread, migrate, or ‘bridge’ into others, particularly through trusted individuals. In this case, the authors detail the extension of violent extremist rhetoric into anti-trans communities in the wake of anti-trans-rights figure Posie Parker’s visit to Aotearoa New Zealand. The report makes its case through a thorough, documented, and rigorous analysis of content on a variety of platforms.
As the authors note, this development is not surprising. Previous reports from The Disinformation Project have noted how anti-vaccine mandate discussions acted as a ‘Trojan Horse’ for far-right ideologies and rhetoric during the COVID pandemic and so-called ‘freedom protests’ that culminated in the occupation of Parliament grounds in February-March 2022. As many disinformation researchers, including myself and the authors of this report have noted, this process enables the propagation of anti-government beliefs designed to generate mistrust, chaos and political turmoil.
Ultimately, the report highlights a troubling outcome: not just the spread of far-right ideologies, but also the normalisation of these ideologies through community-bridging, which signals a serious threat to functioning democracies.”
Note: Dr Daubs is also a Senior Policy Advisor at InternetNZ.
Conflict of interest statement: “I know the authors and have presented at the same events as some of them before, but have no financial ties to them and have not worked with them on any research or projects.”
Dr Jaimie Veale, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Waikato, comments:
“Our research results document the high levels of discrimination, harassment and violence trans people experience and how that is linked to worse health outcomes compared to the overall New Zealand population.
“There’s another story our data tell too, about trans people’s pride in who we are and the difference it makes when we have support from family and friends and connections to other trans people. These forms of support are protective factors that appear to act as buffers against some of the negative impacts on trans people’s mental health and wellbeing.”
No conflict of interest.
Professor Marc Wilson, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, comments:
“I’ve been researching conspiracy theories (a) since before they were a fashionable academic pursuit, and (b) when they were more of a punchline that didn’t impact on our lives. This Disinformation Project report is deeply, deeply scary, and uses objective data to hint at where in the slippery slope into disinformation hell we currently find ourselves.
“Since the events of 9/11 there has been a dramatic and international uptick in the prevalence of mis/disinformation that has been mobilised by the internet and now the wild west of social media. The report highlights the ‘importation’ of content across platforms, and from beyond our notional national borders – something we have seen grow in the Covid era – a small number of offshore social media accounts driving the majority of the rhetoric. In the Posie Parker case that rhetoric is repugnant – how many of us were aware of the background of threats to life directed at Marama Davidson and other counter-protestors? I wasn’t, and that’s because I don’t use Telegram, or Twitter, or the various platforms that interlink in this case study.
“In the 1986 volume Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy, Michael Billig (author of Fascists: A social psychological view of the national front) noted the often Messianic framing of conspiratorial writings. In this framing, the revealers of conspiracy are those smart enough to see through the veil of the conspirators, with a mandate to communicate the truth to the sheeple. The current transphobic narrative turn (from the report: “this more widely shared, and more explicitly violent content is almost entirely focused on the trans community and their allies.”) draws on many of the same Manichean, Good vs Evil, themes Billig alludes to.
“How do we get from individuals making decisions about their gender (or what gender even means) to battles for the soul and future of humanity? The report suggests that events such as those surrounding the recent Posie Parker controversy are framed in terms of issues around gender, but also serve as an entry point into a an otherwise hidden world dominated by neo-nazi ideology, and that doesn’t stop at demonizing people on the basis of gender. Come for the gender wars, in the hope that you’ll stick around for the racism and misogyny.
“This in turn hints at something political scientists and psychologists have known for decades: our attitudes to one social/economic issue don’t exist in a vacuum, but are interconnected into a broader belief system. This is part of why shouting at people about climate change doesn’t change whether they think it’s happening – climate change (or in this case gender politics) are part of an interconnected web of attitudes, and a change to one may depend on changes in others.”
No conflict of interest.
Dr Kyle Tan, Research Fellow at Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Waikato, comments:
No conflict of interest declared.
Professor Joanna Kidman, sociologist, Victoria University of Wellington; and co-director, He Whenua Taurikura, comments:
“Since the 2022 occupation of Parliament grounds we’ve seen various individuals in the disinformation networks that emerged, establish themselves as apparently credible sources of news.
“As they expand their audiences, they have opened up channels across multiple online platforms for disinformation and conspiracy theories to flow. Some of these local networks are closely aligned with conspiracy movements overseas, allowing those ideas to rapidly evolve as they move across national and regional borders.
“It’s like a swarm of hate that gathers and spreads across diverse groups of followers. People can get very caught up in it.
“Targeted online hate creates its own difficult legacy. Eventually the swarm moves on but it leaves a lasting imprint and that’s risky for targeted groups.
“The Disinformation Project report cites the recent visit of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker) to Aotearoa, as a case in point. Since then, there’s evidence of a dramatic upswing in explicit, violent talk directed at LBGQT communities being normalised and mainstreamed on some social media platforms.
“What can be done about this? It’s important to identify those spaces where the flow of hate can be stemmed. Schools, community organisations and workplaces can be sites where disinformation is spread, but equally they have the potential to act as circuit breakers. Education, for example, has a role in debunking conspiracy theories through showing young how to recognise and analyse what they see online, and developing strategies for dealing with disinformation.”
No conflict of interest.
Dr John Fenaughty, Senior Lecturer in Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the University of Auckland, comments:
“I co-led the 2021 Identify survey of Rainbow young people aged 14 to 26. The Identify survey found that trans young people were already experiencing a lot of harassment, verbal assaults and cyberbullying before the more recent orchestrated campaigns documented by the Disinformation Project.
“While these stereotypes and discrimination are not new, the Disinformation project’s report shows heightened levels of transphobia and moral panic. All of us, including whānau, friends, teachers, health practitioners, and the broader community, need to explore how we can show our support for trans people. Now is the time to redouble our efforts to understand and reduce the discrimination that trans people face. More resourcing to support trans people and communities in the face of this transphobia is vital.”
No conflict of interest.