The Disinformation Project | |
---|---|
Products | Publicly available research, disinformation resources |
Country | New Zealand |
Key people | Kate Hannah (Director) Sanjana Hattotuwa (Research Director) Nicole Skews-Poole (Director of Communications) [1] |
Established | February 2020 [1] |
Disestablished | 3 October 2024 [1] |
Status | Defunct [1] |
Website | thedisinfoproject |
The Disinformation Project was a research group studying the effects of disinformation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. The research group was established in 2020 to combat disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic but subsequently expanded its scope to cover other "conspiracy theory beliefs" including anti-vaccine, climate change denial, anti-immigration, the anti-gender movement, anti-Māori racism and hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community. [1] The Disinformation Project also took an interest in monitoring neo-Nazism, far right activism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. [1] [2]
The Disinformation Project was an independent, interdisciplinary and non-governmental New Zealand research team that collected and analysed data on the causes and impact of mis- and disinformation within the country's society from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 through to, and beyond, the 2022 Wellington protest when the grounds of Parliament House and surrounding streets were occupied by anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups. [3] It was led by social historian Kate Hannah. [4] [5]
The project claimed its research identified how the digital world, shaped by social media platforms globally, has the potential to make elements of a society more vulnerable to disinformation and social exclusion. [3] Hannah has acknowledged the importance of showing empathy toward people who are "hoodwinked into extremist beliefs." [4] [5]
The Disinformation Project's research used mixed methods which combined open and quantitative data from social media platforms, social and mainstream media and other forms of information-sharing, looking for patterns and meaning in super-spreader events and qualitative research and discourse analysis to identify shifts over time. [6]
Key to the project's approach was researching and assessing how scientific uncertainty, due to the presentation and distribution of unreliable information within the context of an infodemic, could manifest as narratives that linked to conspiracy theories. [7] The project held that while some people might have genuine reasons to be wary of the state and mainstream media, they could be influenced by those holding conspiracy theories or extremist beliefs in social media spaces that appeared to offer support, but are often driven by groups with different agendas. [4] The position is therefore taken that "those most marginalised by or disaffected within contemporary society, are more likely to have lived experiences that might make them more susceptible to unreliable sources and untrustworthy stories." [7]
Exploring what Hannah has described as a "shared information landscape", [8] underpinned the research of the project into how New Zealand society understood and managed the infodemic that has come to the fore as a result of COVID-19. The project's work emphasized the impact of colonisation on the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities, increasing their vulnerability to mis- and disinformation. [9]
The researchers took the position that the lack of a shared narrative can shape how a country understands and builds its "historical memory", with the storming of the Capitol in the United States in January 2021 as an example of how contemporary myths such as conspiracy theories can cause different groups to interpret events in different ways. [8] As events such as these began to influence the international information landscape, the researchers contended that their work was to help New Zealand develop values that are "democratic, inclusive, and progressive" to consolidate social cohesion built on trust and cooperation. The potential of the Treaty of Waitangi to enable a partnership is cited as a "necessary starting point for any discussion or development of a strategy which seeks to address and make redress for the impacts of online harm, hateful and violent extremism, and disinformation for New Zealand...[and]...it is from a position of the partnership that Te Tiriti provides that Aotearoa can make a global contribution to these pressing and immediate issues." [8]
Hannah warned against increasing censorship as a way to manage disinformation, expressing the importance of people being "self-regulating...[talking to each other]...at an interpersonal community-based level." [10]
During the first six months of the project, researchers observed disinformation fueled a growing distrust in government and health officials in New Zealand. [7] Disconnected from their local communities, some people relied more often on online spaces where they might feel informed and respected, but were also more exposed to disinformation and extremist views. [4]
Starting in August 2020, the group took a wider approach of studying mis- and disinformation ecosystems in New Zealand, focusing on "dangerous speech, hateful expression, and criminal behaviour" and how these aligned with "global trends, themes, narratives, and actors who influence online harms in Aotearoa." [11] : p.1 They observed a shift from vaccine hesitancy to vaccine resistance, as well as the normalisation of online and offline harassment. [12] : p.139
Reports published by the project in 2021 and 2022 observe an acceleration of the trend toward normalization of hate the criminal behaviour on a variety of social media platforms [11] [13] , especially against minority groups, notably Māori, other ethnic minorities, women and gender minorities, LGBTQ+ people, and those with disabilities. [14] Common far-right disinformation about COVID-19 and public health was becoming more popular, opening the way for to influence public opinion on issues such as gun control, Māori sovereignty land rights, free speech, abortion, euthanasia and cannabis law reform. [13] [11] : p.1 Hannah suggested that "minimization of Covid-19 has been like a Trojan horse...it has become a really significant recruitment tool and then has created an ability to coalesce around a set of ideas that are against the state." [15]
After the initial occupation in February 2022, the Disinformation Project monitored social media and identified a small group of people responsible for the spreading of the majority of false information during and after the event. [16] The researchers claimed that during the occupation a great number of New Zealanders were exposed through social media to a "splintered reality...[and pushed toward]...racist and violent ideologies." After a clash between police and protestors on 2 March, the data showed a strong increase of engagement with disinformation content, with 73 percent of Facebook interactions over misinformation and disinformation originating with twelve accounts. [17]
Hannah concluded that for a large number of New Zealanders, their vision of key events was constructed from disinformation, including "extreme misogyny and racism, (...) anti-Māori, Islamophobic and antisemitic sentiment". [18] [17] In May 2022, the project's Kayli Taylor expressed concerns, based on data, that "the Parliament Protest [had] entrenched violent expression...toxic masculinities, and other hallmarks of dangerous speech as the norm within anti-mandate and anti-vaccine social media ecologies", effectively undermining "civic life, political culture, and inclusion – pillars of social cohesion." [14] Journalist Toby Manhire in a comprehensive coverage of the project's research, insisted super-spreaders of misinformation and conspiracy theory outstripped mainstream outlets in reaching online audiences. [19]
The Project's work showed propagation of foreign propaganda using anti-vaccine activist networks. As Russian-linked propaganda and disinformation was being reported at the occupation site, [17] , Disinformation Project Research Fellow Sanjana Hattotuwa, [20] used monitoring of more than 100 Telegram channels and dozens of Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter accounts" to show that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was one of the two dominant topics in New Zealand anti-vaccination forums and the discussion was pro-Putin. [21] [21] Anti-government rhetoric from protest leaders was also strongly present. [22]
A two-day event where project researchers and independent academics were scheduled to present information sessions on political disinformation in November 2022 was initially canceled when protestors were seen organizing online to disrupt it. Hannah had already received death threats and believed she, with other experts, was on a list of people to be executed for supporting public health measures. [23] [24]
In August 2022, Disinformation Project researcher Sanjana Hattotuwa said peddlers of disinformation were organizing to hide their affiliations and stand for councils and school Boards of Trustees. [25] The number of candidates running for public office, discouraged by the racism and other forms of harassment experienced by elected council members, appeared to present an opportunity for fringe candidates who could hide their affiliations. [26] [27] [22] Hattotuwa worried that "new foundations" for disinformation had now been laid in New Zealand and would change how the country engaged with elections in the future. [17]
While only two candidates with connections to conspiracy theories or misinformation were elected in the Southern region of the country, Hattotuwa warned that this new possible threat should not be underestimated. [28]
Following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in 7 October 2023, Hannah reported a sharp rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic on various platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and variousgaming platforms that were popular with young people. She warned that the conflation of ethnic and religious identities with racist and xenophobic stereotypes and misinformation increased animosity and division both online and offline in New Zealand. [2]
In September 2023, political activist Julian Batchelor indicated he filed a defamation suit against Research Director Sanjana Hattotuwa, for asserting that Batchelor was inciting racism against Māori people in an interview with TVNZ. [29] [30]
Kate Hannah and media company Stuff were also the subject of a lawsuit filed by "independent journalist" and influencer Chantelle Baker, who alleged that the two parties defamed her in Stuff's 2022 documentary Fire and Fury by saying that she promoted disinformation during the 2022 Wellington protest. While Baker subsequently settled a similar lawsuit against The New Zealand Herald in late September 2024, she announced that she would file a new lawsuit against Hannah and Stuff for defamation. [31] [32]
On 3 October 2024, The Disinformation Project announced its closure as its team members Sanjana Hattutowa, Kate Hannah and Nicole Skews-Poole moved onto other ventures. In its closing statement, the group claimed that the various anti-COVID vaccine and lockdown, anti-Māori, anti-LGBTQ+ and other "disinformation networks" were "deeply connected" to various domestic and foreign far right, neo-Nazi and "accelerationist" actors. [1]
Brian Raymond Tamaki is a New Zealand Christian fundamentalist religious leader, and politician. He is the leader of Destiny Church, a Pentecostal Christian organisation which advocates strict adherence to fundamentalist biblical morality. Tamaki has been involved with various fringe political parties and movements, and since 2022 he has led the Freedoms New Zealand party. A perennial candidate, he has run for office several times but has yet to be elected.
Joseph Michael Mercola is an American alternative medicine proponent, osteopathic physician, and Internet business personality. He markets largely unproven dietary supplements and medical devices. On his website, Mercola and colleagues advocate unproven and pseudoscientific alternative health notions including homeopathy and opposition to vaccination. These positions have received persistent criticism. Mercola is a member of several alternative medicine organizations as well as the political advocacy group Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which promotes scientifically discredited views about medicine and disease. He is the author of two books.
The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), formerly Brixton Endeavors, is a British-American not-for-profit NGO company with offices in London and Washington, D.C. with the stated purpose of stopping the spread of online hate speech and disinformation. It campaigns to deplatform people that it believes promote hate or misinformation, and campaigns to restrict media organisations such as The Daily Wire from advertising. CCDH is a member of the Stop Hate For Profit coalition.
The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand was part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case of the disease in New Zealand was reported on 28 February 2020. The country recorded over 2,274,370 cases. Over 3,000 people died as a result of the pandemic, with cases recorded in all twenty district health board (DHB) areas. The pandemic first peaked in early April 2020, with 89 new cases recorded per day and 929 active cases. Cases peaked again in October 2021 with 134 new cases reported on 22 October.
The Advance New Zealand Party was a short-lived political party in New Zealand from 2020 to 2021. The idea was first unveiled in a newsletter from founder Jami-Lee Ross in April 2020. Ross has claimed that the party was a centrist and anti-corruption movement designed to appeal to voters "in the middle"; however, their main policies represent the political fringe rather than centre.
Nicola Mary Turner is a New Zealand public health advocate who is a Professor at the University of Auckland and Medical Director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, an organisation that advises the New Zealand medical profession and the New Zealand Government. She has contributed to advisory committees for the New Zealand Ministry of Health, is a spokesperson for the Child Poverty Action Group and works in general practice. Much of her research and outreach has focused on improving immunisation coverage and closing equity gaps for the national schedule vaccine delivery in New Zealand and she has commented publicly on these issues during COVID-19 in New Zealand.
There were several COVID-19 protests in New Zealand held during the period of COVID-19 restrictions from 2020 to 2022, where people protested the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand, in particular the lockdown measures in place in March–May 2020, August 2020, and August–November 2021 and the later vaccine mandates. The protests have been largely condemned by members of parliament, as well as local city and regional councils. Fears were also raised about the protests increasing the spread of the virus.
Helen Aspasia Petousis-Harris is a New Zealand vaccinologist and associate professor in the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care at the University of Auckland. She has been involved in research related to vaccination in New Zealand since 1998, with her main areas of focus being vaccine safety and effectiveness. Petousis-Harris has had a variety of lead roles in New Zealand and international organisations that focus on vaccination and is a regular media spokesperson in this field, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand has had far-reaching consequences on the country that went beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to eliminate it, including education, faith communities, Māori, mass gatherings, sports, recreation, and travel. In addition, there were several recorded cases of lockdown violations, leaks, and misinformation about the COVID-19 virus and vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccination in New Zealand began on 20 February 2021, and will continue throughout the pandemic with the goal of vaccinating all willing New Zealanders aged 5 or older. Those aged 5 to 11 require a parent, caregiver or legal guardian accompany them to their appointment and provide consent for them to be vaccinated. As of 1 September, anyone in New Zealand, regardless of their immigration status, is eligible to be vaccinated.
Claire Ann Deeks is a New Zealand anti-vaccine activist who has challenged the government's response to COVID-19. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Advance NZ party in the 2020 general election, and set up the group Voices for Freedom (VFF), which distributed pamphlets that have been criticised by experts as containing COVID-19 misinformation about vaccines, lockdown and the wearing of masks. As a food blogger, Deeks promoted the paleo diet and "healthy" lunchboxes for children, and developed a petition to stop the rating system for foods used by the NZ and Australian governments. She is a former intellectual property lawyer.
Simon James Thornley is a New Zealand medical doctor and academic specialising in epidemiology and biostatistics, and as of 2021 is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland.
Susan Jane Grey is a political figure, conspiracy theorist, and environmental lawyer in Nelson, New Zealand. She is the co-leader of the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party and of Freedoms NZ. She is known for promoting medicinal cannabis rights and opposing COVID-19 vaccination, 5G technology, and the use of 1080, frequently sharing misinformation on social media about the effectiveness of COVID vaccination.
Te Pūnaha Matatini is the New Zealand Centre of Research Excellence for complex systems. Te Pūnaha Matatini is funded by the Tertiary Education Commission, hosted by the University of Auckland, and works in partnership with fifteen universities and organisations. Te Pūnaha Matatini brings together 100 principal investigators from tertiary institutions, government institutes, private sector organisations and marae communities from throughout New Zealand.
The 2022 Wellington protest was an anti-mandate and anti-lockdown occupation of the grounds of Parliament House and Molesworth Street in Central Wellington during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The occupation spring boarded off the New Zealand Convoy 2022, a mass convoy of vehicles that made its way from the top of the North Island and the bottom of the South Island to Parliament starting on Waitangi Day and arriving three days later on 9 February. The occupation lasted just over three weeks. At its peak, the protest spread over a large area of Thorndon and into Pipitea with approximately 1,000 participants. Protesters blockaded areas around the parliamentary grounds with their vehicles and occupied the lawn and surrounding areas in tents. Some associated with the protests harassed bystanders, and disrupted local businesses. The protest was forcibly ended by police on 2 March 2022, and the protesters had none of their demands met by the Government.
Counterspin Media is a far-right, anti-vaccine, and conspiracy theorist New Zealand online media platform that was founded in May 2021.
This timeline includes entries on the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This includes investigations into the origin of COVID-19, and the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 which is caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2. Social media apps and platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube, have contributed to the spread of misinformation. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) reported that conspiracy theories related to COVID-19 began on "day one". CAHN reported on March 16, 2020, that far-right groups in Canada were taking advantage of the climate of anxiety and fear surrounding COVID, to recycle variations of conspiracies from the 1990s, that people had shared over shortwave radio. COVID-19 disinformation is intentional and seeks to create uncertainty and confusion. But most of the misinformation is shared online unintentionally by enthusiastic participants who are politically active.
TJB 2021 Limited, more commonly known by its trade name Voices For Freedom (VFF), is a company with a special interest in the anti-vaccine movement in New Zealand. VFF was formed in December 2020 to oppose the New Zealand Government's COVID-19 response and vaccination rollout. Despite its non-profit appearance in communications, VFF is registered as a limited liability company and is not legally recognised as a non-profit entity.
Chantelle Baker is a right-wing New Zealand social media influencer and conservative activist who is the daughter of former New Conservative Party leader Leighton Baker. In 2022, she attracted domestic media attention for her involvement in the 2022 Wellington protest and for her promotion of anti-COVID vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned is a Royal Commission of Inquiry appointed by the New Zealand Government to look at its official response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. Its focus is to look at lessons learned from the Government response to prepare for future pandemics. The inquiry examines the overall pandemic response with the exception of decisions made by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's Monetary Policy Committee. The first phase report was released in late November 2024.