Infodemic, Fear and Disinformation: Islamophobia on Social Media During The Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted social interactions by exacerbating animosity, xenophobia, and biases toward various identities. Beyond the virus, the pandemic saw the concurrent dissemination of misinformation and disinformation, giving rise to what can be termed an "infodemic." Coined from the fusion of "epidemic" and "information," an infodemic signifies the rapid and extensive propagation of both inaccurate and accurate information akin to an epidemic's spread. The initial stages of the pandemic, marked by uncertainty and unpredictability, created a distinctive opening for the perpetuation of Islamophobia through conventional media and online platforms. Amidst constraints such as lockdowns, curfews, scarcities in protective equipment, economic crises, an atmosphere of ambiguity, Islamophobic and far-right actors targeted Islam, and Muslims were stigmatized in traditional media and social media. This study examines the spread of Islamophobic ideology through social media during the pandemic and techniques to increase prejudice and hatred against Muslims. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslims have not only been affected by disinformation in the media and social media, but cases of hate crimes and discrimination have also increased. In addition to the large number of attacks on mosques, associations, and places of worship in Europe every year, the number of hate crimes against Islam and Muslims peaked during the pandemic in developed countries such as Germany and the UK. Islamophobia is mainly produced implicitly in traditional media and can manifest itself more openly and aggressively in new media with the developing technology and digitalization. When the groups manipulating social media are analyzed, internet trolls, video game publishers on various platforms, conspiracy theorists, social media influencers, news channels, and politicians' discourses come to the fore. The most common tools these manipulators exploit are disinformation, hashtags, and memes on social media. When we look at disinformation, India comes to the fore in addition to Western countries. Anti-Muslims in India primarily generate disinformation about Muslims as super-spreaders. In India, which has been at the center of online and offline attacks against Muslims during the pandemic, members of the ruling nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have claimed Muslims for spreading the virus. Among other disinformation, images of Muslims praying on the streets and sneaking into mosques during the COVID-19 restrictions, recorded months ago but presented as new, have been circulated especially on Twitter accounts and Telegram groups. Hashtags are essential in interacting and spreading posts in the evolving social media landscape. In particular, hashtags are used to create topical links and increase the number of views. Moreover, hashtags effectively spread Islamophobic hatred by far-right users. The viral Islamophobic and Muslim-blaming hashtags were intended to increase social pressure on Muslims. According to a report by Time magazine, #CoronaJihad was used as a hashtag in more than 300,000 tweets between March 28 and April 3, 2020, especially from India and the US, and the fact that this hashtag was viewed by millions of people on Twitter in a short time. These hashtags, mainly originating from India and containing hate speech, show that Islamophobia poses a significant threat in Europe and Asia. The prevailing societal factions in both areas endeavor to validate their ideologies by linking Islam, which they view as a menace, to the pandemic, thereby instilling fear. Memes, which are used as a humor tool and reach many people quickly by reproducing through imitation, turn into today's online propaganda tools with these features. Especially far-right accounts use memes effectively to spread their ideologies, create networks, and marginalize different groups. When we examine the prominent Islamophobic memes during the pandemic, images show Muslims as suicide bombers and now virus spreaders. Apart from these, there are memes claiming that the producer of the virus is China and the distributor is Muslims. The far-right, which sought to validate its endeavors prior to the pandemic by exploiting apprehension and distrust surrounding matters like terrorism, immigration, the economy, and unemployment, persisted in its activities amid the pandemic by: 1) Accusing Muslims of being responsible for propagating the virus, 2) Asserting that aid was being hindered from reaching other societal groups due to Muslims, 3) Producing disinformation that Muslims were subjected to preferential treatment throughout the pandemic. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a great tragedy affecting people and increased discrimination and hostility towards Muslims. The conditions created by the pandemic have influenced Islamophobic actors to legitimize their discourse through fake news, disinformation, hashtags, and memes.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• Islamophobia
• Social Media
• Disinformation

İnfodemi, Korku ve Dezenformasyon: Pandemi Döneminde Sosyal Medyada İslamofobi

Öz

Pandeminin yaratmış olduğu belirsizlik ortamı; medikal, ekonomik, kültürel ve siyasi problemlerin yanı sıra yabancı düşmanlığı, sinofobi, antisemitizm ve İslamofobi gibi kültürel ırkçı ideolojilerin yayılmasına katkıda bulunmuştur. Pandemi döneminde yayılan sadece virüs olmamış aynı zamanda yanlış bilgiler ve dezenformasyon da salgınla eş zamanlı yayılarak pandemiyle birlikte infodemiye yol açmıştır. Müslümanlara yönelik nefret suçları pandemi öncesinde hem çevrim dışı hem de çevrim içi platformlarda artarken pandemi döneminde de Müslümanların Batı’da ve Güney Asya’da yaşamış oldukları akademide pek çok farklı bağlamda tartışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada pandemi döneminde sosyal medyada İslamofobinin hangi yollarla ve nasıl gerçekleştiği incelenmeye çalışılacaktır. Çevrim içi İslamofobik nefret, sosyal medya platformlarındaki düzenlemelerle engellenmeye çalışılsa da halihazırda dijital ortamda en çok görülen nefret söylemlerinin başında gelmektedir. Bu durum tüm dünyayı etkisi altına alan pandemi döneminde de Müslümanlar hakkında dezenformasyon, etiketler ve memler gibi farklı biçimlerde kendisini göstermektedir. Çalışmada öncelikle Müslümanlara yönelik nefret suçlarına değinilecek, sonrasında yeni medyadaki örtük ve açık İslamofobik örnekler incelenerek sosyal medyada ve dijital dünyada yer alan İslamofobik içeriklerin farklı tekniklerle yayılması ele alınacaktır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• COVID-19
• islamofobi
• Sosyal Medya
• Dezenformasyon

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