The U.S. Latino Community Is Being Targeted With Disinformation. Why?
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed inequities at every level, but none more than the inequities in information that some people have access to about their own personal health. COVID-19 killed Latino people at 1.8 times the rate it killed White people in the United States. COVID-19 also disproportionately affected Black communities in the United States. Was the circulation of disinformation about the virus, including disinformation about masking and vaccines, responsible?
There is no definitive way to make that distinction, but several disturbing trends seem to show disinformation campaigns are targeting Latino people in the United States.
Why?
Some of it is invocation of past trauma: High inflation and the increase in gasoline prices have led to widespread conversations about who is to blame, with several criticisms landing on President Joe Biden incorrectly. Inflation and the prices of gasoline have soared worldwide due to the impact of the war in Ukraine and the pandemic. However, anybody who has emigrated from an unstable nation recognizes rising inflation as one of the surest signs of collapse—and it is easy to misdirect that fear for political gain as the 2022 midterms approach.
One of the major narratives, reportedly prevalent in Florida conservative radio, is that President Biden seeks to consolidate power and to “repress” the people. There are also false claims of socialism, again, meant to invoke refugees’ memories of unstable governments.
Some of it relates to contemporary issues we are all discussing: Abortion is still not universally legalized outside of the United States, and as such, abortion is a cross-platform issue for the U.S. Latino community. That said, several pieces of disinformation have been circulating on TikTok, including “herbal abortions,” which were found to in fact be harmful to one’s health. Instagrams and Tweets targeting Latino communities also made false claims about several community organizations closing their abortion assistance centers.
Moreover, more and more disinformation—of increasing volume and randomness, from cryptocurrency scams to conspiracy theories around mass shootings—are showing up on Spanish-language “news” sources and across social media platforms. Unfortunately, nobody really seems to know why.
As of this writing, The International Journalists’s Network (IJN) has put out a request for information. The organization says that the “surplus of lies designed to convince or deceive Latinos living in the U.S. is varied” and that more information about Spanish-language misinformation and disinformation is needed “to design and implement effective collaborative strategies to counteract it.”
IJN has asked that anyone who has seen or received “suspicious content” send it to Factchequeado via its WhatsApp Chatbot.
