Introduction to Misinformation and Hate Speech - and how those impact us.

1. Misinformation,HateSpeech&Us
U j j w a l A c h a r y a

2. Agenda
Introductions
Concepts of misinformation and hate
speech
Understanding key terms:
misinformation, disinformation,
malinformation, information disorder,
infodemic & f*** news
Understanding the impacts of
misinformation on individuals, society
and democracy
Discussions and Q/A

3. Online
Course
Learn from the comfort of home
Home is home!
Practical limitations

4. MyIntroduction
Since 2022: Managing Director of CMR-Nepal
Journalism Academy
Since 2020: Project head of NepalFactCheck
2019-2022: Senior Journalist (Social Media), BBC
2014-2018: South Asia Coordinator, IFJ
2013-2014: Digital Editor, Annapurna Post
2008-2011: Online Coordinator, Republica
Journalist
Media Researcher
Journalism Trainer
Kathmandu, Nepal

5. Whatisthe
issue?

6. Misinformation
A false content.
Can appear on media, social
media, poster, speech,
interview, radio/tv show,
photo, graph, video –
anywhere.
Anything that is not fact.
Half-truth, false connection,
misleading information, out of
context, and manipulated or
fabricated content.

7. HateSpeech
Any kind of communication in
speech, writing or behavior,
that attacks or uses pejorative
or discriminatory language
with reference to a person or a
group on the basis of who they
are, in other words, based on
their religion, ethnicity,
nationality, race, color,
descent, gender or other
identity factor.
- The UN Strategy and Plan of Action on
Hate Speech

8. HateSpeech
1. Can be conveyed through
any form of expression,
including images, cartoons,
memes, objects, gestures
and symbols and
disseminated offline or
online.
2. Is “discriminatory” (biased,
bigoted or intolerant) or
“pejorative” (prejudiced,
contemptuous or
demeaning) of an individual
or group.
3. calls out real or perceived
“identity factors”.

9. KeyTermstoUnderstand

10. Disinformation is content that is
intentionally false and designed to cause
harm. It is motivated by three factors: to
make money; to have political influence,
either foreign or domestic; or to cause
trouble for the sake of it.
Misinformation also describes false
content, but the person sharing doesn’t
realize that it is false or misleading.
Malinformation refers to the information
that is based on reality, but used to inflict
harm on a person, social group,
organization or country.
Misinformation
Disinformation
Malinformation

12. Information disorder describes an
environment in which “disinformation,”
“misinformation,” and “malinformation”
are present and often combine to shape
politics in new and unexpected ways.
Fake news is not anymore preferred
terms because it’s ‘self-defeating’ and
‘oversimplifies complex problem’.
Politicians used the term to undermine
independent media and it also
undermines a strong weapon we have
against misinformation - news.
Informationdisorder
F***News

13. Infodemic is “the rapid spread of
information of all kinds, including
rumors, gossip and unreliable
information” and generating ”confusion,
anxiety and even panic in times of
serious infectious outbreaks”. (WHO)
Disinfodemic describes the deliberate
“falsehoods fueling the pandemic” and
its “viral load of potentially deadly
disinformation”. (UNESCO)
Infodemic
Disinfodemic

15. Impacts of Disinformation
and HateSpeech

17. Child Abduction Rumour: More than 27
people have been killed since 2017 in
cases related to mob lynching after a
false video showing men on motorcycle
abducting a child spreads through
WhatsApp.
IndiaMobLynching
Cow vigilante violence: Between 2010
and 2017, "28 Indians – 24 of them
Muslims – were killed and 124 injured“

18. Holocaust, 1941-45, 6 million
Cambodian Genocide, 1975-79, >1.5
million
Rwanda Genocide, 1994, half a million
Rohingya, since 2016, 25K
Genocides

19. Individual
Psychological harm
Riskier behaviors
Wrong decisions
Anxiety or panic

20. Society
Polarization
Extremism
Social conflict
Social peace

21. Democracy
Election Interference
Lack of public trust
Rise of authoritarianism
Destabilizes democracy
Skew political discourse

22. Let’sShareYour Ideas!

23. Further
Reading
https://internews.org/areas-of-
expertise/disinformation-
misinformation/
https://medium.com/disinformat
ion-in-nepal/disinformation-
resources-8031e73639b2
https://firstdraftnews.org/ (use it
when it’s there)