By, Kashish Khanna, Gunhaar Panjwani, and Vicky Lam - Lab Undergraduate Affiliates
Technology facilitates the communication and spread of information in ways that can result in public benefit. In particular, information communications technologies, such as social media, can serve as a powerful tool for information dissemination. In fact, they often serve as a platform for governments to communicate with their constituents. However, the information environment is much broader than governments, and many non-state actors also play large roles in the ways information and disinformation can be spread. Understanding the effects of circulating disinformation provides insight into the complex dynamics of an evolving information environment. The focus of this blog post is on the dynamics of COVID-19 disinformation within ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries. Our research finds that the influence of disinformation, from both foreign and domestic sources, is continuing to grow, requiring adjustment to domestic goals and hindering public health in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic.
These repercussions have arisen due to an increasingly vulnerable information environment fostered by the minimal regulation of information accuracy on social media platforms. The result is a petri dish of conspiracy theories and distrust for public health measures, including masks and vaccines. The impact of this disinformation has been particularly acute in the ASEAN region, where many communities have developed intense feelings of distrust towards information regarding public health measures and vaccines.
Much of the distrust is the product of external influences imported via social media and messenger apps, which lower information transaction costs and enable the spread of narratives that challenge government information networks and recommended health practices. One such medium is the messaging service WhatsApp, which enabled the spread of anti-vaccine information originating in the United States. The dissemination of this disinformation was accompanied with increased distrust in vaccine efficacy, safety, and general public health initiatives related to the pandemic.
However, while social media has proved a potent threat, it is important to not only discuss digital and social media but also the role of social, cultural, and the traditional societal norms that shape the way people perceive information. Disinformation that emphasizes the local socio-cultural contexts results in declining trust in expert information, contributing to the dissemination of disinformation. An example of this can be seen in ASEAN countries, where the rise in populism has contributed to distrust in expert opinion, and led to the strategy of using fear, uncertainty, and confusion to spread disinformation.
The use of cultural contexts to spread disinformation can be seen with anti-vaccine propaganda in the Philippines, where a US-based church group capitalized upon the highly Cathloic population to spread COVID-19 disinformation. Among the pool of disinformation is the superstitious notion that the COVID-19 vaccine is akin to “the mark of the beast”, indicating affiliation with Satan. The interplay of religiosity and disinformation fostered a foreign-to-domestic delivery vector for disinformation, spawning distrust in public health measures and vaccines. The accompanying decreased vaccination rates resulted in increased infections and higher mortality rates, demonstrating the efficacy of culturally emphasized disinformation.
This pandemic of disinformation has been further contributed to by local influencers, who use their societal reach to influence public discourse and bring about more uncertainty. One such influencer is Gede Ari Astina, an Indonesian drummer who wrote, to over one million of his Instagram followers, that “Those who don’t believe that this covid is just a business scheme may still believe that America has landed on the moon and 9/11 is by Muslims”. He continued to make statements like this throughout the course of the pandemic, using his strong social media presence to influence his followers. In fact, Swantara Putera, one of Astina’s followers, chose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine as he was led to believe that the virus was not dangerous, despite Indonesia experiencing its worst period of the pandemic, in terms of cases and deaths, at the time.
The combination of these external and internal sources of disinformation is discussed by Hoang Linh Dang, is that it has left ASEAN nations in unfortunate positions. For instance, in Indonesia, social media influencers, such as Astina, and “self-studied” experts have been actively contributing information and filling a gap created by inconsistent messages made by the Indonesian government. Hence, the Indonesian public, unable to receive consistent information from the government, have instead been consuming inaccurate information regarding the virus. In fact, Dang found that 10% of respondents to a survey conducted in April 2020 believed that a warm climate could prevent the transmission of COVID-19, while nearly 20% of respondents believed that the virus could be cured by a homemade remedy of salt water or vinegar. These theories gave the Indonesian public a false sense of security, resulting in resistance to masks and social distancing. This increased spread of disinformation coincided with increased COVID-19 case totals that reached 108,000 by the end of July 2020.
Further disinformation in the ASEAN region regarding governmental regulations, disease prevention, and cures also inspired the stockpiling of goods, resulting in price inflation and product scams. In fact, one product scam in Indonesia fostered the idea that the local drink “Jamu'' had the ability to cure the virus and lead to increased prices for the ingredients of Jamu. Similarly, in Singapore, after an increase in the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition level, social media platforms were filled with pictures of stores and supermarkets with empty stocks and long queues.
The ASEAN region continued to suffer from disinformation further into the pandemic, as countries such as Indonesia and Philippines experienced their worst periods of cases and deaths in the summer of 2021. This has been cited as an effect of low vaccination rates in these countries. Despite the worsened conditions, after multiple periods of lockdown, the countries are being forced to open up, spiking fear in the general public about a further, possible increase in COVID cases. The mass-disinformation has led ASEAN countries to abandon their “zero-COVID goals” in order to protect their struggling economies, accepting the pandemic as a part of daily life. While of pure intention, the decision leaves the region vulnerable to another wave of COVID cases, detrimental to the lives of those in the ASEAN region and an unfortunate consequence of the continuous spread of externally and internally sourced disinformation.