2022 LANDSCAPE REPORT

POWER, PLATFORMS, & POLITICS:

ASIAN AMERICANS &
DISINFORMATION
ASIAN AMERICAN DISINFORMATION TABLE
SUMMARY & KEY TAKEAWAYS

Disinformation is not just about

lies, it is about power.
Researching and organizing against disinformation in Asian American
communities requires nuanced understanding of relations of power
across transnational contexts. Harmful information and problematic
narratives become mobilized to maintain and expand existing power
structures and inequities.

Additionally, effectively tracking and intervening on problematic

narratives can be difficult due to the numerous platforms and ethnic
media outlets that communities use, as well as multiple languages and
cultural and political contexts.

Disinformation exposes frictions, fault lines, and tensions

within and across our various diasporic communities.

Problematic narratives span three key themes:

1. Using Asians as ‘wedges’ against other communities of color;
2. Exploiting internal divides and hierarchies within Asian communities;
3. Weaponizing current and historical traumas.

We must connect the process of monitoring Asian American

disinformation to power building and healing justice to redress harms
and return trust, consensus, and accountability to our communities.

2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Co-authored with contributions by (in alphabetical order): Cai Barias, Mark Calaguas,
Krystle Canare, Lorenzo Garcia, Radha Kaur, Yena Kang, Rachel Kuo, Jaime Longoria,
Jenny Liu, Melissa Palma, Nick Nguyen, Sarah Nguyễn, Jonathan Corpus Ong, Jyot Singh,
Thenmozhi Soundarajan, Leezel Tanglao, and Kyle Van Fleet. Report layout by Rachel Kuo.

Thank you to Laura Carther, Vivian Chang, Angela Chung, Young Noh Jung, Gregg Orton,
Chris Phan, Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), and Alex Tom for guidance and support.
We also appreciate the contributions of our academic partners at the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, University of
Washington-Seattle’s Center for an Informed Public, and University of Massachusetts-
Amherst FACT CHAMP Team.

To cite: Asian American Disinformation Table (2022) “Power, Platforms, Politics: Asian
Americans and Disinformation Landscape Report.” August 2022, www.AsianAmDisinfo.org

The Asian American Disinformation Table is anchored by the National Council of Asian
Pacific Americans (NCAPA), and is part of the Disinfo Defense League network, a project of
the Media Democracy Fund. Learn more at AsianAmDisinfo.org.

Table Chairs: Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA, AFL-CIO); Asian Americans
Advancing Justice | AAJC; Equality Labs; and the National Council of Asian Pacific
Americans (NCAPA).

Partner Organizations include: APIAVote; Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO); Sikh
American Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Viet Fact Check.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
2 SUMMARY & KEY TAKEAWAYS
4 Authorship and Acknowledgements

5 WHO WE ARE

6 INTRODUCTION
7 Information Harms in Asian and Asian American Communities
8 Disinformation is About Power

9 HOW DOES DISINFORMATION IMPACT OUR COMMUNITIES?

10 Problems with the Platforms
10 Multiple Historical, Political, and Cultural Contexts
11 Language Injustice
11 Targeted Harassment and Abuse
11 Ethnic and Diasporic News Networks
13 Electoral Impact

14 RESEARCH
14 The Need for Transnational Political Analysis
15 Researching Disinformation in Asian Diasporic Communities

17 NARRATIVE TRENDS
18 Common Themes in Asian American Communities
20 Combatting Anti-Asian Violence & Disinformation

21 CASE STUDIES
21 Problematic Narratives
22 Suppression of Dissent in Sikh Communities
24 Chinese Right-Wing Disinformation
26 Caste and Religious Faultlines in South Asian American Communities
30 “Men’s Rights Asians” and the Rise of Toxic Masculinity
33 Black-on-Asian Crime Narratives

36 Examples of Narrative Change

37 Organizing Against Information Harms in Vietnamese Commmunities
43 Kwentuhan in Filipino/a/x Communities

52 MOVING FORWARD
53 What We Need
55 Building with Pacific Islander Communities
56 Directions for Policy Advocacy

57 APPENDIX
58 Histories of Disinformation
63 References
65 Additional Footnotes
 THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF
WHO WE ARE ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS
(NCAPA), founded in 1996, is a
coalition of 38 national Asian
THE ASIAN AMERICAN American, Native Hawaiian and
DISINFORMATION TABLE Pacific Islander organizations
is a national table to coordinate research, around the country working together to
strategies, policy recommendations, pop shape the broader racial justice movement.
culture, messaging interventions, and NCAPA strives for equity and justice
corporate accountability around issues of by organizing our diverse strengths to
domestic and transnational misinformation influence policy and shape public narratives.
and disinformation impacting Asian
Americans. The Table is an interfaith, inter-
caste, multi-ethnic, multi-language coalition THE DISINFO DEFENSE LEAGUE
that builds shared intergenerational (DDL) works to foster spaces
resilience by building across Asian where a racialized lens on
American communities, supporting disinformation can be used
individual member organizations working to understand information
on these issues against polarization and ecosystems outside of Anglo- and
harmful narratives, sharing learnings, and Eurocentric approaches that continue
coordinating with allies outside the U.S. to dominate this field of study. DDL is a
distributed national network of organizers,
The Asian American Disinformation Table researchers and disinformation experts
understands ‘Asian American’ as a collective disrupting online racialized disinformation
political formation that includes immigrant infrastructure and campaigns that
and diasporic communities with homelands deliberately target Black, Latinx, Asian
connected to Asia, South Asia, Southeast American and Pacific Islander and other
Asia, and the Pacific Rim (e.g. China, Taiwan, communities of color. DDL was created by
Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and for these communities and is supported
Thailand, Philippines, India, Japan, Pakistan, by services and insight provided by its
Korea, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, members.
Malaysia, the Caribbean, Burma, Tibet, and
many ethnic and religious minorities). To learn more or get information on how
to join the table, visit AsianAmDisinfo.org.
According to a population estimate by the
2020 Census Bureau, there are currently
19.9 million people identified as Asian
and 4.1 million people identified as Asian
in combination with another race. Our
communities are extremely diverse with
multiple ethnicities and languages.

Asian American disinformation can target

us with white supremacy as commentary
on our racialization and also exploit internal
fractures based on our different histories
and social hierarchies. This can exacerbate
tensions within our communities and with
other communities of color as well. Our goal
as a table then is to help scope the problem
of racialized disinformation in a holistic way
for all of our communities so that we can
not only name this problem but also work
collectively to heal and build power.
5
 INTRODUCTION

Disinformation is not race neutral.

To research and legislate on mis- and disinformation as a race-neutral phenomenon is
not only misguided, but does a disservice to solution-oriented efforts because it ignores
the complex and often emblematic issues that people of color experience online. These
approaches go far beyond differences in platform moderation by language. Cultural
competency and a deep contextual understanding of racialized disinformation is necessary
if we are to adequately address the myriad of issues that contribute to the spread of
harmful information.

Racialized disinformation perpetuates and gives rise to inequalities, seeks to consolidate

power among ruling classes, and sustains white supremacy. Communities of color globally
face the brunt of the persecution and violence underpinned by mis- and disinformation on
platforms that continue to reward and benefit monetarily from incendiary content. From
Taiwan1, Myanmar2, the Philippines3, India4, to the U.S.5, disinformation has been at the
center of attacks on disenfranchised communities. It works through the use of stereotypes
and wedge issues meant to divide and target individuals, groups and movements with
harassment, slander, and criminalization. Racialized disinformation can also be weaponized
to disrupt solidarity among different communities.

This report offers a preliminary landscape analysis of mis- and disinformation within and
about Asian and Asian American diasporic communities with the aim of strengthening
Asian American movement building. Our report focuses specifically on Asians and Asian
Americans to address the breadth of languages and contexts and respond to organizing
priorities across different local and diasporic communities. Part of our current stage of work
is addressing and detangling problematic narratives to do solidarity work.

Organizing and conducting research on the spread and impact of disinformation

within our communities requires a careful and thoughtful application of our political
lines and commitments—discerning in context what constitutes harm is not and can
not be politically neutral. This means that mapping disinformation in our communities
entails an active commitment to seeking the end of intersecting structural oppressions,
including white supremacy, caste oppression, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, sexism,
homophobtransphobia, ableism, and misogyny.

Please note that there is content included in this report

that is graphic and mentions racial trauma and violence
against people of color that may be upsetting to the reader.

1. Walter Kerr and Philip Macon (2020) “Taiwan Is Beating Political Disinformation. The West Can Too.” Foreign Policy, 11
November.
2. Paul Mozur (2018) “A Genocide Incited on Facebook, With Posts From Myanmar’s Military.” New York Times, 15 October
3. Peter Guest (2020) “In the Philippines, fake news can get you killed.” Rest of World, 29 October.
4. Equality Labs (2020) “Coronajihad.”
5. See Ong, 2021

6
INFORMATION HARMS IN definitions that focus on veracity and
intent. Instead, we focus on how harmful
ASIAN & ASIAN AMERICAN information and problematic narratives
COMMUNITIES: become mobilized to maintain and expand
existing power structures and inequities6.
“Understanding disinformation tactics in
Asian American communities is studying
fault lines that are also historical fault
KEY DEFINITIONS:
lines of trauma.” - Thenmozhi Soundarajan
News/reporting: Articles or programs
The problem of mis- and disinformation in
that present observations and data
Asian American communities is not just a
problem of what constitutes ‘true’ or ‘false’
Opinion piece/show: An article or
information, but rather how we understand
program that analyzes the news or uses
misleading, manipulative, and deceptive
facts to support an argument; clear bias
information practices as facilitating political,
and presented as an opinion
social, cultural, economic, and material
harms in our communities. For example,
Misinformation: Misleading, incorrect,
information that may be factually correct,
or false information; could be caused by
like education statistics, may be placed
human error, faulty fact-checking. Not
in contexts to produce and promote
intended to deceive.
nationalistic, racist, and casteist sentiments
and ideologies.
Malinformation: Genuine information
that is shared to cause harm; often de-
In this report, we approach mis- and
contextualized information used to
disinformation as encompassing different
promote an argument or perspective.
information harms. Definitions of
disinformation often emphasize deliberate
Disinformation: Misleading, incorrect,
(and often covert) intent to spread harmful,
or false information presented with the
deceitful, and problematic information to
intent to mislead an audience.
influence public opinion, erode consensus,
and dispute evidence-based understanding
Problematic Narrative: Narratives
of common facts. Misinformation is
that fall under the misinformation,
incorrect or misleading information without
malinformation, and/or disinformation
deliberate intent to deceive.
umbrella; narratives that have the
potential to cause harm in general.
While such disinformation may originate
from bad actors with malicious intent
Mid-information: Incomplete
(and certainly, there are key actors and
information or information used out of
influencers with power and capital), they can
context that can promote problematic or
also spread in seemingly more innocuous
misleading narratives; often used as mal-
ways such as between family members or
information
within community groups—sometimes
even out of ‘good’ intentions and care. Such
information harms occur at disparate and
incommensurable scales, ranging from
the incitement of deadly attacks against
Asian Americans to voter suppression.
Our approach to disinformation expands
on the limitations of current mainstream 6. See Kuo and Marwick, 2021

7
Disinformation is about power.
As Table Co-chair Thenmozhi Soundararajan tensions, such as between Taiwan and
of Equality Labs has emphasized, “A fact China, or in the Philippines and Indonesia8.
is a fact not just because of evidence but Another example is the disinformation
because of power.” fueled by WeChat against affirmative
action programs in local schools and higher
Disinformation is explicitly designed to education, pitting Chinese Americans
expose the frictions, fault lines, and tensions against other communities of color9.
within and across our various diasporic
communities while also working to This political landscape requires attention
deplatform us from democracy and create to the specific contexts in which this
divisions with other communities of color. information circulates, including geopolitical
That is why we must connect the process of histories; transnational news, information,
monitoring Asian American disinformation and social networks; political and economic
to power building to return trust, consensus, interests of particular actors; and more.
and accountability to our community
narratives. This also cannot be done
without acknowledging the tremendous
harms and trauma our communities have
7. Nitasha Taku (2022) “Google’s plan to talk about caste
endured in this time of unabated racialized bias led to ‘division and rancor’.” The Washington Post, 2
disinformation and that healing justice must June.
be at the core of all of our strategies. 8. Jonathan C. Ong (2021) “Southeast Asia’s Disinformation
Crisis: Where the State is the Biggest Bad Actor and
Regulation is a Bad Word.” Items: Insights from the
For example, casteist disinformation, Social Sciences, 12 January.
including arguments that caste ‘does 9. Alia Wong (2018) “The App at the Heart of the Movement
to End Affirmative Action.” The Atlantic, 20 November.
not exist’ or claims that caste equity
sows community divisions or promotes
‘reverse discrimination,’ aim to preserve
dominant caste interests in the South
Asian community and systems of social
hierarchy7. Or, the incitement of Sinophobia
through the racialization of COVID-19 as the
“Chinese virus,” “CCP virus,” or “Kung Flu”
has also circulated within Asian diasporic
groups, drawing on pre-existing geopolitical

8
HOW DOES DISINFORMATION
IMPACT ASIAN & ASIAN
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES?
Asians and Asian Americans, like other of specific language, cultural, and political
communities, may find disinformation in contexts, most social media platforms are
their daily lives, including through social ineffective in countering disinformation.
media platforms and other information To make matters more difficult, Asian and
networks. However, there are several Asian American communities encompass
key factors that differentiate how over 50 languages. Fully understanding the
disinformation impacts our communities diversity of disinformation in Asian American
in comparison to others. communities requires the capacity to
monitor sources in this wide array of
languages and understand linguistic
Problems with the Platforms: nuances. This issue is intensified by the
Firstly, Asian Americans are spread out fact that platforms are less likely to flag
across more platforms, often in-language, in disinformation in non-English languages12,
comparison to other demographics. Some meaning Asian Americans are potentially
of these include Line, Kakao, WhatsApp, being exposed to more false and misleading
WeChat, Weibo, and Viber – which many narratives than the average user.
Asian Americans use as a main source of
news and forum for political discussion10. Multiple Historical, Political, and
Cultural Contexts:
Fully understanding disinformation in Asian
Effectively tracking the variety of
American spaces also requires a knowledge
narratives that may be disseminating of the cultural and political contexts.
is difficult, as a result of the numerous Different patterns and circumstances of
platforms Asian Americans use. migration also mean that new immigrants
come with experiences and cultures
that frame different understandings of
‘democracy’ and ‘government’.
Effectively tracking the variety of narratives
that may be disseminating is difficult, as
People’s lived experiences of survival;
a result of the numerous platforms Asian
memories of geopolitical conflicts; personal
Americans use. For example, information
encounters with different state systems of
originating on a conservative news channel
governance; and economic circumstances
in Vietnam may find its way to a video clip
interface with how they engage politically
on Youtube and news in India may circulate
or how they consume news and information
as a meme on WhatsApp. This issue is
across national boundaries.
compounded by the fact these platforms
heavily utilize private, closed spaces that
These histories and lived experiences
make research and content moderation
undergird people’s political analysis and can
efforts difficult11.
also be exploited. For example, members
of Vietnamese communities have strongly
These in-language platforms also often
connected to anti-Chinese sentiments
have little to no infrastructure to combat
and Trump’s claims of the Democratic
disinformation, and typically face less
Party as socialist during the 2020 elections
public scrutiny to do anything about it, in
which exploited violent histories of Chinese
comparison to social media platforms such
imperialism in the South China Sea13. U.S.
as Facebook. Even mainstream platforms
wars and military intervention in Asia
such as Facebook (owned by Meta along
coupled with propaganda of the U.S. “gift of
with WhatsApp and Instagram) or Twitter,
freedom” 14 and fantasies of the ‘American
which Asian Americans also use, already
Dream’ have also produced immigrant
have relatively weak policies regarding
narratives of gratitude and debt that align
disinformation and are inconsistent in
citizenship and belonging with whiteness15.
enforcing said policies. Additionally, due
to lack of competency and understanding
10
Language Injustice: also exploiting and underpaying content
moderators and workers in Asia.
English language dominance is a huge
problem. One of the main reasons
disinformation is able to disseminate so Online Harassment, Fake
widely in Asian American spaces is often Accounts, and Trolls
because there is a lack or absence of any
The spread of disinformation draws on
reliable information at all, specifically in-
tactics by abusers, including gaslighting,
language. For example, the lack of available
control of resources, retaliation, ostracization
and sufficient language translation and
from social networks, and harassment. This
interpretation for healthcare and other
is about the exertion and maintenance
social services has made it difficult for Asian
of power. For example, actors seeking to
communities to access vaccine information,
preserve power (e.g. dominant caste Hindu
financial relief, and other resources during
nationalists, wealthy Chinese right-wing
the pandemic.
actors, and Asian mens’ rights activists17)
will target organizers from minoritized
Many under-resourced community groups
backgrounds (e.g. Dalit and caste-oppressed
have needed to fill in this gap by making
organizers; Asian American feminists) and
their own in-language health guides
spread false and harmful information about
and materials while also being overtaxed
individuals to delegitimize their expertise
during ongoing crises. With a large portion
and political claims.
of Asian American populations having
limited English proficiency and little to
They may also use digital trolling tactics;
no in-language resources, a vacuum is
harass people’s loved ones and family
created – also allowing bad actors to seize
members; or attack people at their homes
an opportunity16. As mentioned above,
or places of work. In addition to tactics
there is a lack of will by platforms to allocate
of ‘blaming’ and ‘shaming’, problematic
resources for non-English language contexts
narratives may take the form of denial of
and lack of understanding about power
grievances and historical traumas and
beyond U.S. centric frameworks despite
reversing attacks onto those already
platforms operating multinationally and
vulnerable within communities (e.g. claims
of Hinduphobia by caste dominant
actors or ‘reverse racism’).

Additionally, external actors

have created fake accounts
using names and images of
Asian people to perpetuate
racist, anti-immigrant, and
homophobic ideologies.
These accounts also rely
on racist stereotypes about
Asians (see images of recent
accounts using Chinese
names and stereotypes).
The weaponization of Asian-
named handles to foment hostility
against other racial groups is also a
tactic to break racial solidarities.

Disinformation is not just caused by a

few bad individual actors, but a collective
Images from researcher @murphtracks18
endeavor to access and preserve power.
showing examples of fake accounts using
For example, disinformation is also an
Chinese names and stereotypes.
11
industry. As scholars Jonathan Ong and
Jason Vincent A. Cabañes describe in their In the United States, there are also ethnic
2018 study of disinformation campaigns news networks that are distributed
in the Philippines, the widespread uses of nationally and locally for various ethnicities –
fake accounts, professional trolls, and paid often in-language. This ecosystem is limited,
influencers (or “architects of networked however, as a result of a myriad of problems:
disinformation”) also indicate vulnerabilities the monopolization of news sources, the
in political cultures and digital industries nationalization of news, lack of funding,
that incentivize actors financially, politically, and general overlooking of Asian American
and socially19. communities.

Ethnic and Diasporic News Much of the information Asians and Asian
Americans may receive come from online
Networks: sources as a result, due to decreasing
As a result of many Asian Americans often barriers of entry to creating an online
lacking access to any reliable information in- platform. There are various outlets, blogs,
language from mainstream media outlets, and social media accounts that distribute
there has always been a need for diasporic news in-language, as well as those targeting
and ethnic news networks. These media Asian American audiences and focusing
networks are vast, spanning local, regional, on Asian American-specific issues at large.
national, and transnational circulation and Within the online ecosystem, there is a wide
readership and may include print, social breadth of problematic news sources that
media and digital platforms, cable news have arisen with little to no pushback. This
networks, and in-language radio. includes social media accounts, problematic
news websites, influencers and political
Many Asians and Asian Americans consume commentators, and podcasts.
media from outlets in their ‘home countries,’
including in English and in-language. This The documented lack of coverage about
includes potentially thousands of outlets Asians and Asian Americans in mainstream
from across Asia. While many are credible, media and news have left voids filled by
several carry problematic political biases sources and online hubs that promote
and may be financially backed by political coverage of Asian and Asian American news,
parties and factions. lifestyle, and entertainment with a singular
emphasis on ‘pro-Asian’ identity. These
These can be hard to track for researchers spaces foster problematic narratives that
without adequate understanding of local pivot on existing structures of misogyny,
political, social, and cultural contexts. For anti-Black racism, and xenophobia. For
example, an understanding of the Chinese example, coverage on anti-Asian racism by
language news media ecosystem in the sources like Asian Dawn and the Twitter
U.S. (e.g. World Journal, Sing Tao Daily, account @ActiveAsian utilize narrative
International Daily News, Epoch Times) tropes of Black-on-Asian crime.
requires knowledge and analysis of politics
within and across China, Hong Kong, and
Taiwan, such as the relationship to and
10. APIAVote (2022) Asian American Voter Survey.
positions on the Chinese Communist Party 11. Malhotra, 2020
and Taiwanese independence. 12. See also AVAAZ (2020) “How Facebook can Flatten the
Curve of the Coronavirus Infodemic.”
13. See S. Nguyễn et al, 2022
Additionally, political bias across ‘left’ 14. M.T. Nguyen, 2012
and ‘right’ politics is challenging to map 15. See M.T. Nguyen, 2012; Baik, 2015; and Jun, 2011
transnationally: some outlets that might 16. Fang, 2021
on the surface lean left on candidates 17. Aaron Mak (2021) “Men’s Rights Asians” Think This Is
Their Moment.” Slate, 15 September.
and issues in the U.S. might promote 18. @murphtracks (2022) “Fake Asian accounts operated by
conservative and nationalistic interests in Nazis and racists have made a comeback this season....”
their own country. 1 August.
19. Ong and Cabañes, 2018

12
 MICHIGAN (OAKLAND COUNTY):
ELECTORAL IMPACT This county is one of the
wealthiest and most populous
in the state with AAPIs making
Disinformation targeting Asian Americans in the leadup to the up 9% of the population. Indian
Americans make up 31.4% of the
2022 midterm elections and beyond underscores the urgent
AAPI population size in the state.
need to neutralize harmful political propaganda. As outlined
in a 2022 map of battleground counties by Politco, there is a PENNSYLVANIA: The largest
small number of contested regions that will have an impact on Asian American ethnic groups in
electoral outcomes and the balance of power in the country. Pennsylvania are Indian, Chinese,
Asian Americans are an important voter demographic in swing Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino,
states and counties, making it critical to understand the political and Cambodian. From 2010 to
2020, the number of eligible AAPI
narratives resonating in these communities. This map features a voters in Pennsylvania grew by
small sample of demographic data. 24% (compared to a -8% change
statewide over the same period).

NORTH CAROLINA (WAKE

COUNTY): AAPIs make up
5% of the eligible voters. In
the state, the largest Asian
American ethnic groups are
Indian, Chinese, Filipino, and
Vietnamese. During the 2020
elections, 80,366 votes were cast
by Asian American voters—the
margin of victory for Republicans
was by 74,481 votes.

GEORGIA (GWINNETT COUNTY):

AAPIs make up 11% of the eligible
voters. In the Atlanta metro
area, they make up 4.8% of the
total population. In Georgia, the
CALIFORNIA largest Asian American ethnic
(ORANGE COUNTY): groups are Indian, Indian, Korean,
AAPIs make up 23% of the MINNESOTA:
The Hmong Chinese, and Vietnamese. From
eligible voters. In California, 2010 to 2020, the number of
37% of Asian Americans did not community is the largest Asian
American ethnic group in the eligible AAPI voters in Georgia
declare an identification with grew by 36% (compared to a -1%
state. From 2010 to 2020, the
either political party. In the state, change for the statewide eligible
number of eligible AAPI voters in
the largest Asian American Minnesota grew by 28%. voting population over the
ethnic groups include: Chinese, same period). During the 2020
Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, ILLINOIS (DUPAGE COUNTY): elections, 134,281 votes were cast
Korean, and Japanese. AAPIs make up 10% of the by Asian American voters—the
eligible voters. 79% of Asian margin of victory for Democrats
ARIZONA: AAPIs make up 3.6% of American adults in Illinois speak was by 11,779 votes.
the state’s electorate. The largest a language other than English
Asian American ethnic groups at home. In the state, the largest FLORIDA: From 2010 to 2020, the
Asian American ethnic groups number of eligible AAPI voters in
include Filipino, Indian, Chinese,
include are Chinese, Filipino, and Florida grew by 32% (compared
and Vietnamese.
to a 5% change for the statewide
Indian.
eligible voting population over
This map is adapted from Politico’s 2022 the same period). The largest
Battleground Counties with data about TEXAS: Since 2010-2020, AAPI Asian American ethnic groups in
Asian American and Pacific Islander residents have grown 47% and Florida include: Indian, Filipino,
(AAPI) demographics from APIAVote. For currently make up close to 5% of
reference: Chinese, and Vietnamese. During
• Politico Staff (2022) “The 20 counties the state electorate. The largest the 2020 elections, 230,082 votes
that will decide the midterms.” 12 Asian American ethnic groups in were cast by Asian American
July. Texas include Indian, Vietnamese,
• APIAVote (2022) AAPI Voter voters—the margin of victory
Demographics by State. Chinese, Filipino, Korean, and for Republicans was by 371,686
• Asian Americans Advancing Justice Pakistani. In the greater Houston votes (so Asian American voters
(2022) “Fake News and the Growing
Power of Asian American Voters: area, Asian Americans make up would have made up 61.9% of the
What this Means for 2022 Midterm 6.5% of the total population; 5.4% margin of victory).
Elections.” 5 May. in the Dallas metro area.
13
 RESEARCH
The Need for Transnational
Understanding the Asian and
Political Analysis: Asian American disinformation
More capacity is needed for transnational
political analysis to strengthen an Asian landscape requires deepening our
American progressive movement today. The collective knowledge of historical and
revolutionary histories of our movements contemporary formations of power,
have demonstrated the necessity of including:
internationalist politics20.
1. Historical and contemporary forms
While different diasporic groups may of intra-Asian imperialism and
know a lot about U.S. politics or about colonialism (e.g. Japan’s colonial
their specific diasporic contexts, there are rule in East and Southeast Asia to
many growing edges around politics in the Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka),
and across Asia especially given different including how displacement from
and cross-cutting ethno-nationalisms. For state violence and conflict impact
example, understanding the recent election global movement and migration
of Bongbong Marcos Jr. in the Philippines
requires historical grounding, in-depth 2. Nuanced applications of
knowledge of local and transnational political analysis (e.g. global
media networks, and careful untangling forms of Islamophobia and caste
of how and why problematic narratives supremacy while also recognizing
of “authoritarian fantasy”21 circulate. Muslim violence against Hindus in
Additionally, one must consider intra- Bangladesh)
community dynamics and hierarchies and
tensions across Asia and between the U.S. 3. Politics in Asia, including grassroots
and Asia. and electoral politics

It is unrealistic to expect any one 4. U.S. interventions in Asia, including

organization to hold all of the knowledge the ways U.S. war and military
and expertise. However, more robust occupation create racialized narratives
information sharing networks by cultivating of Asians as perpetual threats
relationships of trust and engaging in (e.g. holding space for the reality
ongoing reflexivity in growing our political of authoritarian politics and state
analysis can, and should be built. violence of the Chinese Communist
Party while also unpacking U.S.
political and economic interests and
tensions in China)
20. Bae and Tseng-Putterman, 2020
21. Jonathan Corpus Ong. (2022) “The World Should Be
Worried About a Dictator’s Son’s Apparent Win in the 5. Intersections between technology
Philippines.” TIME Magazine, 10 May. policies, corporations, and
institutions of global governance,
as well as intersections between
technology and other domestic and
international policy terrains (e.g.
immigration exclusion, national
security, sanctions, social welfare, etc).

14
Rearching Mis- and well as narratives targeting Asian Americans
and narratives originating from Asian
Disinformation in Asian and American spaces.
Asian American Communities:
Community groups and organizations Through social listening tools, APIAVote
have been undertaking different forms of identifies highly-engaged posts and key
research and narrative interventions within players to understand the reach and roots
their own diasporic communities, such as of a narrative. They have also identified
media monitoring, conducting community problematic outlets whose websites they
surveys, and creating in-language toolkits analyze manually to identify specific
and platforms. problematic articles, such as Asian Dawn,
Epoch Times, Daily Caller, Breitbart, Post
As outlined above, there are several Millennial, and Gateway Pundit. Filipino
challenges within this research Young Leaders Organization (FYLPRO)
landscape22: combines media monitoring techniques
with community surveys to find culturally
1. Histories of imperialism, colonialism, informed storytelling strategies for narrative
and geopolitical conflicts (e.g. Western changes and intervention.
and inter-Asian imperialisms and U.S.
military intervention and war in Asia) Equality Labs has one of the oldest South
require contextualization of different Asian disinformation research teams in the
layers of power interests and struggles field. Their researchers are a multiracial,
interfaith and inter-caste team. The team
2. Transnational news, media, and social monitors multiple platforms through a
networks require attention to multiple combination of Open Source Intelligence
streams of information across languages, (OSINT) gathering; social media listening
cultures, generations, and geographies tools like Meltwater, Crowdtangle, and
Talkwalker; and custom built tools.
3. Information circulates on closed,
intimate, and private networks such as
messaging applications (e.g. WhatsApp,
WeChat, KaKao) which requires culturally SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS:
informed and relational methods23
MELTWATER (meltwater.com) is a social
4. Linguistic challenges given Anglo- listening tool that is able to examine content
from across social media platforms and
centricity of tech platforms (despite
news outlets, ranging from Facebook to
multinational operations) require
Weibo to CNN. Based on boolean searches, it
contextual language translation and
is able to estimate the number of mentions a
interpretation that account for historical, narrative has, where it is being talked about,
social, cultural, and political factors what are key words associated with the
narrative, and the amount of engagement
5. Individual and organizational risks particular posts receive. It can also be used
of harassment and abuse when to track the salience of a conversation over
documenting and countering harmful time. It has the ability to search in various
information narratives Asian languages.

Groups combine different methods, CROWDTANGLE (crowdtangle.com)

approaches and models to address multiple analyzes and examines limited public
complexities within our different diasporas. content and engagement across Meta
For example, APIAVote utilizes social platforms, Twitter, and Reddit by employing
listening tools (e.g. Meltwater, CrowdTangle) Boolean queries and list curation. The tool
and manual online investigation to monitor allows local relevance searches and searches
and study problematic narratives regarding in over 100 languages, among other features.
voting rights, democracy, and elections, as CrowdTangle is a Meta-owned property.

15
Equality Lab’s researchers come from
multiple disciplines, including data
scientists, social media listeners, cyber TYPES OF DISINFORMATION:
Excerpted from UNHCR’s Using Social Media
security specialists, and trauma-informed in Community-Based Protection, Factsheet #4:
somatic therapists. As a digital safety Types of Misinformation and Disinformation
provider for grassroots movements in the
U.S. and South Asia, Equality Labs also Fabricated Content: Completely false
partners with over 50 community groups content
who share information with our team to
build community resilience and safety. Manipulated Content: Genuine information
or imagery that has been distorted, e.g. a
Unique to Equality Lab’s process is a sensational headline or populist ‘click bait’
holistic approach to disinformation and
cyberattacks which often go hand in Imposter Content: Impersonation of
hand against community leaders and genuine sources, e.g. using the branding of
organizations. Because of this, Equality an established agency
Labs prioritizes building racial, gender, and
caste equity amongst their researchers Misleading Content: Misleading information,
while also ensuring the team has training e.g. comment presented as fact
and certifications in trauma-informed False Context: Factually accurate content
approaches, transformative justice, safety combined with false contextual information,
and risk assessment, OSINT, and social e.g. when the headline of an article does not
media and data analytics training.
reflect the content
In addition to quantitative analysis of Satire and Parody: Humorous but false
narratives, different researchers and stories passed off as true. There is no
organizations use qualitative, participatory, intention to harm but readers may be fooled
and multi-method approaches. For example,
media studies scholar and AADT Research False Connections: When headlines, visuals
Facilitator Dr. Rachel Kuo is developing a or captions do not support the content
project using archival research, community
workshops, oral histories, and focus groups Sponsored Content: Advertising or PR
to map information across intergenerational, disguised as editorial content
multilingual, and transnational media and Propaganda: Content used to manage
information networks24. attitudes, values and knowledge

At the University of Washington-Seattle, Error: A mistake made by established new

Sarah Nguyen, alongside Dr. Rachel agencies in their reporting
Moran, uses focus groups and interviews
to examine misinformation in Vietnamese New technologies including artificial
diaspora communities25. intelligence (AI) systems have also given
rise to the production, manipulation, and
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst modification of data and multimedia
FACT CHAMP team, led by Dr. Jonathan through algorithms and other automated
Corpus Ong, brings together a team of means to mislead or change original
communication researchers, historians, meaning.
public policy experts, and computer
scientists to closely monitor narratives
related to #StopAAPIHate. Informed by
participatory and community-engaged
research principles and using qualitative 22. S. Nguyễn et al, 2022
and quantitative methods, their team 23. Malhotra, 2020
24. Rachel Kuo (2022) Transnational Information Systems
maps out social media accounts peddling 25. Sarah Nguyễn and Rachel (2021) “Early findings from
misleading yet persuasive messages that explorations into the Vietnamese misinformation crisis.”
fan the flames of interracial division and pro- Center for an Informed Public. 21 June.
policing narratives. 16
 NARRATIVE TRENDS
Common Themes in Asian American Communities:
Asian Americans come in contact with many of the same disinformation
narratives that other communities do — strategic narratives used to
maintain existing regimes of power and preserve particular political
interests. However, there are sometimes narratives that either are directly
targeted towards Asian Americans, resonate more strongly with Asian
Americans, and/or pivot on racist narratives about Asian Americans.

Additionally, dialogue in the U.S. may draw upon politics from Asian
nations and vice versa. Different ethnic groups may be exposed to specific
narratives related to the communities they are a part of. For example,
there is a higher level of anti-President Xi Jinping content in Chinese and
Vietnamese diasporic spaces versus others. These narratives are forms of
‘identity propaganda’ that target and exploit identity-based differences (e.g.
race, ethnicity, caste, religion, nation)26.

These narratives span three key themes that should be accounted for by
researchers and organizers:

1 Using Asians as ‘wedges’ against other communities of color:

Narrative strategies and narrow interests that encourage assimilating
into and gaining power from whiteness as a way to ‘overcome’
exclusion leverage Asian experiences of racialization to pit Asians
against other communities. Key examples may include anti-
affirmative action positions that decrease educational access for
other communities or positions that promote increased policing as a
response to anti-Asian violence.

2 Exploiting internal divides in Asian communities: Hierarchies of

class, caste, religion, ethnicity, immigration status and other markers
of internal difference can be exploited to promote interests that hurt
those most vulnerable in our communities.

3 Weaponization of current and historical traumas: As Asians and

Asian Americans experience different forms of racialized violence,
these experiences can be co-opted and weaponized to further racist,
nationalistic, and casteist interests.

17
The following are examples of by specific ethnicity reveal stark differences,
problematic narratives targeted such as a $75,000 difference between the
towards Asians and Asian Americans: median incomes of Indian Americans and
Burmese Americans28.
ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION & “REVERSE
RACISM”: Affirmative action is a set Consequently, some communities,
of procedures designed to eliminate predominantly Chinese immigrant
discrimination among applicants, remedy communities, have opposed data
prior discrimination, and prevent future disaggregation bills, claiming them to be
discrimination. These types of procedures “racist” and promote segregation27. The
are often found in universities and other narratives also promote the belief that data
schools, benefitting many students of color. disaggregation would hurt their children’s
chances of getting into top schools.
While these types of policies have assisted
Asian and Asian American students, there CASTE ERASURE & “UNITY”: Similar to
are some who oppose affirmative action by ‘aggregation not segregation,’ the ongoing
claiming the policies unfairly disadvantage erasure of caste in South Asian diasporic
them. Narratives on “reverse racism” against communities relies on calls for ‘unity’
Asian and Asian American communities and to maintain ongoing caste oppression.
racist remarks about Black and Latino/a/x Attacks against caste-oppressed organizers
communities have been used to oppose use claims that bringing up caste causes
affirmative action. political divides in the community reverses
and erases experiences of oppression.
These narratives have circulated widely
to promote Chinese right-wing agendas, PLACING BLAME FOR ANTI-ASIAN
including partnerships with Edward Blum VIOLENCE & OTHER SOCIETAL WOES ON
and his organization Students for Fair BLACK & LATINO/A/X COMMUNITIES:
Admissions in a lawsuit against Harvard; Some within Asian and Asian American
and conservative formations such as communities believe that the real threat of
the Silicon Valley Chinese Association to anti-Asian violence comes from Black and
oppose California’s SCA-5. An example Latino/a/x communities, despite extensive
of an intervention against this narrative research showing this to be untrue30.
includes VietFactCheck’s article falsifying
the claim that affirmative action hurts Asian This racist sentiment goes beyond just
Americans27. the recent uptick in anti-Asian violence;
it extends to blaming other communities
CLASS POLITICS & OPPOSITION TO DATA of color for crime rates, the economy,
DISAGGREGATION: Narratives opposing and more. It also extends to blaming
data disaggregation campaigns pivot on other communities of color for their own
class and ethnic hierarchies within Asian challenges and status – despite complicated
and Asian American communities. Currently, histories of discrimination and oppression
most statistics and figures regarding Asian and current systems in place.
and Asian American groups (e.g. income,
education access, healthcare) aggregate COVID-19, VACCINE DISINFORMATION:
all of the many ethnic groups together Disinformation about COVID-19 and their
despite different social and economic corresponding vaccines, like with other
conditions and needs. This data often paints communities, run rampant within Asian and
a misleading picture. Asian American spaces. These narratives
include, but are not limited to, claims such
For example, an aggregated Asian American as the vaccines are worse than COVID-19 (in
median income may appear higher than some cases killing people), COVID-19 was
the national average, making it difficult manufactured by the Chinese government,
for communities to advocate for social there are “concentration camps” for those
welfare programs and resources. However, who do not take the vaccine, and COVID-19
disaggregated data about median incomes is used to control the citizenry.

18
VOTER SUPPRESSION & ELECTION individuals, organizations, or ideas as being
FRAUD CONSPIRACY THEORIES: Election- “communist” or “socialist” in order to incite
related disinformation, including election fear and anger towards them.
fraud conspiracy theories regarding the
2020 election, QAnon, Antifa, voting-by- ANTI-CRITICAL RACE THEORY: Critical
mail, and voter machines, can be found race theory (CRT) is a school of thought
within Asian and Asian American spaces, that examines the intersection of race,
particularly within the past few years. There society, and law in the United States and
is a belief among some that election fraud to challenge limitations to mainstream
is widespread and perpetuated by the racial justice approaches, such as lack of
Democratic Party, as pushed by right-wing intersectionality in anti-discrimination
and far-right entities. and gender-based violence policies29. Far-
right provocateurs have been pushing the
Bad actors will often amplify specific claim CRT is being taught in K-12 schools
incidents of fraud or election tampering, and being used to indoctrinate students
especially if it's related to a left-leaning into “Marxist” ideology, make them hate
individual, to sow doubt into U.S. elections the United States, and sow division among
systems and the American left. People’s them by race.
lack of knowledge on the electoral process
and lack of language access can also be Despite CRT not being taught in K-12
exploited to misinform them on how the schools, lessons and measures addressing
registration, voting, and tallying processes racism, including curriculum on U.S. history,
work to make it appear U.S. elections have become controversial as a result. Some
systems are ripe for fraud and manipulation. Asians and Asian Americans have compared
This includes, but is not limited to, topics CRT to the Cultural Revolution and their
such as voting early, voting-by-mail, the use concept of Communism in general, and
of voting machines, and ballot collecting. have taken part in protesting against the
mention of race in school curriculums.
The “Big Lie,” the belief that former
President Donald Trump rightfully won ANTI-FEMINIST SENTIMENT: Misogynistic,
the 2020 Presidential Election, is a direct queer- and transphobic speech also
result of the build-up from these narratives, circulates. For example, among second
and this conspiracy theory continues to generation Asian American men, there
drive an alarming number of Asians and has been an alarming rise in anti-feminist
Asian Americans to distrust and attack the sentiment and toxic masculinity in recent
electoral system and American democracy. years. Or, as Equality Labs found in a 2019
study on Facebook and violent speech,
An intervention by APIAVote includes over 25% of the posts were queerphobic
pushing out accurate election information and transphobic and 12% of the posts made
(e.g. deadlines and other important dates; direct reference to rape32.
emphasizing voting rights by states);
repeatedly circulating content emphasizing 26. Reddi et al, 2021
how voting-by-mail is safe and secure; and 27. Viet Fact Check, Does Affirmative Action Hurt Asian
highlighting how sham election reviews Americans?
have garnered no evidence of fraud. One 28. Pew Research Center (2018) “Income Inequality in the
U.S. Is Rising Most Rapidly Among Asians.”
key strategy is not responding directly to 29. Hansi Lo Wang (2017) “‘Racist Bill’? Chinese Immigrants
specific narratives, but to amplify counter- Protest Effort To Collect More Asian-American Data.”
narratives repeatedly. NPR. 5 August.
30. Kimmy Yam (2021) “Viral images show people of color
as anti-Asian perpetrators. That misses the big picture.”
ANTI-COMMUNIST, ANTI-SOCIALIST NBC News, 15 June. ​​
NARRATIVES: Misleading anti-communist 31. Jacey Fortin (2021) “Critical Race Theory: A Brief History.”
and anti-socialist narratives are widespread, The New York Times, 8 November.
but have a particular appeal to those in 32. Equality Labs (2019) “Facebook India Report.”
33. Siu and Chun, 2020; Asian Americans Advancing Justice
diaspora communities that were affected (2021) “Written Statement for Democratic Member
by authoritarian governments such as Roundtable, Researching while Chinese American:
in China, Vietnam, or North Korea. These Ethnic Profiling, Chinese American Scientists and a
narratives typically paint certain policies, New American Brain Drain.” Submitted to U.S. House
of Representatives House Committee on Oversight and
Reform Subcommittee of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. June 30.
Combating Anti-Asian Violence virus was “started or created in or by the
Chinese government.” This has led to
& Disinformation: numerous racist terms such as “Kung Flu”
Asian Americans are not only exposed to and “Wuhan Virus” – which have been
disinformation, but are increasingly the used to discriminate against Asians and
subject of mis- and disinformation as well. Asian Americans by blaming them for the
These types of narratives include: pandemic, leading to verbal and physical
harassment and violence as well as mental
CREATING CONFLICT BETWEEN ASIANS and emotional distress.
AND OTHER COMMUNITIES OF COLOR:
Some problematic actors try to sow division As Equality Labs has documented in a
among Asians and Asian Americans 2020 report, there was also Islamophobic
and other communities of color, such as disinformation about Indian Muslims as
placing blame for anti-Asian violence and carriers of the virus (‘Coronajihad’), such as
other societal woes on Black and Latino/ memes combining disturbing imagery of
a/x communities. For example, far-right suicide bombers with the virus. Originating
provocateur Andy Ngo and Twitter accounts in India, these memes circulated to the
such as @ActiveAsian are currently utilizing U.S. with Muslims reporting increased
the uptick in anti-Asian violence to do this, harassment at some mosques.
by blaming mainly Black communities for
these attacks. These narratives can also CLAIMING ASIAN AMERICANS AS
be prevalent in mainstream news, where ‘FOREIGN ENEMIES’: Claims that Asian
spectacles of violence pivot on racial conflict. Americans are actually loyal to foreign
governments is a long-standing trope.
There are also instances where problematic Some contemporary disinformation claims
actors highlight Asian Americans to push pivoting on tensions between the U.S. and
problematic narratives against other China include targeting Chinese people in
communities. Different groups may be the U.S. as loyal to the Chinese government
exposed to specific anti-Asian American and racializing them as potential spies33.
narratives related to the communities
they are a part of. For example, there have Asians and Asian Americans have often
been instances of problematic bad actors been the target of unrightful investigations
claiming “Asians are white-adjacent and do and racism due to perceived ties to the
not care about Black people.” Chinese Communist Party, even if this
is not true or misrepresented. By tying
As another example, some problematic someone to the Chinese Communist Party,
actors have utilized a whitewashed version this undermines their credibility and paints
of the “Rooftop Koreans’’ narrative as an them as “communist.” These claims are
anti-Black and pro-gun response to the tied to longer histories of Asians of different
uprisings of summer 2020. Glorifying armed ethnicities as “perpetual foreigners” and
Korean Americans defending their shops enemies (e.g. Japanese incarceration during
during the 1992 Los Angeles uprisings not WWII; South Asians as “terrorists” after 9/11).
only papers over the history of Soon Ja Du
shooting Black teenager Latasha Harlins to CLAIMING ASIAN AMERICANS ARE
‘defend’ her store from the perceived theft “COMMUNIST.” Similar to tying Asians or
of orange juice, but also de-legitimizes Black Asian Americans to the Chinese Communist
liberation movements. Party, anyone with a vague association
to a communist or formerly communist
PLACING BLAME FOR COVID-19 ON ASIAN country and is disliked by bad actors, may
AMERICANS: The COVID-19 pandemic be a victim of being labeled “communist”
has caused a large uptick in anti-Asian in order to discredit and negatively portray
violence, due to some people’s belief the them.
20
CASE STUDIES:
PROBLEMATIC NARRATIVES
 CASE: SUPPRESSION OF DISSENT
IN SIKH COMMUNITIES
Censorship and Suppression of to completely overhaul an agricultural
industry concentrated heavily in the Punjab.
Farmers’ Protests in 2020-2021: In solidarity with these farmers, Sikh and
Sikhs are a minority faith-based community Punjabi Americans across the world––
originating in India with a truly global including in dozens of US cities––also
diaspora. Contemporary disinformation protested and organized36.
about Sikh communities is consistently tied
to decades-ago agitation for
‘Khalistan,’ an independent Sikh
state, in the wake of the partition
of British India. The Indian
government addressed this with
a lowest-common-denominator
approach to rooting out a small
minority of violent agitators:
using the institutions and
calendar of Sikhism itself.

In 1984, the Indian government

conducted Operation Blue
Star: a full-blown military raid
on the holiest site in Sikhism,
Harmandir Sahib (AKA the
Golden Temple) in Amritsar,
deliberately conducted on one
of the holiest days in the Sikh Photo Credit: Screenshot from VICE News (2021) “The Women Behind the
calendar and with a number of Indian Farmers Protest.” 8 February. Courtesy of SALDEF
fatalities disputed by the Indian
government to this day.
While these protests were overwhelmingly
Decades later, the Indian government peaceful, they were met by excessive force.
continues to use accusations of sympathy Over 135 protestors were killed in the streets
for the cause of Khalistan as a carte blanche of Delhi37. The Indian government enforced
to recruit other large-scale entities like internet blockages38 and the suspension
governments or technology companies of mobile communications at/around
into their censorship of and misinformation protestor sites, and even froze the assets of
about the Sikh community34. The most Amnesty International39 after it denounced
effective tool for the Indian government the human rights violations of the response,
in this pursuit is to exploit an information forcing the organization to cease all services
asymmetry to paint innocuous things like and aid in the nation.
Sikh religious imagery and the Punjabi
language as the tools of the trade for Technology companies were fully
terrorist organizations. complicit in the censorship. Supporters
organized around several hashtags
The playbook came to life once more including #KisaanMajdoorEktaZindabad,
in 2020 when farmers across India #KisaanEktaZindabad, #FarmersProtest,
protested between November 2020 and #Sikh, and #Sikhism, since Sikhs
November 2021 in what was the largest overwhelmingly occupy the agricultural
demonstration in the nation’s modern sector in India.
history35. The protest movement spun up
after the announcement of the Indian However, many of these hashtags were
Agricultural Acts, a set of laws designed blocked, including #Sikh, multiple times
in 2020 alone40. The Indian government
22
 Photo Credit:
@tera.fufad (2021)
Instagram, 26 Jan,
instagram.com/p/CKf-
6hb2LKlA

Many popular U.S.-based accounts that frequently posted using

these hashtags were prevented from livestreaming.

successfully pressured Twitter to remove the Farmers’ Protests and to depict Sikhs
over 500 accounts related to Sikhism and as separatists and terrorists without any
the Farmers’ Protests41. repercussions48. Some vigilante groups
continued to perpetuate this information on
More than 150 tweets related to the protests Meta platforms, including WhatsApp, and
were removed, also due to the pressure incite violence against minority groups49.
from the Indian government. One of the
organizations was @WorldSikhOrg, an Even today, a year on from the protests
account based and run outside of India; ending and nearly four decades after
they received an email from Twitter Legal Operation Blue Star, the Indian government
outlining the request from Indian Law continues to use its leverage to punish those
Enforcement42. The Indian government even who would truthfully discuss 1984 or the
threatened to jail Facebook, WhatsApp, contemporary issues facing Sikhs50.
and Twitter employees who don’t comply
with their demands to censor the Farmers’ The Sikh American Legal Defense and
Protests43. Education Fund (SALDEF) has been working
to build leadership and capacity in the Sikh
Concurrent with their efforts to help the American community for 25 years. SALDEF
Indian government suppress the voices continues to work to create English- and
of the protesting farmers, technology Punjabi-language counter-narratives to this
companies amplified pro-government harmful information rooted in racist and
propaganda. Disinformation that we nationalistic ideologies.
have noted in the form of misleading and
manipulated content is still circulating on SALDEF relies on networks of family
social media44. Specific examples include and friends in the community to share
but are not limited to: Islamphobic content new examples of problematic narratives,
on Facebook and Twitter falsely identifying particularly of Punjabi-language
protestors as ‘Muslim extremists,’45 the use disinformation spreading via WhatsApp.
of old photos to falsely depict the Farmers’ SALDEF also continues to press leadership
Protests as a separatist movement46, and a at these technology companies for
video from 2019 going viral as it depicted accountability around these decisions to
the farmers’ protests as being about punish Sikhs globally despite the requests
agitating for Khalistan45. resulting from politically motivated, anti-
democratic impulses.
Government officials used Twitter to
spread disinformation about the intent of
23
 CASE: CHINESE RIGHT-WING
DISINFORMATION IN THE U.S.
This section has been adapted from reports We use the term “Chinese Tea Party” as
including ChangeLab’s (2019) “The Chinese Tea a political identity to describe the “new”
Party and the Rise of the New Chinese Right Chinese right wing that draws primarily
Wing in the United States” and the Chinese from a more recent wave of immigrants.
for Affirmative Action’s (CAA) 2021 digital
Unlike the prior wave, it includes immigrants
engagement convening.
from mainland China and is not necessarily
driven by anti-China sentiment or Christian
The election of Donald Trump in 2016 and
belief.
the continued rise of white nationalism
has happened concurrently with renewed
The new Chinese right wing is a well-
ethnic nationalism, explicit racialized
organized and well-resourced group
violence, and xenophobia.
that uses ethnic (Chinese) nationalism
to manipulate the community, especially
The “Chinese Tea Party (“CTP”),” the new
wealthy and highly-educated Chinese
Chinese right wing (CRW) that largely draws
immigrants who immigrated to the United
from the Chinese immigrant community
States after 2000, to influence policy making
has become more emboldened. This
and elections. Their work threatens our
highly organized vocal minority with a
vision of a just and inclusive multiracial
political agenda has used aggressive and
democracy.
inflammatory “Tea Party”-like tactics and
has used WeChat (a popular Chinese social
A key tactic employed by the CTP is the
media platform with over 1 billion active
airing of phantom grievances to sow division
users) to organize the Chinese immigrant
and the furtherance of an “us against them”
community.
mentality. For example, the CTP uses the
term “racist” against any agenda that does
This agenda promotes a politics of blame
not align with its own goal of privilege for
and grievance that target people of color,
Chinese elites. This aggressive use of the
the homeless, and other immigrants, in
concept serves to mislead large segments
order to benefit themselves. They choose
of the Chinese immigrant community
divisive issues such as affirmative action,
by calling policies “racist” when they are
data disaggregation, sanctuary cities, and
actually a means to promote greater equity.
support for the homeless. They have also
used WeChat to spread misinformation
within the Chinese immigrant community.
To fully understand Chinese right wing
Although there has always been disinformation requires analyzing the
conservatism within the Chinese immigrant role of WeChat.
community, this new force has emerged in
a period of transnational global capital and
has different characteristics. For example, in To fully understand the dynamics of the
the post-1965 period, Chinese conservatism CRW requires analyzing the role of WeChat,
stemmed primarily from professional and the “one app that rules them all” with
highly educated immigrants from Taiwan an estimated 19 million daily users in the
and Hong Kong who were distinctly anti- United States as of August 2020. WeChat is
China and anti-Communist. Many were also a primary source of information amongst
religious, primarily Christian. Chinese-language speakers, especially
people from Mainland Chinese diasporas.
24
 For comparison, WhatsApp is more
popular in Singapore and Hong Kong and
Several key issues by the CRW at a LINE in Taiwan. In addition to being a text
state and national level include: messaging platform, WeChat functions as a
platform for large group social connection,
DATA DISAGGREGATION/CENSUS: resource distribution, and news—think
The CTP has also called data Facebook Messenger and Groups, Paypal,
disaggregation a form of “racial profiling and multiple news and entertainment
against Chinese,” “a version of the aggregation sites all on one platform.
Chinese Exclusion Act,” “segregation,”
an “Asian registry,” and “Asian profiling,” WeChat’s structure was initially designed
underscoring the vicious, incendiary to accommodate small group mobile
fear-inducing tactics used by the
messaging. Chat groups were based on
CTP. There is a resounding sentiment
real-life relationships and invite-only. But
that breaking down Asian Americans
these days, even though the groups are still
by countries of origins is a means of
technically private, chat rooms may have
“singling out” Chinese Americans and a
as many as 500 members, and members
tactic to punish Chinese Americans for
may be unverified. In addition, the use of
their relative success in the future.
public accounts — which operate like news
outlets, with the ability to post their own
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: Opposition to
articles — has played a key role in spreading
affirmative action has been a key factor
right-wing messaging and ideology. Articles
in mobilizing the CRW, and the defeat
of SCA-5 in California, which would have and messages are posted, re-posted, and
reinstated affirmative action policies then disappear without a trace. Opinions
in California schools, has been largely masquerade as facts, and individuals as
credited to the organizing of Chinese organizations.
Americans. The CRW has supported
lawsuits like that of Students for Fair Even in non-political groups like those for
Admissions brought against Harvard. local Chinese supermarkets, individuals will
share and disseminate right-wing content
CRITICAL RACE THEORY: Most recently, and use them as spaces to organize others.
alongside other right wing bad actors, Beyond WeChat, Chinese language YouTube
the CRW has come out against “critical accounts are also a site for disinformation
race theory,” making false comparisons spread, including by actors such as the
between their skewed version of the Falun Gong, a controversial religious group
nuanced legal concept and the Chinese with right-wing affiliations that also runs the
Cultural Revolution. The CRW relies Epoch Times.
on exploitation of fears, lived traumas,
and cultural ignorance to manipulate
vulnerable communities.
Photo: The Xinsheng
Each of these issues can be linked back Project (formerly
to education, with opposition to each the WeChat Project)
dominated by fears. For example, they provides bilingual
may believe policies like affirmative narrative interventions
action will hurt their childrens’ chances to the most widely
circulated issues on
of being admitted into top universities
WeChat and beyond,
or that learning “critical race theory” will including affirmative
impact the quality of education that action, policing, systemic
their children receive. racism, homelessness,
and more.

25
CASE: CASTE AND RELIGIOUS FAULTLINES
IN SOUTH ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
Caste and Disinformation: From cultural wars over caste to fights
South Asian American communities are over U.S diplomacy in South Asia, these
one of the largest growing Asian American networks aggressively advance Hindu
communities with over 5.7 million people nationalist identity and policies throughout
living in the U.S. While racialized as ‘South the diaspora. They also promote the
Asians’ in U.S., the category of South Asian successes ofThe Bharatiya Janata Party
masks internal community tensions that fall (The BJP) which is led by Indian Prime
across faultlines of caste, religion, language, Minister Narendra Modi and is the ruling
geography, and past historical trauma. party of India. They do this through large
These faulitnes become significant in events like Howdy Modi and through
understanding how disinformation works for thousands of Whatsapp and Telegram
South Asian communities. groups across North America. With roots
in caste-privileged networks in India and
Typically, South Asian communities across the diaspora, it is one of the largest
have organized in solidarity with other and best funded religious ethnonationalist
communities of color by expressing support disinformation networks in the world today.
for immigration justice, healthcare access,
environmental justice, and voter rights. Policies enacted by the BJP have included
However in recent years due to the rise of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),
religious ethnonationalism in many South which creates a religious based criterion for
Asian countries, these faultlines have citizenship and threatens to denaturalize
become active sites of friction and conflict in and detain hundreds of millions of Indian
the community. Right wing networks inside minorities. In the 2016 and 2020 elections,
the U.S. and in South Asia fracture political Indian American Hindu nationalists found
unity due to religious ethnonationlism and similarities between Donald Trump and
casteist interests. Understanding these Modi, finding resonance between ‘India first’
dynamics are key to build unity in the face of slogans and ‘Make America Great Again.’
these forces.
The geopolitical dimensions of these
One large area of disinformation stems from narratives in India take on a new
within the Indian American community, significance in South Asian American
specifically those propagating the interests communities. Right-wing Hindu nationalist
of Hindu nationalism. Hindu nationalism is a dominant caste Indian Americans push for
religious ethnonationlist movement whose positions counter to the broader South Asian
goal is to establish India as an ethno-Hindu community as well as Black, Indigenous,
nation state. and communities of color. For example,
under the Trump administration, several
Indian American organizations campaigned
for policy positions designed to sever Indian
Americans from larger coalitions focused on
comprehensive immigration reform.

Groups like the Republican Hindu Coalition

(RHC), Immigration Voice, and the Skilled
Immigrants in America Coalition all
supported policies for increasing H1-B visas
for Indian Americans and expediting green
card processing in exchange for higher
processing fees that would pay for the
Images showing Hindu nationalist support for
Donald Trump 26
 candidates aligned with nationalist visions
for U.S. diplomacy towards India. These
Indian Americans are pivotal communities,
as are their Chinese, Vietnamese, and
Cuban counterparts, that can be a deciding
factor in turning purple districts red or blue
based on alignment with their nationlalist
agendas.

Many South Asian diasporic communities

use WhatsApp (owned by Meta) for both
social and political connection, especially
through group chats.

Image of the Republican Hindu Coalition’s WhatsApp is popular among immigrant

support for merit-based immigration, photo communities because of its popularity
posted on Brietbart, a far-right news site abroad. India’s user base is currently Meta’s
largest market. Groups such as the Overseas
proposed wall at the U.S. Mexican border51. Friends of the BJP, the U.S. arm of the Indian
They played on model minority narratives of right-wing, has spread massive amounts
emphasizing ‘skill,’ coming to the U.S. via the of nationalistic, Islamophobic, and casteist
‘right’ means, and defining who is or is not disinformation on personal, professional,
‘deserving’ (see image). and religious WhatsApp groups. Casteist
groups also use threatening tactics of
While Hindu nationalists represent the right- harassment, intimidation, and abuse
wing within Indian American communities, to silence dissent that challenge Hindu
it is important to also note they have ties to nationalism and dominant caste hegemony.
both Republican and Democratic parties,
and also mobilize nationalistic narratives The common usage of WhatsApp for bigotry
under the guise of promoting progress and and dangerous speech has been well
equality. documented in South Asia during recent
elections in India and Pakistan. Narratives
These narratives spread across multiple spread on WhatsApp have led to offline
social media platforms. For example, viral violence, including mob lynching against
ad campaigns from the Republican Hindu Dalits and Muslims and calls for genocidal
Coalition received millions of impressions violence against Indian Muslims and other
on Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter, and religious minorities52. This rhetoric has been
over 1 billion worldwide views, including
on major media channels in the U.S. and
other countries. These media pipelines
are supported by Steve Bannon, who is
the Honorary Co-Chair of the Republican
Hindu Coalition (see image). In many of
these campaigns, Democratic candidates
would be targeted by Republican dominant
caste Hindu organizers for taking positions
antithetical to the interest of nationalist
movements in India.

This is crucial to understanding electoral

disinformation in our community as
transnational—what is considered Image: Youtube clip of Steve Bannon
acknowledging contribution of RHC in the
domestically driven disinformation is aimed
2016 election of Donald Trump
at influencing foreign policy and pushing for
27
imported to the United States where these WHAT IS CASTE?
right-wing dominant caste Hindu actors
direct attacks at electeds, activists, and Caste is a system of religiously codified
community organizers who call attention to oppression that affects over 1 billion
India’s state violence. people across the world. While originally
established in Hindu scripture, there are
Another important theme of disinformation casteist practices found within all South
in the South Asian community is dominant Asian religious communities, including
caste Indian American Hindu organizations in Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, and
who weaponize the term “hinduphobia” to other faith traditions.
silence and gaslight Dalit organizers and
caste-oppressed communities in order Practices of exclusion based on one’s
to mantain dominant caste power and caste status limit access to resources
impunity in the South Asian American like education and land access, such
communities. as in the case of Adivasi communities
who are Indigenous to South Asia, Dalit
communities (formerly known as the
The use of this term by dominant caste
“Untouchable” people), and Bahujan
Hindus exploits current anti-discrimination
(collective term for caste-oppressed folks
policies on technology platforms and U.S.
across parts of the subcontinent).
institutions, which lack caste competency
and in-depth contextual understandings of While legally prohibited in South
power. By labeling caste-oppressed leaders Asia, caste apartheid continues to
as “hinduphobic”, this not only decenters manifest across institutions both in the
caste-oppressed people’s religious freedom subcontinent and its diaspora. Caste
and the right to organize, but also sets up impacts over 1.9 billion South Asians
disconcerting false equivalencies. and 5.4 million South Asian Americans
today. It is a defining axis of inequity in
These false equivalencies suggest Hindus our community and is one of the most
are suppressed and under attack if exploited faultlines for South Asian
caste oppressed people were to receive American disinformation. Caste-oppressed
protections against caste discrimination. people have some of the highest rates of
Akin to claims of ‘reverse racism’ to curtail discrimination in the U.S. among Asian
affirmative action or incite moral panics Americans: 1 in 4 facing physical and
around critical race theory, claims of verbal assault; 1 in 3 facing educational
Hinduphobia (and also ‘anti-India’ rhetoric) discrimination; and 2 in 3 facing workplace
attack caste-oppressed organizers by discrimination53.
reversing the roles of victimhood and also
denying harm and/or the existence of caste. Equality Labs views countering South
Asian disinformation as key to building
As the movement for caste equity grows power and works with partners to identify
in the United States, we anticipate this and innoculate South Asian communities
from harmful narratives. Equality Labs
potent form of South Asian disinformation
also experiments with new strategies
to continue to target vulnerable caste
rooted in trauma-centered approaches,
oppressed leaders and organizations. This
healing, and transformative justice.
could also become an electoral theme in Redefining South Asian American political
districts where South Asians are based. identity and finding paths towards dignity
and equity for all requires centering those
who are caste-oppressed. This ensures our
access to democratic processes are not
derailed by disinformation designed to
dilute political power and agency.

28
34. Reuters Staff (2018) “India gives Trudeau list of suspected
Sikh separatists in Canada.” Reuters, 22 February.
35. BBC News (2021) “Farm laws: India farmers end protest
after government accepts demands.” BBC, 9 December.
36. Economic Times (2020) “Sikh-Americans hold protest
rallies in US cities against farm laws in India.” 6
December.
37. Kapil Kajal (2021) “Fifth farmer dies by suicide at Tikri;
death toll over 135, say unions.” The Federal, 21 January.
38. Esha Mitra and Julia Hollingsworth (2021) “India cuts
internet around New Delhi as protesting farmers clash
with police.” CNN, 2 February.
39. Arshad R. Zagar (2020) “India freezes Amnesty
International bank accounts after reports critical of
government.” CBS News, 30 September
40. Yungkyo Kim (2020) “Instagram blocks #sikh hashtag for
the second time.” Asian Am News, 1 December.
41. Karan Deep Singh (2021) “Twitter Blocks Accounts in
India as Modi Pressures Social Media.” New York Times,
10 February
42. Neeta Garcha (2020) “Online censorship claims shadow
Indian farmer solidarity protests.” December 19.
43. Wall Street Journal (2021) “India Threatens Jail for
Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter Employees.” 5 March/
44. The Quint, ‘We Know Why We Are Protesting’: Farmers
Respond to Fake News.”
45. Alexander Capron (2021) “Why are protesting farmers in
India being labelled ‘violent Muslim infiltrators’? 27 Jan.
46. BOOM Live.
47. Aqib Pathan (2020) “Old video from UK viral as farmers
raising pro-Pak and Khalistan slogans during protests.”
Alt News, 30 November.
48. Kapil Kajal (2020) “Protesting farmers counter
propaganda, fake news with IT cell, newsletter.” The
Federal, 23 December.
49. Mohammad Ali (2020) “The Rise of a Hindu Vigilante in
the Age of WhatsApp and Modi.” Wired, 14 April.
50. Amaan Bali (2022) “Amaan Bali: Censored For
Supporting The Sikh Nation & Questioning The Indian
State.” Baaz News, 30 June.
51. Thenmozhi Soundarajan (2018) “Why Are Some
South Asian Immigrants Offering to Pay for
Trump’s Wall?” Rewire News, 14 Feb.
52. Mukherjee, 2020
53. Equality Labs (2016) “Caste in the United
States”.

Images: Gendered
disinformation about ‘non-
resident immigrant men’ (NRI)
from a mens’ rights group in
the form of physical flyers
passed out during an Indian
concert at a major venue.
28
CASE: “MEN’S RIGHTS ASIANS” AND
THE RISE OF TOXIC MASCULINITY
MRAsians and Anti-Feminism: gymnast Suni Lee, actress Constance Wu,
Research about Asian American mis- and author Celeste Ng, writer Jenn Fang59, and
disinformation often focuses on first- activist Eileen Huang have all spoken out
generation immigrants, particularly how about being the victims of such online
limited English-language proficiency; attacks.
lack of access to in-language and credible
information; and minimal understanding of Within the MRAsian community, there is
American history and culture lead to belief entrenched anger surrounding the idea that
in certain false narratives. Asian American women receive preferential
treatment in comparison to Asian American
The recent rise of the so-called “Men’s men. Certainly, centuries of emasculation of
RIght’s Asians” or “MRAsians,54” a subculture Asian American men, furthered by harmful
of anti-feminist Asian American men, media depictions, degrading stereotypes,
draws attention to another aspect of Asian and antimiscengenartion laws (which
American disinformation. Many MRAsians banned interracial marraiges) should
were likely born and educated in the United not be minimized. But, in a society that
States, speak English as their first language, hypersexualizes Asian American women,
and might even consider themselves the MRAsian community has erroneously
progressive. equated the perceived sexual desirability
and “proximinity to whiteness” of Asian
Misogyny, anti-Blackness, and an “Asian- women to power.
first” mentality underlie the dominant
narratives in these spaces. Many who The majority of the content within MRAsian
identify as MRAsians subscribe to the spaces is malinformation rather than
idea that Asian Americans are the most explicitly false information, which makes
oppressed of any racial group in the United these harmful narratives difficult to report
States; by lauding the success of Asian on. Examples of the types of manipulated
Americans in spite of this oppression, these and harmful narratives that emerge out of
individuals further the model minority myth these spaces include:
(despite many MRAsians purporting to
reject this trope). • Attacks on affirmative action and
other equity-driven education policies.
This type of rhetoric bleeds into toxic Common refrains include the idea that
misconceptions about other communities affirmative action constitutes “systematic
of color who, MRAsians falsely argue, “have discrimination” or “anti-Asian hate.”
it easier.” Those perceived as “self-hating
Asians,” “race traitors,” or “threats to Asian • Furtherance of the Black-on-Asian
men” are frequent targets of harassment by crime trope, which is discussed further
this community55. in the next case study on page 33.

Asian women who speak out against anti- • Attacks on those within their own
Blackness within the Asian American communities as “race traitors” or
community56, date non-Asian men57, or “boba liberals.”* Asian women who date
commit other “traitorous” acts are especially white men, hatefully dubbed as “Lus” by
vulnerable to abuse, vitriol, and even MRAsians, often receive the most vitriol.
doxxing or threats of physical violence58. “Boba liberals” are even blamed for
Prominent Asian American women like furthering anti-Asian racism*.
30
Some prominent accounts, threads,
Figures 1-5: Prominent
and channels where this kind of accounts where MRAsian
problematic content is spread include content spreads.
Asian Dawn (website, Instagram,
Twitter, and Facebook); Asians with
Attitudes (Instagram); /r/aznidentity
and /r/AsianMasculinity
(Reddit), and Asian Crime
Report (Twitter).

These accounts and pages

have tens or even hundreds
of thousands of followers with
growing support (see Figures
1-5). The administrators of
these spaces are protected
by anonymity and attempts to report
them have not been successful.

We are continuing to monitor these

spaces and build best practices for
counter-messaging. Research into
the MRAsian subculture is relatively
understudied, particularly when
it comes to understanding what
motivates individuals to believe the
kind of racist and sexist vitriol that
permeates MRAsian spaces.

Examples of harmful narratives attacking affirmative action &

furtherances of Black-on-Asian crime tropes:

31
UNPACKING THE TERM ‘BOBA LIBERAL’: ‘Boba liberalism’ first emerged
as a leftist critique of shallow and consumption-oriented political identity
among Asian Americans that seems progressive on the surface but is
actually centrist and mainstream. However, the critiques of ‘boba liberalism’
as white adjacent have been used to advance a conservative pro-Asian
agenda—that ‘boba liberals’ are Asians that are ‘race traitors’ and don’t care
about Asian issues.

Examples of MRAsians
blaming ‘boba liberals’ for
anti-Asian racism

32
 CASE: BLACK-ON-ASIAN CRIME
AGGREGATORS STOKING RACIAL DISCORD

Media Manipulation Strategies address. Their preliminary analysis, through

digital ethnography and a mix of qualitative
of Black-on-Asian Crime News and quantitative approaches, suggests there
Aggregators is top-down sophisticated coordination
among far-right Asian American-oriented
Social media has become an important websites and high-level influencers to
and contentious battleground in shaping promote the “crime wave narrative” that
narratives around #StopAAPIHate. On provoke fear and anxiety especially during
one hand, Asian organizations and social peak moments of assault and crisis, such as
media influencers have helped fundraise the murder of six Asian women in Atlanta
for victims of physical assault, created massage parlors in March 2021.
educational and mental health resources,
and linked up with #BLM accounts to This analysis emerges from tracking the
promote interracial solidarity. fearmongering storylines advanced by
these accounts and computational analysis
On the other hand, a parallel network to collect big data about their coordinative
of alternative news pages, vloggers, and behaviors. This work-in-progress research
anonymously operated accounts have on Black-on-Asian crime news aggregators
stoked racial conflict by spotlighting has uncovered their distinct features and
incidents of Black-on-Asian assault and media manipulations strategies.
spreading misleading narratives about
the so-called “roots of Asian hate.” These
Black-on-Asian crime news aggregators are
strategic, persuasive, and ambitious.

By archiving shocking visuals of assault and

offering up easy scapegoats and solutions,
these accounts address an information void
for Asian and Asian American communities
that have often felt anxious, confused, and
desperate for explanations and life-saving
information since the earliest incidents of
Covid-19 racism. If left unchecked, these
accounts may not only mobilize Asian
Americans into far-right ideology and
further anti-Black racism, they can also be First, crime news aggregators have
weaponized during elections, deepen social proliferated across Facebook, Twitter,
divides, and sow distrust toward democratic Instagram, YouTube and TikTok,
institutions.
amplifying each other’s posts that
The University of Massachusetts at document anti-Asian assault by Black
Amherst’s Fact CHAMP team considers the perpetrators.
media manipulation strategies of Black-
on-Asian crime news aggregators as a These accounts use powerful shock effect
perplexing challenge for scholars, activists, imagery by posting CCTV footage of a
journalists, and social media platforms to mugging and/or close-up photographs

33
 CAPTION EXCERPT:
“This horrific incident...received
almost no media attention at
the time. Many would like the
Asian community to forget this
horrific crime because of the
race of the suspects.”

Photo: The Asian Dawn posts on their Instagram page a recontextualized historical
crime. This event of Black-on-Asian violence from back in 2011 is posted as new content
in November 2021. It implies that mainstream media has historically covered up horrific
crimes against Asian communities based on the racial identity of perpetrators.

of bloodied Asian bodies. They credit It misleadingly includes these old incidents
ordinary people for sending tips about as part of their body of evidence that
these incidents and also repackage already- mainstream media have been systematically
available news reports. underreporting anti-Asian violence based
on “the race of the suspects,” as the
As news aggregators, they embellish a caption from the image argues. Based
news article, say from a CBS News site, by on our content analysis of 50 posts of The
rewriting with a fear mongering tone, and Asian Dawn, 17% of their crime reports are
adding in their original investigation that recontextualized historical events.
would “unmask,” or racially profile, the
perpetrator whose racial identity is not often Third, these accounts advance
included in the original report.
conspiratorial narratives that insinuate
there is a “woke” liberal conspiracy where
Second, these accounts deploy the
Democrat politicians, leftist journalists,
media manipulation strategy of
and platforms themselves have
recontextualization60, particularly when
suppressed the real truth about the roots
they re-present old historical crimes as
of Asian hate.
new content for their page or website.
Disputing statistics and academic research
For example, the far-right Asian website The
that find white men as the majority of
Asian Dawn, with highly popular accounts
perpetrators of anti-Asian violence61, they
on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, reports
challenge structuralist analysis that critique
the theft and murder of an Asian woman
“white supremacy” as the root of these racist
that left the victim burned alive in the
attacks and pose provocative questions why
trunk of her own car from way back in 2011
their archive of Black perpetrators seem to
(see photo). An event from a decade ago is
suggest otherwise.
posted as new content in effect to fan the
flames of interracial conflict today.

34
Fourth and finally, these accounts are Foundation grant entitled “Fact CHAMP”
especially vicious when attacking or and a Luminate/Reset Foundation grant
for capacity-building projects with Asian
rebutting fellow Asian American scholars,
American community media, our team
journalists, and politicians. has interviewed over 20 Asian American
community organizations in an effort to
Politicians, such as former San Francisco map out diverse responses to combat
District Attorney Chesa Boudin, have been misinformation and developing counter-
a consistent target of electioneering posts narratives that emphasize interracial
by these accounts that shame his ‘soft-on- solidarity, history education, and Asian joy.
crime’ policies as racist to Asian American
people and biased on behalf of Black Central to the team objectives is to expand
communities. Boudin lost his June 2022 communities’ misinformation interventions
recall vote, and this was celebrated by far- beyond fact-checking of misinformation
right Asian American social media accounts. targeted to specific ethnic groups to
include broader pan-Asian-American
Meanwhile, progressive scholars and narrative-building and strategic tech policy
journalists who have called out anti-Black advocacies.
perspectives and criminalization narratives
within their communities have been labeled For the team at UMass, this means
as “race traitors” and trolled online. Many developing innovative tools that can
progressive community leaders interviewed empower communities to conduct their
in FACT CHAMP’s qualitative research have own digital investigations and also creative
themselves expressed fears of doxxing and and collaborative counter-narrative
digital harassment from various incidents of strategies that are committed to respond
digital trolling organized by these far-right head-on to real grievances about racism,
accounts. misrepresentation, and silencing.
Moving forward, it is important that we
54. Lauren Sirikul (2022) “Reddit and Instagram backlash
acknowledge the very real and perplexing highlights Asian masculinity movement’s toxic rise”, 28
challenge our communities face in the January.
#StopAAPIHate moment which is to 55. Kimmy Yam (2020) “Kellie Chauvin and a history of Asian
women being judged for whom they marry.” NBC News,
advocate for community protections 22 June.
without advancing anti-Black perspectives 56. Eileen Huang (2020) “A Letter from a Yale student to the
and carceral solutions. Chinese American Community”.
57. Kylie Cheung (2022) “The Backlash Against Sunisa
Lee’s Interracial Relationship Is All Too Familiar to Asian
Our team does not consider this an Women”, Jezebel, 18 January.
58. Aaron Mak (2021) “Men’s Rights Asians” Think This Is
unresolvable paradox but a challenge Their Moment.” Slate, 15 September.
for progressive political organizing. This 59. Celeste Ng (2018) “When Asian Women Are Harassed for
requires a commitment to listening to Marrying Non-Asian Men.” The Cut, 12 October.
60. The Media Manipulation Casebook, “Recontextualized
diverse communities with a wide range of Media.”
positions on how to end anti-Asian violence 61. Janelle Wong (2021) “Beyond the Headlines: Review
beyond relying on policing, prisons, and of National Anti-Asian Hate Incident Reporting/Data
Collection Published over 2019-2021.” June 7, 2021.
prosecution.

The team supports broad coalition-building

and works with community leaders to
catalog organizations’ shifting mandates
and digital capacities especially as they
have been overwhelmed with diverse digital
threats in the #StopAAPIHate moment.
Supported by a National Science

35
CASE STUDIES:
NARRATIVE CHANGE
 CASE: ORGANIZING AGAINST INFORMATION
HARMS IN VIETNAMESE COMMMUNITIES

Understanding how Vietnamese Americans of 1965, where only highly skilled individuals
experience and understand political, and those with existing family associations
economic, and social information requires within the U.S. (i.e. doctors, lawyers, and
context about historical patterns of military officers) were allowed to emigrate
colonialism, displacement, and migration. within the strict quota63.
Similar to their Black and Brown siblings,
Vietnamese American refugees share a After the reunification of North and South
sense of trauma and being othered in the Vietnam, the second and third migration
U.S. despite full citizenship status for some waves reflect Vietnamese peoples who
and selective minoritized growth in social desperately sought to escape re-education
and economic reproductive contributions. camps, resentment from the war, and lack
of opportunity. The second and third waves
Historical Landscape of the of Vietnamese immigrants faced extreme
Vietnamese American Diaspora hardship and had a generally more arduous
Vietnamese Americans are a diasporic journey to the U.S. since many did not
community who arrived in the United States receive government support due to the 1986
in broadly four migration waves, consisting Immigration Reform and Control Act and
of mostly ‘first generation’ refugees arriving relied on their families, who were struggling
after the fall of Sài Gòn in April 1975 with a from lack of social services and adjustment
growing community of second and third to the new host country64.
generations of migration. Displaced by
war, the second wave arrived in the U.S. in While less has been written or researched
the late 1970’s during what is known as the about the most recent, fourth wave
“boat people” refugee crisis, and the third migration group—consisting of Millenials
wave migrated as sponsored immigrants and Gen Z—they have spent the majority of
during the 1980-1990s62. their youth in Vietnam and are now in the
U.S. under work or education visas. They
These first three waves have been heavily experienced primary and some secondary
researched across many disciplines, education in the communist Vietnamese
including studies of humanitarian aid, social education system, while also trained to
work, immigration, urban development, participate in the globalized market.
militarism, post-war veteran, authoritarian
and communist regimes, and Asian Each of these migration waves hold
American studies. The fourth wave consists different knowledge and experiences with
of Vietnamese Americans who migrated the Vietnamese government, international
from 2000’s to present-day as modern affairs (i.e. China, U.S., and Vietnamese
business and education-visa migrants. relations), and completely different
This group has been comparatively less experience of support, or lack thereof, in
researched, but are increasingly a part of voluntary migration or forced displacement,
the growing political faction of the Asian yet all grounded in the aftermath of the
American voting bloc. wars against communism. Each of these
lived experiences inform their ideological
The first wave reflects U.S. policy towards frameworks in how they see and approach
non-European immigration in the form of the world65.
the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
and the Immigration and Naturalization Act
37
Identity and Ideologies:
Image: Cartoon published in August 1967 during public
Intergenerational trauma among the
hostility to the U.S. War in Vietnam. Illustrated by
community is tied to the direct experience Ray Osrin for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the cartoon
of societal collapse and lived harms visualizes “President Johnson chas[ing] the exit door
due to state violence under communist of Vietnam,” referencing the controversies about
regimes and the U.S. War in Vietnam. In “Johnson’s administration accused of being less-than-
the U.S., the collapse of the Soviet Union honest when dealing with the press regarding troop
and the announced end of the Cold War casualties and battle outcomes.”66
was celebrated as American democracy
‘winning the war’ against communism. The
end of the Cold War was also welcomed
by Vietnamese American refugees who
suffered from experiences of war66.

Much of this success was credited to the

Republican Party, which swayed a majority
of Vietnamese American refugees and
immigrants to align with right-leaning,
conservative politicians and their political
rhetoric. While recent census research
shows that Vietnamese Americans poll
like Democrats on gun control61 and
healthcare66, according to historical
contexts, the fear of a collapse within society
or threats of attacks from foreign state
powers has guided a majority of Vietnamese
Americans to vote against their self-stated
interests68.

These contradictions and disconnects

YouTube. The platform’s moderation allows
between lived experiences, ideological
Vietnamese corporations and entrepreneurs
beliefs, and then social practice has become
to avoid fines from the Vietnamese
a site of information disorder within the
government for having their content paired
Vietnamese diaspora.
with problematic advertising content72.
For example, in the contexts of media and
Those who oppose content moderation
internet content moderation and freedom
because of anti-government sentiment
of speech, there are competing perspectives
face issues relevant within and outside of
due to the politics and problematic
communist states, such as rights to freedom
information that have spread between the
of speech and the ability to incentivize
generations of former Presidents Lyndon
innovation and business (on YouTube or
Johnson, to Richard Nixon, to Donald Trump.
Facebook) within the guise of government
Those who support content moderation
power73.
believe that there are larger unstable social
issues that need to be addressed71.
Similar to U.S. economic sanctions, the
Vietnamese government is moderating
Each of these are issues which many
“international corporations like Google
Vietnamese immigrants experienced under
(YouTube) or Facebook [to] both comply
the authoritarian regime. On the other hand,
with Vietnamese laws, customs, and
many Vietnamese people in the diaspora
traditions and protect users’ rights”74. In
have found economic success through
other words, “internet content that [the
38
government] believes threatens stability in system; lack of in-language informaton; and
the communist country”75. This extends to incongruences between political education
other platforms, such as TikTok, as well76. on U.S. history with daily survival needs78.
This transnational complexity within how
diasporic information is used for social and This lack of critical understanding of
economic terms, highlights the difficulties historical and political contexts contributes
of disentangling sentiments about content greatly to intergenerational conflict within
moderation and broader opinions around Vietnamese American dinner tables.
communications platforms. However,
these complexities retain significance in While organizations like The Interpreter
understanding the spread and impact sought to bridge this gap by translating
of misinformation and necessitate deep existing U.S. media into Vietnamese, Viet
qualitative methods to contextualize the Fact Check staff (mostly volunteers) also
varied and nuanced views on platforms, found that the attention economy of
politics and social issues. online media has evolved to feed content
and target extremist ideals.
This became particularly
problematic as this user-
generated content is often
decontextualized, rarely
referencing knowledge
building practices, and lacks
self-contained content to
explain the history of civil
rights or basic topics like the
role of policing in the U.S.

With combined backgrounds

in tech policy, law, and
journalism, Viet Fact
Check members worked
to exhaustively research
topics like social movements,
history, COVID-19, voting, and
Image: Screenshot of an image from VnExpress, captured by policy to produce accessible
Luu Quy demonstrating one of many YouTube videos that information out of complex
have been flagged by Vietnamese authorities as problematic and dense topics.
information within YouTube content moderation policies77.
First and foremost, the
information is available in a language
Community Organizing in Response to Vietnamese Americans are comfortable
Problematic Narratives reading and communicating in, and the
In order to address these transnational information is further contextualized to
problematic information issues, Viet Fact historical lived experiences they know.
Check was created as a project within Generational divides are common with
the non-profit Progressive Vietnamese regards to English and Vietnamese
American Organization (PIVOT). The proficiency, particularly since pre-1975
project was created in the wake of George Vietnamese terms differ and conflict
Floyd’s murder, when stereotypes about with post-1975 terms. Viet Fact Check
Black Americans combined with a lack of collaborated with translators to ensure
understanding of the U.S. criminal justice the content, written and edited in English,
was accessible in Vietnamese. The goal
39
 Viet Fact Check
contextualizes,
translates, and fact
checks English-first
mainstream news
into articles using
Vietnamese social,
cultural, economic,
political, and
linguistic terms.

is to facilitate communication and via direct message or private messages

understanding by removing confrontation channels with family members who are not
as a prerequisite for understanding. necessarily heavy social media users.

Media Techniques for Change: The goal is to de-escalate and repair intra-
Hosted on Wordpress, Viet Fact Check has family interactions around misinformation
used standard social media techniques like and provide tools to communicate difficult
Canva image editing assets to promote information, and empower both Vietnamese
Viet Fact Check content on major social and English speakers with fact checked,
media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and source-verified content that was written by
Instagram), relying on the accessibility of and for them.
Vietnamese translated articles to be shared
40
Similar to existing social sciences the Georgia runoffs and the January 6th
scholarship, Viet Fact Check’s experience insurrection. While published content
supports the understanding that many U.S. initially largely mirrored standard U.S.
born children, second generation, of Asian and English sources of misinformation,
American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific strategies for narrative change routed to
Islander immigrants have family and social concentrate on more influential content
dynamics that reify the feeling of being producers (i.e. repeat offenders), such as
outsiders of U.S. capitalistic society79. Nguy Vu (also known as The KING Radio)
who faithfully copied the red-baiting tactics
This includes being informed on policies of deplatformed talking heads like Alex
that affect their economic, social, and Jones81.
political needs so that they can vote in their
own interests. An additional goal of Viet Fact While Alex Jones was recently deplatformed
Check is to provide a source of information from American social media platforms82.
that is perceived as serious and level headed Viet Fact Check volunteers observed that
to support readers as they attempt to make the same mitigation was not happening for
informed decisions about policies that affect content in Vietnamese.
their lives and their present and future
community’s lives.
Contacting Facebook (Meta) and
In addition to covering racial justice YouTube resulted in little to no
issues, Viet Fact Check has invested in acknowledgement.
collaborating with individual dedicated
community members (i.e. @viet.fake.
news.buster), academic researchers, and Contacting Facebook (Meta) and YouTube
mainstream media to explain the source of resulted in little to no acknowledgement.
mis- and disinformation80). Technology companies do not prioritize
bugs or problematic features in their
Motivations such as power and finances product as long as it is financially beneficial
are more easily understandable to the to their company.
wider public, and are of particular interest
to refugees who are invested in preserving Therefore,
their personal built generational wealth Viet Fact
by also supporting the power and prestige Check
of the U.S. economy. It is understood that shifted
these motivations stem from Vietnamese their media
Americans’ shared trauma of growing up in strategy and
an imperialized, now non-existent country. focused on
mainstream
During the very active 2020 U.S. Presidential media
election and the early stages of the coverage
COVID-19 pandemic, Viet Fact Check relied of their
on tips from volunteers and readers to efforts. In October 2021, HBO’s “Last Week
decide on the topics to address. The lack Tonight with John Oliver” covered the
of existing content made the task easier as misinformation crisis in Vietnamese and
volunteers knew that topics like civil rights Spanish social media content (see image).
and public health policies are significant to Since then, YouTube has shifted content
understanding the root of living in the U.S. moderation operations to detect and
remove problematic content from bad
Volunteers also spent time debunking actors like The KING Radio.
rampant misinformation in the 2020 U.S.
Presidential election, up to and including
41
These banned content producers now tend 69. Shapiro, N. (2020). Among Vietnamese American voters,
the Trump-Biden presidential race inflames old wounds.
to publish their message and attract smaller The Seattle Times.
audiences on platforms like Facebook Live— 70. Osrin, R. (1967). Nightmare. The Billy Ireland Cartoon
Library & Museum at Ohio State University.
an ephemeral platform that has significantly 71. Onishi, T. (2021). Vietnam to tighten grip on Facebook
less content moderation protocols in place83. and YouTube influencers. Nikkei Asia.
72. Pham, M. (2017). “Vietnam wants companies to stop
advertising on Facebook and YouTube because of “fake
Cross-Cultural Alliances content.” Business Insider.
At its peak of community volunteer 73. Jennings, R. (2019). Vietnam Gets Tougher on YouTube
as Citizens See Anti-Government Content. Voice of
engagement, Viet Fact Check had dozens America—English; Mai, C. (2017). Vietnamese businesses
of volunteers writing, promoting, and stop advertising on Youtube. VietNamNet.
translating Viet Fact Check content. In 74. Advertisers held responsible for advertising on illegal
videos on Youtube? (2017). VietNamNet, english.
solidarity, connecting with members of the 75. Onishi, 2021 (see 65)
Latinx community who had very similar 76. Nguyen, D., & Luong, A. (2020). Vietnam and Social
stories to share about diasporic trauma, Media: The Clock Is Ticking on Tiktok. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak
Institute; Torres, K. P. (2021). A virus and viral content: The
red-baiting, and misinformation84, this Vietnam government’s use of TikTok for public health
provided context to the larger issues of the messages during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Public
Relations and Online Engagement. Routledge.
marginalizations of non-English contexts. 77. Nguyen, L. (2020). Vietnam Unhealthy, shocking video
contents flood Vietnamese netizens. VN Express
Today, Viet Fact Check is working in International.
78. ​​Kibria, 2013
partnership with similar organizations to 79. Pyke, 2000
get a better handle on the misinformation 80. Nguyễn and Moran, 2021
memes that trend in our communities, as 81. Lampard, A. (2021, May 30). The Rise of the ‘Vietnamese
Rush Limbaugh.’ VICE.
well as raise funding for projects like video 82. Coaston, J. (2018). YouTube, Facebook, and Apple’s ban
to help reach the Vietnamese speaking on Alex Jones, explained. Vox.
83. Koltai, K. (2021). Written Testimony for the House Select
audience. Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Center for an
Informed Public.
The 2020 election, the murder of George 84. Nguyen, N., & Scurato, C. (2021). Facebook and YouTube’s
refusal to moderate misinformation in global languages
Floyd, and the early days of the COVID-19 harms communities of color. Prism.
pandemic were a unique time; the
community around Viet Fact Check has
made the most of that time as many
Americans have been motivated and
empowered to use their abilities and talents
to help make their country a better place,
and their family dinners a bit less stressful.

Moving forward, Viet Fact Check continues

to make community-specific narrative
interventions including issues such as gun
violence and attacks on reproductive rights.

62. Rkasnuam, H., & Batalova, J. (2014). Vietnamese

Immigrants in the United States. Migrationpolicy.org.
63. Fujiwara, 2008
64. Lipman, 2011
65. Le and Su, 2018
66. Lipman, 2011; Lee, 1999
67. Ramakrishnan, K. (2016). Gun Control is an Asian
American Issue. Data Bits for AAPI Data.
68. Whites-Koditschek, S. (2021). How a Vietnamese
community emerged among the most vaccinated in
Alabama. AL.Com.
42
 CASE: KWENTUHAN IN
FILIPINO/A/X COMMUNITIES
FYLPRO & the Tayo Project: America’s critical healthcare infrastructure
Beginning as a virtual help desk in (a legacy of American imperialism in the
the fall of 2020, the Tayo project is an Philippines)89 and the elevated risk factors
initiative of the Filipino Young Leaders for severe COVID-19 outcomes among
Program (FYLPRO). Tayo has continuously Filipinos nurses90—such as high blood
diversified its culturally tailored offerings pressure, diabetes, and obesity 91—not to
to connect Filipinx/a/o communities mention the widely reported incidents of
with vital information and services, violence and harassment towards Asian
refute misinformation, and improve the Americans correlated with public discourse
collection of data through efforts such as scapegoating China for the global spread of
educational webinars, surveys, public service COVID-1992.
announcement campaigns, and health
clinics.

In addition to debunking COVID-19 mis- and

disinformation via traditional fact-checking
content on social media, Tayo leverages the
power of kwentuhan (traditional Filipino
oral storytelling/talk story)85 through a
multiplatform and multidisciplinary lens.

By proactively engaging with its core

audience, Tayo is able to get ahead of false
narratives circulating within community
information networks before those stories
are poised to go viral86. At its heart, Tayo was
initially launched to bridge gaps in services,
reliable information, and demographic data
for the millions of Filipinos residing in the
United States.

Tayo’s Emergence as a Diasporic

Response to Mis- and Disinformation
When the novel coronavirus pandemic hit,
FYLPRO created a COVID-19 task force to
provide a rapid response, which originally The Tayo website’s
consisted of fundraising efforts to boost the homepage in January 2021.
capacity of those working on the ground.
In those early days, FYLPRO facilitated the
delivery of PPE, food, and other supplies to As noted in a September 2020 report by
local communities in the Philippines and National Nurses United, Filipino Americans
the United States87. made up 4% of registered nurses in the U.S.
but accounted for almost a third of COVID-19
Meanwhile however, virtually every related nursing deaths at the time93. Just as
member of the task force also felt some vexing was the fact that because Filipinos
degree of personal or familial impact from tend to have extended, close-knit families94,
the pandemic88 thanks to the outsized the kinds of large social gatherings and
presence of Filipino workers within multigenerational household structures95
43
that had been traditional sources of support ticketing system101, which are then escalated
in times of crisis proved to be a considerable to the expert panel in order to craft an
threat to community health and safety given individualized response or develop a new
the highly contagious nature of COVID-19. article. Tayo also supplements the content it
develops in-house with articles syndicated
Indeed, after expressing their frustrations from trusted public health and local news
at convincing close relatives to shelter organizations, including Meedan’s Health
in place and witnessing the proliferation Desk, Southern California Public Radio’s
of coronavirus misinformation online, KPCC/LAist, and Kaiser Health News102.
members of FYLPRO’s COVID-19 task force
vocalized a need for some sort of playbook The Impact of Community Media:
to help Filipino Americans talk with their From its October 2020 launch through late
elders about taking seriously the public July 2022, tayohelp.com has seen more than
health guidance surrounding the pandemic, 8,800 unique users land on the website
igniting the primary spark for Tayo’s with more than 9,500 unique engagements
creation96. (searches, shares, page views). The top
search inquiries include “mental health”
In summer 2020, FYLPRO successfully and “COVID-19,” indicating the type of
pitched the Booz Allen Foundation’s COVID information that community members are
Innovation Fund97, thus securing the seeking the most.
organization’s first ever major grant and
obtaining seed money for the Tayo Help Direct traffic to the homepage accounted
Desk, which launched in October 2020 with for 32% of engagements, while 47% of
a pilot geared towards Filipinos in the Los users came through organic search, 6% via
Angeles region98. Facebook, and 1% from trackable news story
referrals. Tayo has been covered by local,
Tayo, which inclusively translates to “us” national, and international news outlets
in Tagalog/Filipino, consists of a Zendesk- such as NBCNews.com, Rappler, and WNYC
powered virtual platform located at across print, digital, social, broadcast, and
tayohelp.com that has since published radio channels, which places a potential
more than 500 articles in a Q&A format. combined reach of more than 10 million
The platform covers a wide range of topics, monthly unique visitors via more than a
from public health mandates, infection dozen media features103.
control, and vaccine accessibility to small
business assistance, travel guidance, and While 50% of users were from the United
consumer fraud advisories, all in furtherance States, Tayo also saw 43% of traffic originate
of the site’s main goals: to overcome from the Philippines, revealing a level of
misinformation in the Filipino diaspora and engagement beyond the geography of
connect seniors, unemployed individuals, Tayo’s intended demographic of Filipino
and essential workers with government community members in the U.S.
resources and social services99.
A dedicated analysis of possible drivers of
Available both in English and Filipino and traffic from the Philippines has yet to be
written in an accessible and culturally undertaken. However, in May 2020, the
relevant style, articles are vetted prior to National Telecommunications Commission
publication by a panel of Filipino American (NTC) issued a cease and desist order
subject matter experts100 versed in areas mandating the closure of ABS-CBN’s TV
such as medicine, public health, mental and radio operations after earlier attempts
health, journalism, education, social work, to renew the media network’s broadcast
community organizing, technology, and the franchise proved unsuccessful104. One major
law, among others. For any questions not criticism of the shutdown (aside from its
covered by an existing article, users may negative impact on press freedom105) was
submit their queries through the website’s that it eliminated a trusted source of news
44
 English and Filipino language flyers promoting Tayo’s call center.

for millions of Filipinos just when the need

in touch with information from ‘home’ 112 as
for timely and reliable information about the
evidenced by the Philippine government’s
pandemic was particularly urgent106.
eager adoption of social media as a forum
for assisting OFWs in distress113 and the
After receiving a second round of funding
emergence of Meta/Facebook’s social
from the Booz Allen Foundation, in May
networking and instant messaging apps as
2022 Tayo launched a dedicated hotline
top communication platforms of choice for
which replicates the website’s services via
Filipinos living in the diaspora114.
a live bilingual customer service agent
(recalling the labor of the Philippine call
center industry107). The hotline brings the
Crafting Culturally Relevant Narratives:
In November 2020 FYLPRO created a private
project closer to fulfilling Tayo’s original
Tayo Facebook group in collaboration with
vision for the help desk concept by making
the UC Davis Bulosan Center for Filipino
content more accessible to seniors,
Studies, Pilipino Workers Center, Southern
especially those experiencing isolation, as
California Pilipinx-American Student
well as other community members who
Alliance, and USC Annenberg Center for
may be less willing or able to navigate
Health Journalism as a space for community
digital spaces108.
members to discuss pandemic-related
questions. With the first COVID-19 vaccines
Upon its launch, Tayo also established an
becoming available in the U.S. the following
active presence on Facebook, YouTube,
month, Tayo began enlisting medical and
Instagram, and Twitter. In terms of social
public health experts as well as Filipino
media use, Filipinos spend the most
community groups to conduct webinars
time on social media compared to other
explaining the science behind the shots.
nationalities109 and represent the ‘social
networking capital of the world’ 110. Half
The webinars used culturally relevant
of Filipinos receive their political news
references to Filipino food and traditional
from the internet, with over 40% of those
social activities, providing basic information
individuals citing Facebook in particular111.
about media literacy, and encouraging
vaccine uptake115. Presenters appealed to
For the millions of Filipino overseas
traditional values such as kapwa (sense of
foreign workers (OFWs) around the globe,
shared identity as fellow human beings)116
technology has been a crucial way to keep
45
 a dengue immunization campaign in 2016
that did much to erode trust in vaccines.
The campaign had resulted in several child
fatalities and a highly politicized effort to
prosecute government officials who were
involved in the initial vaccination rollout129.

This multifaceted strategy is a reflection of

the strong community-driven relationships
and diverse knowledge base that FYLPRO
Image: Screenshot of a Tayo webinar had already cultivated through its extensive
debunking COVID vaccine misinformation professional networks130. These enable Tayo
using a Filipino breakfast food analogy. to adopt a more comprehensive, human
centered approach that went beyond basic
and bayanihan (solidarity, civic unity, and fact-checking even early on.
cooperation)117. Presenters furthermore
cited public statements by Pope Francis For example, during the buildout of the Tayo
supporting vaccination118 in an attempt to web platform in late summer and early fall
head off any religious objections that may of 2020, the product development team
have been lingering among the devout workshopped user personas by conducting
Catholics who make up a majority of the extensive interviews with community
Filipino faith community119. members—ranging from elders and parents
of young children to COVID survivors and
Tayo’s efforts to counteract vaccine workers rights activists—who shared their
hesitancy also included publishing first- concerns on a variety of topics (e.g. remote
person accounts of the immunization learning, emergency financial aid, and
process120, as well as a multimedia campaign navigating the healthcare system).
consisting of bilingual public service
announcements and a youth-oriented
dance video121.

The campaign was funded by the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS)122 as part of its “We Can Do This”
initiative123. Tayo also has partnerships with
the National Domestic Workers Alliance
and various local community based
organizations in Chicago and Los Angeles124
to provide online educational programming
and in-person vaccination clinics focusing
on key demographics like predominantly
undocumented care workers and school-
age children125.

In guiding the development of this content,

Tayo’s team of experts applied current best
practices in public health communication126
filtered through a lens of health equity127.
This takes into account more granular Image: Promotional graphic and screenshot
considerations such as acculturation documenting a virtual community celebration
factors specific to the Filipino immigrant hosted by Tayo in January 2021. Programming
experience128 and lingering memories of the was designed to not only educate the public,
Dengvaxia controversy in the Philippines, but also stave off isolation by providing social
interaction during the pandemic.
46
 members of those
communities in a “double
bind”. The same data that
can be marshaled to assert
collective political claims
and advocate for more
equitable distribution of
resources in the civic arena135
can also harm communities.

For example, while

improved data collection
on undocumented
immigrants can help
fill conspicious gaps in
Image: YouTube screenshot of Tagalog language PSA video knowledge about the true
created by Tayo in summer 2021 for the HHS “We Can Do This” size and demographics
vaccination outreach campaign. The caption translates to of the Filipino population
“Don’t forget to protect the loved ones in your life.” in the U.S.136 or concerns
about the flows of labor
Thus, Tayo seeks to unlock the power of trafficking137, this information can be used by
narrative not just in the dissemination, but law enforcement to monitor communities of
also the collection of data. color and break up families whose members
have been targeted for removal.138
This reinforces a connection with the
cultural values embedded in the traditional The very real fears of police uses of data
oral storytelling ritual of kwentuhan, which collection led advocacy groups to warn
places an emphasis on interpersonal against the proposed inclusion of a
cooperation, reciprocity, and social citizenship question on the 2020 U.S.
acceptance131. While researchers have come Census. They argued that such a queston
to recognize the methodological benefits could hamper outreach efforts by chilling
of this framework132,
performing kwentuhan
carries extra weight in
Tayo’s work because it
pays respect to a practice
that has deep historical
significance for Filipinos in
the diaspora133.

Community Data
Practices:
Meanwhile, conventional
practices of gathering data
on historically excluded
communities must take
into account the potential
harms when data gathering
is abused for purposes of
surveillance by state agents
and other related actors134. Image: Tayo representatives promoting the “MAGPABAKUNA
This uneven distribution of na Tayo” vaccine survey and the Tayo Help Desk hotline in
risk puts the most vulnerable suburban Chicago during Piyesta Pinoy, a local Philippine
Independence Day celebration in June 2022.
47
participation and perhaps result in an test out strateg[ies] before implementing
undercount of already marginalized them in Western countries with tighter
groups139. regulations.145”

During an online discussion about Asian Indeed, Facebook users in the Philippines
American and Pacific Islander data represented the second largest source of
disaggregation hosted by FYLPRO and Tayo, data harvested by Cambridge Analytica for
panelists Dr. Melanie Sabado-Liwag and their political targeting initiatives during the
RJ Taggueg explained how data collection previous decade, behind only the United
practices by institutions rooted in the ideals States. In 2018, Facebook’s own director of
of white supremacy can inflict damage global politics and government outreach
on Filipino communities. For example, labeled the Philippines as “patient zero146” in
data aggregation can erase the distinct the so-called “infodemic” of deceptive social
experiences of Filipinos or further exclusion media practices threatening the integrity of
can occur when researchers conduct their democratic governance around the world147.
work siloed off from counterparts in other
disciplines140. The added layers of colonial history between
the United States and the Philippines148;
Collaborations between academics and the decades-long and ever increasing
community organizations represent more rates of Filipino migration to the U.S.149; and
ethical ways of doing research and data the emergence of Filipinos as the second
collection by involving the community. For largest Asian American ethnic group150
example, the Bulosan Center’s kwentuhan- further underscore the importance of
based “Filipin[x]s Count” survey was understanding the unique experience
administered such that participants felt of Filipinos and the Filipino diaspora in
comfortable enough to openly talk about mapping out the globalized landscape of
their undocumented status. mis- and disinformation.

As Tayo ramps up efforts to conduct The problem of disinformation in the

more primary research in the public Philippines began receiving significant
health space (discussed further below), it attention after the 2016 presidential election,
recognizes that trust is an essential factor where supporters of then-candidate
in collecting community data, especially Rodrigo Duterte were notably linked to
in multiply marginalized communities142. the proliferation of “fake news”. During the
Tayo has accordingly looked to models of election, bots, trolls, and fake accounts were
community-based participatory research deployed to drum up political support and
(CBPR)143, which emphasize the inclusion of delegitimize rivals on the path to victory151.
community members in all aspects of the The former Davao mayor’s campaign
research process144. admitted it relied on creative uses of social
media to make up for a relative lack of
Transnational Connections and financial resources.
Coalition Building:
COVID-19 represents just one arena These developments continued apace152
in the fight against online mis- and during the 2019 Philippines midterm
disinformation. The relationship between elections153, paving the way for the heavily
media manipulation, electoral politics, and scrutinized 2022 presidential contest. The
the weaponization of cultural discontent has 2022 election saw former senator Ferdinand
been a particularly pernicious phenomenon “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.—the son of deposed
in the Philippines. In the estimation of autocrat Ferdinand Marcos—emerge as the
whistleblower Christopher Wylie, “the eventual winner by a landslide in tandem
country’s high social media usage and with vice presidential running mate Sara
lack of regulation makes it lucrative for Duterte, daughter of the term-limited
a company like Cambridge Analytica to President Duterte, himself an ally of the
Marcos family154.
48
In documenting the evolving landscape of reclaiming an idyllic past with fantasies
disinformation, observers noted several key of settling scores against the “liberal
elements in the most recent election cycle, elite.” This narrative connected with a
including: citizenry yearning to cast aside a political
1. continued use of paid political establishment regarded as unresponsive to
consultants (i.e. trolls) who open up their needs159.
and manage a barrage of fake online
accounts to boost support for their “[R]ather than scapegoating social media
clients; as a technological brainwasher turning out
2. creation of non-political social media voters who support populist strongmen, we
pages that harvest followers, then must consider why communities resonate with,
eventually push out political propaganda and willingly participate in, myth-making,
to unsuspecting users; and misinformation, and historical revisionism
3. increased reliance on multimedia online.” - Dr. Jonathan Corpus Ong
avenues, particularly YouTube
livestreams, amateur videos, and TikTok Such inquiries should resist the temptation
influencer clips containing deceptive to write off these voters as unintelligent
content that is much harder to debunk masses, but instead express a willingness
or remove in real time155. to engage the issues faced by excluded
communities and their own agency in
These developments are a refinement of political participation.
practices that emerged with the rise of
President Duterte, a self-styled strongman As with efforts to dispel falsehoods about
whose ideology operates on political COVID-19, fact-checking alone will not
grievance and fixates on returning the
solve the crisis of mis- and disinformation
Philippines to a bygone era of perceived
orderliness and social control. Conveniently in the electoral sphere.
enough, Duterte’s populist romanticization
of the martial law period converges with Having already made inroads as a source
the decades-long effort to rehabilitate the of reliable health-related information, Tayo
Marcos legacy, a campaign that predates looks to further expand its research, analysis,
the rise of social media and Duterte’s very and content creation capacities with various
online administration, but which also helped strategic allies. These include the Asian
prime the electorate to accept the Marcoses American Disinformation Table, Disinfo
back into the presidential palace in 2022156. Defense League, and the #FactsFirstPH
coalition150, a Philippines-focused fact-
While large tech platforms understandably checking project supported by technology
face criticism for monetizing algorithms partners Meedan, Google News Initiative,
that facilitate disinformation by rewarding and Rappler.
sensationalistic and emotionally
manipulative content152, that’s not the only As a network of community leaders and
issue. Scholars like Dr. Jonathan Corpus subject matter experts with ties spanning
Ong, who have conducted ethnographies both sides of the Pacific, FYLPRO and
of paid political trolls in the Philippines158, Tayo seek to take a more proactive stance
argue for a more nuanced analysis that in tackling media manipulation in the
takes into account the complex political, Philippines, which itself has a tangible
economic, and historical dynamics at play in impact on the civic engagement of
Asia’s oldest democracy. migrants in the diaspora.

After the unofficial election returns In the 2016 presidential election, for
indicated a win for Bongbong Marcos, example, overseas voters broke for the
Ong explains how the former’s campaign elder Duterte by a convincing margin162, an
was able to successfully weave notions of outcome that was repeated in 2022 with the
younger Marcos162.

49
 Image: Tayo core leaders and
summer 2022 fellows meeting
with a representative from
the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services Office
of Minority Health during
FYLPRO’s 10th anniversary
celebration held during late
July in Washington, D.C.

Conversely, by strengthening collaborations (NU-CCH) on the Bayanihan Project, a

with organizations combating racialized three-year community-based participatory
disinformation within communities of color research study that seeks to understand the
in the United States, Tayo also hopes to role of Filipino sociocultural norms in health
provide Filipino Americans with the critical, seeking behaviors.
culturally relevant tools to evaluate and
respond to content advancing complicated By endeavoring to not only fill in the overall
narratives promoting xenophobia, anti- gaps in data on Filipino/a/x Americans63,
Blackness, and anti-LGBTQ sentiment. this work also highlights the actual
disparities between the various ethnic
Exercising Narrative Agency: groups that are all-too-often subsumed
Empowerment Through Data under the homogenous category of “Asian
As Tayo continues to refine its mis- and American164”. These efforts can hopefully
disinformation toolkit, the project’s current equip researchers, journalists, policymakers,
strategic plan centers on transforming the and other community stakeholders with
initial help desk model into an innovative additional qualitative and quantitative
data hub that empowers Filipino/a/x resources to advance a more accurate
communities. This work includes collecting portrayal of the Filipino diaspora in their
data, fostering partnerships, and publishing work165.
culturally relevant insights, as well as
developing leaders to create equitable and What started as an ad hoc response to the
sustainable futures. emerging epistemic crisis of the global
pandemic has over time evolved into a long-
Tayo’s mission statement now asserts term, multisectoral campaign to document
that the project exists to illuminate the Filipino/a/x experience at the grassroots
the lived experiences of the Filipino/a/x level. As Tayo’s namesake indicates, it is
diaspora by using data to amplify those ultimately up to “us” to care for each other
communities’ narratives and possibilities. and cultivate community resilience in
To that end, Tayo has embarked on the CDC the face of ongoing marginalization and
Foundation supported MAGPABAKUNA na structural neglect by institutions of power.
Tayo (“Measuring and Gathering data on
Pilipino/a/x American Behaviors, Attitudes, Tackling Challenges and Looking Ahead
and Knowledge Understanding the Novel With these ambitious plans to become a
CoronAvirus vaccines”) survey. Tayo has also central data innovation hub for Filipinos in
partnered with Northwestern University’s the diaspora, Tayo faces many challenges,
Institute for Public Health and Medicine such as the capacity to address the virality of
(IPHAM) and Center for Community Health misinformation in real time (especially with
50
respect to content that circulates through 87. Filipino American Service Group, Inc. (2020)
“BalikBAHAY Project.”; Filipino Young Leaders Program
private channels like Facebook Messenger, (2020). “FYLPRO Donates Funds to Ayala Foundation
WhatsApp, and Viber groups)166; identify Inc’s COVID-19 Project Pananagutan,” 25 June.
88. For a summary of concerns surrounding the mental and
reliable sources of funding; and navigate physical well-being of Filipino Americans at the outset of
the ever-changing situation of the global the pandemic, see E.J.R. David (2020) “5 Ways COVID-19
pandemic. Might Be Affecting Filipino Americans,” Psychology
Today, 12 April.
89. Paulina Cachero (2021) “From AIDS to COVID-19,
New COVID-19 variants proliferate in the U.S. America’s Medical System Has a Long History of Relying
on Filipino Nurses to Fight on the Frontlines.” Time, 30
and upend established guidance on testing, May; Katherine Nasol and Valerie Francisco-Menchavez
treatment, and prevention167. Meanwhile, (2021) “Filipino Home Care Workers: Invisible Frontline
Workers in the COVID-19 Crisis in the United States.”
the cultural onset of so-called “pandemic American Behavioral Scientist; Rosem Morton (2021)
fatigue168” and a shifting emphasis on “Filipino American health workers reflect on trauma and
individualized risk assessment169 has healing on COVID’s frontlines.” NPR, 9 November
90. The Impact of Structural Inequities on Older Asian
accompanied a relaxation of government- Americans During COVID-19.
mandated safety measures. All of these 91. A 2018 study found that almost a third of Filipino
nurses in the United States were over the age of 60 and
developments highlight the continued more than a quarter had at least one of the following
importance of delivering clear and conditions: hypertension, hyperlipidemia, type 2
concise public health information that is diabetes, and obesity. Filipino nurses in the United
States.
communicated through accessible and 92. Mary Findling and Robert J. Blendon et al. (2022)
culturally relevant means. “COVID-19 Has Driven Racism And Violence Against
Asian Americans: Perspectives From 12 National Polls.”
Health Affairs, 12 April.
Tayo has long recognized that regular 93. By March 2021, National Nurses United found that more
than a quarter of nurses who died from COVID-19 and
monitoring of online media channels related complications were of Filipino descent. See
would ensure that it stays nimble amidst National Nurses United (2021) “Sins of Omission: How
a turbulent information landscape. It has Government Failures to Track Covid-19 Data Have Led
to More Than 3,200 Health Care Worker Deaths and
recently taken initial steps to establish a Jeopardize Public Health.”
formal infrastructure for identifying and 94. Views and Values on Family among Filipinos: An
Empirical Exploration.
tracking specific pieces of problematic 95. Agnes Constante (2021) “Filipino Americans reported
content, primarily through the use of higher Covid mental health toll than Asian Americans
tech solutions such as the Algorithmic collectively.” NBC News, 18 June.
96. D’Vera Cohn et al. (2022) “The demographics of
Transparency Institute’s Junkipedia platform multigenerational households.” Pew Research Center, 24
and The Public Good Projects/New York March.
97. Booz Allen Hamilton (2020) “Booz Allen Foundation
State Health Foundation’s Project VCTR. Awards $1M in Innovation Fund Grants to Support
COVID-19 Solutions.” 3BL Media, 17 September.
98. Agnes Constante (2020) “Young Fil-Am leaders launch
As a small and lean team led by volunteers, online caretaker project.” Inquirer.net, 11 November; CBS
Tayo would greatly benefit from the ability Los Angeles (2020) “Online Help Desk Provides COVID-19
to hire part-time and full-time staff to Information For Filipino Community.” 28 October. KABC
Television (2020) “Filipinos at risk in pandemic will get
address operational challenges and sustain help from new website.” ABC 7, 15 October.
work long-term. In April 2022, Tayo’s core 99. CBS Los Angeles (2020) “Online Help Desk Provides
COVID-19 Information For Filipino Community.” 28
leadership conducted strategic planning October.
sessions to develop a multi-year roadmap 100. Amaris Castillo (2020) “How a team led by a journalist
by leveraging FYLPRO’s extended network is fighting coronavirus misinformation in the Filipino
community.” Poynter, 1 December.
to bring more visibility to its activities; 101. Tayo (2022) “About Us.”
engaging with data producers to scale 102. In November 2020, a month before the Pfizer
and Moderna shots were granted emergency use
up the dissemination of primary research; authorization (EUA), Tayo began receiving requests
and partnering with other mission-aligned for information about the development of a COVID
vaccine. This early awareness allowed Tayo to prepare
organizations to build technical capacity, for additional questions and the potential need to start
and continuing to diversify funding sources. creating content addressing nascent vaccine hesitancy.
103. Tayo (2022) “From our partners.”
104. Tayo (2022) “Media Coverage.”
85. BJ Gonzalvo and Khimee Leong (2018) “The Joy Of 105. BBC News (2020) “ABS-CBN: Philippines’ biggest
Kuwentuhan.” Positively Filipino, 3 October. broadcaster forced off air.” 5 May.
86. Chong et al (2021) Social Media Use and Misinformation
Among Asian Americans During COVID-19. Additional footnotes (106-169) located in
appendix, on page 65.
51
MOVING FORWARD:
WHERE WE GO FROM HERE
 MOVING FORWARD
The narratives raised in this report, which demonstrate how tensions are sown
within, across, and about Asian communities, also demonstrate the different
ways people make political meaning out of Asian American identity. We need
a multipronged strategy to build a political agenda for racial justice. Fact-
checking or platform takedowns are not enough—what is needed are diverse
skill-sets of investigative research and journalism, creative and strategic
communication, and intersectoral community organizing to acknowledge
and address head-on communities’ needs, including fears and anxieties over
safety and access to resources. Safeguarding all communities against the
harmful consequences of mis- and disinformation requires centering the
experiences and work of those most affected in order to thoroughly address
issues at their core.

WHAT WE NEED:
Resources for Capacity and Narrative Change:
Grassroots Power Building: Beyond documentation and
We advocate for more resources monitoring, we need strategies and
and funding to be allocated towards tactics for narrative change. How we
community-based knowledge production use stories for healing and building
and building connections across different empathy are communicative tools
communities in order to facilitate internal that our communities have been
knowledge sharing. doing for centuries.

This might include funding for more This includes:

research capacity including: • tools for building political
• partnerships between academic consensus and processes for
researchers and community coordinated messaging
organizations • infrastructures and resources
• capacity for qualitative and quantitative for long-term change, as well as
research, including software and paying rapid response
community researchers • alignment with other social
• translation and interpretation services justice and racial equity
• public trainings and workshops organizations and stakeholders
• support for cultural workers to
This might also include resourcing cross- help create visionary frames and
movement building including: counter divisive messaging
• organizing strategic cross-sector
gatherings of grassroots, policy, and This work rebuilds trust and focus
advocacy groups on unity. This can critically influence
• power mapping and landscaping pan- on elections and make a significant
Asian and multiracial politics impact on Asian American voters,
especially in swing states.

53
 WHAT WE NEED

Healing Justice:
We need to coordinate and research trauma-informed practices as part of this work.
Beyond solely discussing harm in our communities, we need to find opportunities for
collective repair and healing, and social media platforms are often not the place for this.

For example, this may include:

• finding ways to prevent and address burnout and to shift the palpable fear, stress, and
anxiety in our communities
• developing practices for intentional relationship building
• using transformative justice and mindfulness approaches to address harm and conflict
• building resilience across divides to reunite fractured communities and organizations

We center healing across many dimensions, including the reclamation of our political
consensus. This means healing relations without further fracturing.

Image from the June 2022

Unity March in Washington HEALING JUSTICE AND DISINFORMATION:
D.C. of someone holding We need reparative and healing approaches that address
a sign that reads “Isang community grief and trauma as well as addressing root
Bagsak” (or “One Down”), causes of harm and violence in our communities. We have
a rallying cry introduced lost loved ones to COVID-19; witnessed and experienced
by Larry Itliong during the targeted attacks and violence against community
Delano Grape Strike in 1965
members; and also confronted political fractures and
by Filipino farmworkers.
fissures in our communities. This work is mentally and
Photo by Jeremy Thompson,
courtesy of APIAVote.270 emotionally difficult. We need resources for collective
safety, care, and support in this work,
such as creating spaces to share
and process harmful narratives and
encounters or building capacity to
address high-risk scenarios.

Healing justice also reorients how

we understand harm. It brings our
attention to family members who join
conservative churches after migrating
to the U.S. because that’s the only
place they can access community
services; to aging relatives who are
losing their memory and turn to in-
language nationalistic media as they
self-isolate from their community;
to intergenerational traumas and
erasures, including ways people can be
cut off from their diasporic languages
and histories.
 BUILDING WITH PACIFIC
ISLANDER COMMUNITIES

COVID-19 misinformation has been deadly

in Pacific Islander (PI) communities. While We need political agendas that work
media coverage has emphasized infection in alignment with Pacific Islander
spread due to tourism economies or communities, including advocating for
from military bases as well as disparities resources and capacity for PI organizations.
in medical care and lack of in-language
health resources, less has been discussed in Rather than erasing and excluding
public discourse about the ongoing impact Pacific Islanders from Asian and Asian
of colonial occupation—of stolen lands, American political organizing or uncritically
languages, and knowledge. incorporating ‘PI,’ our communities have
much shared work when addressing
Histories of mis- and disinformation about disinformation. Resourcing PI community
Pacific Islander communities have justified organizing can also expand shared political
land theft and occupation as well as approaches to challenging the status quo
ongoing displacement, e.g blood quantum of how the relationship with “America” is
logics to dispossess Native Hawaiians of understood.
their homes171; myths about Indigenous
communities as ‘backwards’ and ‘anti- Namely, understanding histories of violence
science’ 172; propaganda commissions of against our communities by the U.S. and
Hawai’i as a multicultural melting pot to be challenging solutions limited to seeking
incorporated into a state in order to disprove inclusion into the nation-state. For example,
communist charges of racism in the U.S.173; this shared work may include ongoing
and erasures of violence such as nuclear interventions against narratives shaped by
testing in the Marshall Islands174. U.S. imperialism and military occupation in
Asia and the Pacific.
We can advocate for resourcing projects
that promote narrative change for
movement building and healing justice.
170. Abby Pasion (2020) “From “Isang Bagsak” to
Examples of existing projects include #FilipinxForBlackLives, the Filipino Identity Has Always
Empowering Pacific Islander Communities Been Political.” Medium, Nov. 3
171. J. Kehaulani Kauanui, 2008
(EPIC)’s Maps of Colonial Impact project 172. Maile Arvin (2019) “Mauna Kea Protests Aren’t New.
that demonstrates how colonization has They’re Part of a Long Fight Against Colonialism.”
Truthout, 27 July.
shaped racial categories and controlled 173. Saranillio, 2018
the ability for PI communities to access 174. Teaiwa, 1994
resources175; or grassroots organization 175. EPIC, Our Community
176. The White House (2021) “National Strategy for
Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana’s use of narrative Countering Domestic Terrorism.”
strategy, movement history, and educational
activities to heal Kaho‘olawe.

As future directions of our work, we seek

to build closely with Pacific Islander
communities. Much mis- and disinformation
within Asian and Asian American
communities has deep roots in harmful
conceptions about nationhood.
55
 DIRECTIONS FOR POLICY ADVOCACY
Refusing Counter-Terrorism Approaches:
After the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, U.S. government
framing has approached disinformation as fueling a ‘crisis’ of democracy,
including relying on law enforcement to understand and counter the
spread of disinformation176. Approaches to ‘stop’ white supremacy (enabled
by ‘bad’ information) as issues of domestic terrorism under the purview of
the Department of Homeland Security does not actually address the roots
of white supremacy as part of the historical foundation of the U.S.

‘Bad’ information itself is seen as the threat rather than the ongoing
ways in which racism and nationalism continue to hinder communities’
access to democracy and freedom.

Developed after 9/11, Homeland Security is the most heavily armed agency
and has been an instrument of state violence through immigration
exclusion, detention, and deportation. Further, these approaches
emphasized counter violent extremism (CVE) approaches. CVE models
of reporting individuals as suspected extremists or terrorists legitimize
policing practices as ‘community engagement’, including targeting and
surveilling community organizations as potential terrorist groups. These
approaches are devastating to Asian and Asian American communities.
They double down on strategies that have policed and incarcerated
communities of color, including Muslim, Arab, and South Asian
communities.

Beyond Platform Accountability:

Currently, policy interventions focus primarily on platform accountability,
namely U.S. based companies, including adopting stronger policies around
monitoring and preventing disinformation spread and harmful speech or
demanding transparency and oversight of technological systems. This may
include platforms increasing language and cultural competency when it
comes to monitoring.

Current policies and tools are not equipped to understand contextual

depth and breadth across various languages and geographies.

On the one hand, this ignores how problematic information spreads on

spaces like WeChat, Weibo, and KakaoTalk. On the other hand, we cannot
deputize for-profit companies to be police, judge, and jury of online harm.
Additionally, multinational U.S. companies should not be imposing policies,
frameworks, and tools based on narrow U.S. legal frameworks and cultural
understandings in other places. Without a nuanced understanding of
power in relation, current policies can easily become weaponized against
vulnerable communities. Additionally, an overemphasis on technological
solutions often ignores root causes of social problems. Current platform
problems have not created a ‘crisis’, but rather exacerbated existing ones.
56
APPENDIX
 HISTORIES OF DISINFORMATION

Disinformation is not a new phenomenon

for our communities to contend with— the
harmful information that circulates within
and about our communities pivots on pre-
existing racial and geopolitical narratives.
The process of racialization was incredibly
violent for our communities who have
endured xenophobia and racism, military
occupation, and colonization. In many
ways, histories of disinformation, as well as
organizing through counternarratives about
and within our communities can be vital
areas for us to search for resilience on these
issues.

While it is beyond the scope of this

report to speak about the total history of
disinformation from our communities,
this section offers background on two key
examples of problematic narratives about
Asian racialization that can be found in
contemporary mis- and disinformation: the
‘perpetual foreigner’ and ‘model minority’
myth.

Please note that this section primarily

focuses on Asian racialization within and violences. Further examples of this include
through the U.S. Yellow Peril (Figures 1-4) and Dusky Peril
(Figures 5-8); anti-Japanese sentiment and
Fears of Asians as Enemies and mass incarceration during World War II
(Figures 9-12); and anti-Vietnamese attacks
Perpetual Foreigners: after the U.S. War in Vietnam (Figure 13).
Xenophobic narratives about Asians as
enemies and perpetual foreigners are often
linked to domestic white nationalism and Model Minority Myth:
U.S. imperialism, war, and military invasion The model minority myth is a combination
in Asia (see image on right). of narratives about Asian exceptionalism,
immigrant uplift, and ‘pull yourself up by
For example, in the early 1900s, the U.S. the bootstraps’ ideology that highlights the
colonial relationship with the Philippines success of Asian immigrants (historically
combined with ideologies of white Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Indian
entitlement over resources and immigration immigrants) of a specific educational and
restrictions facilitated racial violence against professional background. On the surface, the
Filipino migrant workers due to white racialized tropes of Asians as hardworking,
anxiety over perceived sexual deviance successful, and high achieving seem to be
and job theft177. Or, during the 1980s, racial ‘positive’ narratives, but they are actually
anxieties over U.S. economic competition quite harmful.
with Japan led to an influx of anti-Asian
58
The model minority myth is a tool Chinese Americans, “Success Story of One
Minority in the U.S.” 180 These are examples
that protects white supremacy, of “model minority imperialism”— a way for
validates anti-Black racism, and the U.S. empire to ‘check enemies of peace
hurts Asian communities. and progress.’ 181

As a political strategy, the myth uses the Histories of Narrative Change:

economic wellbeing of some to justify the The history of Asian American movement
ongoing disenfranchisement of others— building has been one in which different
basically, ‘if this group can do it, why can’t communities have come together to
you?’ In other words, the model minority facilitate narrative change about Asian
myth constructs other minoritized groups American racialization and politics. From
as ‘problems,’ such as by creating binaries community-based surveys and the creation
of ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ immigrants, in order of grassroots media, our communities have
to foreclose possibilities for racial and long utilized culturally informed storytelling
economic justice. strategies to build pan-Asian resilience and
shared political visions.
Used in tandem with the ‘perpetual
foreigner’ myth, the model minority
narrative offers the illusion of belonging
while also reinforcing Asians as ‘others.’
For example, contemporary and historical
anxieties about Asia ‘rising’ based on
economic and technological advancement
can facilitate anti-Asian scapegoating in the
U.S.

Additionally, the model minority myth

constructs notions of ‘success’ as one’s
ability to assimilate into white societal
norms178. Further, the myth serves to
both protect white America from Black
encroachment and deflect Black demands For example, Gidra
for racial justice while continuing to was a monthly Asian
ostracize Asians as “outsiders.” 179 American movement
newsletter that offered
“At a time when it is being proposed that an internationalist
hundreds of billions be spent on uplifting and anti-imperialist
Negroes and other minorities, the nation’s perspective between
300,000 Chinese Americans are moving 1969-1974. Stories also
ahead on their own with no help from anyone aimed to change the
else”. - U.S. News and World Report, 1966 historical narrative
around the legacy
of Japanese mass
Popular media stories during the Cold incarceration away
War and Civil Rights Movement promoted from model minority
Asian Americans as models of successful tropes and emphasize
assimilation, such as the January 1966 New political connections
York Times article, “Success Story: Japanese- such as links between
American Style,” and the December 1966 incarceration and
U.S. News and World Report story on Native removal and
displacement.182
59
Figures 1-4: Yellow Peril
Racialized panics (‘Yellow Peril’)183 about Chinese
migrants as deviant, dirty, and dangerous in the
U.S. during the 19th century concretized as anti-
immigration policies including the 1875 Page
Act, 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and later the 1917
Asiatic Barred Zone Act.

The Page Act in particular targeted Chinese women as sex

workers believing they would ‘transmit Chinese diseases’ to
white clients184. Contemporary disinformation about Asians
spreading disease at the start of the pandemic (e.g. Wuhan
virus, ‘China lied, people died’, and ‘immigration kills’)
stems from these long-standing xenophobic narratives (e.g.
blaming the San Francisco Chinatown community for the
1876 smallpox outbreak).185
60
Figures 5-8: Dusky Peril 177. Ngai, 2004
178. Wu, 2013
Similar to Yellow Peril and the fear of Asian invasion, 179. Kim, 1999
“Dusky Peril” was a term coined by a local newspaper in 180. Lee, 2010
181. Bascara, 2006
Washington state in the early 1900s to refer to the ‘threat’ of 182. Densho, Gidra Archives
South Asian migration. The fear of South Asians migrating 183. John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan
Yeats (2014) “Yellow Peril: 19th-
(and thus contaminating) into the “white settler societies”of Century Scapegoating.” Asian
Canada and U.S. produced narratives of migrants as American Writers’ Workshop.
March 5.
diseased and immoral186. White mobs went door to door in 184. Rachel Kuo and Salonee Bhaman
local communities to violently expulse people from their (2021) “Attacks on Asian Women
Are Fueled by Criminalization, War
homes. In the late 1980s, Dotbusters (a racist reference to and Economic Injustice.” Truth Out,
the ‘bindi’ dot), a white supremacist group in New Jersey, 21 March.
185. Shah, 2001
attacked Indian American communities. According to 186. Shah, 2011
a letter published in The Jersey Journal, they described 187. Densho, Terminology.
planning their attacks by using phone books to “look up the 188. Yuh, 2002

name Patel.”

61
Figures 9-12: Japanese Mass Incarceration During
World War II, Japanese Americans were seen as a national
security threat. U.S. propaganda and popular press
coverage of Japanese people as ‘enemies’ supported public
legitimization of forced removal and incarceration. The
U.S. military distributed pocket guides on the differences
between Chinese ‘allies’ from Japanese ‘enemies.’
Mainstream media articles in Time and LIFE magazines
featured headlines such as “How to Tell Your Friends from
the Japs” and “How to Tell the Japs from the Chinese.” Later,
euphemisms in textbooks and news around ‘relocation’ and
‘internment’ distorted the violence of displacement and
mass incarceration.187

Figures 13: Anti-Vietnamese Attacks

During and after the U.S. War
in Vietnam, mainstream news
coverage over missing soldiers and
popular action movies furthered
public resentment over U.S. military
involvement in Southeast Asia.
This spurred racist targeting and
violence against Vietnamese and
other Southeast Asian communities,
including Cambodian, Laotian and
Hmong communities.

Historical moments of U.S. permanent war and military occupation

in Asia are also connected to long-standing violence against Asian
women, particularly the fantasy of Asian women as submissive. For
example, local sex industries created during military occupation
were often the “first encounters” U.S. soldiers had with Asian women
where soldiers presumed sexual access.188 62
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 of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment
APPENDIX: FOOTNOTES (AFIRE), Filipino American Community Health
Initiative of Chicago (FACHIC), Filipino American
Lawyers Association of Chicago (FALA Chicago), Illinois
Department of Public Health (IDPH), Live. Every. Second.
(LES), Philippine Nurses Association of Illinois (PNAI),
and St. Padre Pio Parish are among Tayo’s partners in
106. Associated Press (2020) “Philippine TV Network the Chicagoland area. On the national level, Tayo has
Shutdown Amid Pandemic Sparks Uproar.” Voice of partnered with the Council of Young Filipinx Americans
America, 6 May. in Medicine (CYFAM) and the Filipinx/a/o Community
107. Kristine Joy Patag (2020) “Health workers lament Association (Fil-CHA).
ABS-CBN shutdown, loss information source amid 125. Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and
pandemic.” Philstar.com, 14 July; ABS-CBN News (2020) Empowerment (2021) “Maging Maingat Po Tayo:
“ABS-CBN shutdown comes at worst possible time amid Caregiving Safely in COVID-19.” Facebook, 4 December;
pandemic, says rights watchdog.” 5 May. Tayo (2021) “EVENT: Debunking Vaccines Myths.” 28
108. See Sallaz, 2019; :Padios, 2018 March; Tayo (2021) “EVENT: COVID-19: Facts vs. Myths.” 7
109. Rebekah Ludman and Amy Ta (2022) “Filipino young March.
leaders create COVID hotline to help older relatives and 126. de Beaumont Foundation (2021) “CHANGING THE
community.” KCRW, 26 May. COVID CONVERSATION: Polls, messaging, and language
110. Kyle Chua (2021) “PH remains top in social media, resources to build support for public health measures
internet usage worldwide – report.” Rappler, 28 January. and vaccines.”
111. Stephen Quinn (2010) “The uncontested rise of social 127. American Medical Association (2021) “Advancing Health
media in Asia.” Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Equity: Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts.”
112. Among internet users in the Philippines, adoption of 128. “The factor structure of a short acculturation scale for
Facebook is “nearly universal.” See Kaela Malig (2021) Filipino Americans in an adult U.S.-born sample.”
“Facebook is most popular social media platform 129. As a result of the Dengvaxia scandal, routine childhood
among internet users in Philippines — Pulse Asia.” GMA vaccination rates fell quickly and precipitously. From
News, 12 October; Paulie Macaraeg (2021) “Nearly half of 2014 to 2018, routine measles vaccination among
Filipinos get news from internet, Facebook – Pulse Asia,” children in the Philippines fell nearly 40%. “Public trust
Rappler, 12 October; Deirdre McKay “What ‘friends’ on and the COVID-19 vaccination campaign: lessons from
the screen may mean: social networking shaping the the Philippines as it emerges from the Dengvaxia
Filipino diaspora.” University College London. controversy.”
113. Katigbak and Roldan, 2021 130. Filipino Young Leaders Program (2020) “COVID-19
114. Reginal Jesus Ariate et al. (2015) “The Role of Facebook in Response Network.”
Sustaining Relationship Among Families of OFW.” LPU 131. When Western-trained social scientists and
Laguna Journal of Arts and Sciences Communication anthropologists first attempted to study the indigenous
Research; “Understanding How Overseas Filipino Filipino culture, they had to learn to use kuwentuhan as
Workers Engage on National Issues in Pinoy OFW a methodology for collecting data because Filipinos did
Facebook Page.” not just provide “data” to non-“kapwa tao.” They shared
115. Tayo (2021), “Watch: COVID-19 Vaccines.”; Tayo (2021) “data” only by kuwentuhan. See Gonzalvo and Khimee
“Vaccines: What we know right now.” Leong, 2018.
116. “Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino psychology): A legacy of 132. Kuwentuhan as a Method; Jemimah Gaite Pizarro
Virgilio G. Enriquez.” (2015) “Qualitative Interview Designs.” Simplyeducate.
117. Lalaine Siruno (2021) “‘We are Filipinos, we do bayanihan, me, 1 February; York University (2021) “Exhibit captures
we help each other’: undocumented migrants in dedication of Filipina care workers during COVID-19.” 19
the Netherlands during COVID.” London School of October.
Economics, 6 May. 133. “In the Filipinx diaspora, kwentuhan (storytelling)
118. Philip Pullella (2022), “Pope backs COVID immunisation is a way of remembering and honoring ancestors,
campaigns, warns of ideological misinformation.” preserving histories, and reconnecting with kapwa. It
Reuters, 10 January. has also provided a path to resisting invisibility. From
119. Previous work by the Pew Research Center in the last the time the first Filipinos landed in California in 1587 to
decade indicates that 81% of Filipinos in the Philippines the time they began settling in San Mateo County in the
identified as Catholic, while 65% of Filipino Americans 1920s, storytelling has always been part of the fabric of
professed likewise. Michael Lipka (2015) “5 facts about the community’s lived experience.” San Mateo County
Catholicism in the Philippines.” Pew Research Center, 9 Libraries (2022) “Filipinx Kwentuhan: Equity Through Art
January. Series.” YouTube, 1 April.
120. Leezel Tanglao (2021), “COVID-19 Vaccine: Getting the 134. Social Science Research Council (2021) “Covid-19 and
Shot.” Tayo, 2 April; Leezel Tanglao (2021) “COVID-19 New Norms of Surveillance: BIPOC Perspectives on
Vaccinations in Los Angeles County: Taking my mom Public Health.”
and aunts for their first shot - Part 1.” Tayo, 31 January.; 135. Kuo and Bui, 2021
Leezel Tanglao (2021) “COVID19 Vaccinations in Los 136. The Migration Policy Institute estimated that around
Angeles County: Making the shot - Part 2.” Tayo, 20 313,000 Filipinos in the U.S. were unauthorized during
February; ; Leezel Tanglao (2021) “Getting the COVID19 the period covering 2012-16, which translated into
Booster Shot.” Tayo, 30 October. approximately 3 percent of the overall unauthorized
121. Tayo (2021) “Keep you and your family and friends safe.” population of 11.3 million. Luis Hassan Gallardo and
12 August Jeanne Batalova (2020) “Filipino Immigrants in the
122. Tayo (2021) “We can do this safely.” 24 September; Tayo United States.” Migration Policy Institute, 15 July.
(2021) “Kaya natin’to.” YouTube, 25 August. 137. “[T]hough there are statistics that indicate that,
123. During the initial six weeks of Tayo’s participation among undocumented Asian immigrants, Filipinos
in the HHS campaign during late summer 2021, the constitute the largest share of the population, we have
aforementioned videos were distributed across social little research on their experiences. Similarly, though
media platforms and linear television channels, netting news reports and campaigns by Filipino organizations
more than 100,000 total impressions. indicate that labor trafficking is an issue plaguing
124. LA partners include Clínica Romero, Filipino American our community, we still do not know much about the
Service Group, Inc. (FASG), Mabuhay Credit Union, mechanisms that lead to their trafficking.If knowledge
and the Minority Psychology Network. The Alliance is power, then the Filipino community is severely
65
 disempowered.” Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies 156. Social Memory and Philippine Electoral Politics; Gemma
“About Us.” B. Mendoza (2019) “Networked propaganda: How the
138. Alvaro Bedoya (2020) “The Cruel New Era of Data-Driven Marcoses are using social media to reclaim Malacañang.”
Deportation.” Slate, 22 September.; Analysis of Attitudes Rappler, 20 November; Tim Culpan (2022) “TikTok Is the
About COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Public Health New Front in Election Misinformation.” Bloomberg, 28
Guidelines Among Undocumented Immigrants in the June.
US; Myra Luna-Lucero (2019) “Reflections on Research 157. Mu Sochua (2022) “Disinformation Poses a Grave Threat
with Undocumented Immigrants.” The PRIMR Blog, 12 to Democracy in the Philippines.” The Diplomat, 4 May;
April. Japhet Quitzon (2021) “Social Media Misinformation and
139. Charles Lam (2019) “Asian-American advocates wary the 2022 Philippine Elections.” Center for Strategic &
of census politicization as Supreme Court fast-tracks International Studies, 22 November.
citizenship case.” NBC News, 15 February; National Asian 158. Ong and Cabañes , 2018; Jonathan Corpus Ong and Kat
Pacific American Bar Association (2019) “NAPABA and Ventura (2022) Catch Me If You Can, Puma Podcast.
AALDEF Lead AAPI Amicus Brief Opposing Citizenship 159. Jonathan Corpus Ong (2022) “The World Should Be
Question on the Census.” NAPABA.org, 2 April. Worried About a Dictator’s Son’s Apparent Win in the
140. Filipino Young Leaders Program (2021) “Why Filipino Philippines.” Time, 10 May.
Americans count: A conversation on disaggregated 160. factsfirst.ph
data.” Facebook, 11 August. 161. Mayen Jaymalin (2016) “Duterte, Marcos top overseas
141. Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies (2020) “Filipin[x]s vote.” Philippine Star, 15 May; Michelle Abad (2021) “IN
Count! The Filipinx/Filipinx-American Health and Well- CHARTS: How overseas Filipinos voted in past elections.”
Being Survey.” Rappler, 26 May.
142. “It is essential to use a framework that demonstrates 162. In a microcosm of the larger contest back home, support
trustworthiness, is engaged with the community, and for Marcos among OFWs has been interpreted as a
recognizes and actively attempts to mitigate harms desire to extend Duterte’s mandate. Allies of opposition
and inequality through bidirectional engagement not candidate Leni Robredo on their part also reported the
only for accurate and complete data collection but also spread of election disinformation among voters overseas.
to use that data to address health inequalities.” Warren Ironically, the enormous presence of Filipinos working
Kibbe and Giselle Corbie-Smith (2021) “The U.S. needs abroad can itself be traced to a policy of exporting
to engage communities around BIPOC data.” STAT, 22 migrant labor that was established by Ferdinand Marcos,
November. Sr. Michelle Abad (2022) “Why Marcos Jr. gets massive
143. REVIEW OF COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH: Assessing OFW backing despite father’s labor export policy.”
Partnership Approaches to Improve Public Healt.. Rappler, 6 June. Notably, the only two countries where
144. Commentary on Community-Based Participatory Marcos did not secure the winning vote were Vatican
Research and Community Engaged Research in Health City and Australia. Michelle Abad (2022) “Marcos, Sara
for Journal of Participatory Research Methods; “Creating Duterte win overseas Filipino vote.” Rappler, 25 May.
a Culture of Mental Health in Filipino Immigrant 163. Leezel Tanglao (2021) “How The Filipino Community Is
Communities through Community Partnerships”; Jei Fighting Medical Invisibility.” Huffpost, 16 September.
Africa (2010) “Cultural Considerations: Working with the 164. Carlos Irwin A. Oronce (2021) “Health disparities
Filipino Community.” San Mateo County Health, 14 April; for Filipinxs in health care are disguised by data
Janet Weiner and Jasmine A. McDonald (2013) “Three aggregation.” STAT, 11 October; Agnes Constante (2021)
Models of Community-Based Participatory Research.” “To address Filipino American health disparities in future,
Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Issue Brief, experts look to past inequality.” NBC News, 28 June.
1 April. 165. The insights gathered from Tayo’s work has enabled
145. Paige Occeñola (2019) “Exclusive: PH was Cambridge FYLPRO to become more proactive in its issues advocacy
Analytica’s ‘petri dish’ – whistle-blower Christopher efforts, such as providing public comment on the
Wylie.” Rappler, 10 September. U.S. Surgeon General’s request for information on the
146. Pam Pastor (2022) “PH, ‘patient zero’ in fake news impact and prevalence of health misinformation in the
epidemic, can learn from Finland,” Inquirer.net, 19 June, digital information environment during the COVID-19
147. Ronald U. Mendoza et al. (2021) “Philippines: diagnosing pandemic and joining the Disinfo Defense League in
the infodemic.” The Interpreter, 1 December. its support for the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale
148. Joseph Hincks (2016) “A Brief History of U.S.-Philippine Act during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing
Relations.” Time, 26 October. on government access to personal data. See Impact
149. Gallardo and Batalova (2020) of Health Misinformation in the Digital Information
150. Pew Research Center (2012), “Filipino Americans.” Environment in the United States Throughout the
151. BBC Trending (2016) “Trolls and triumph: a digital battle COVID-19 Pandemic Request for Information (RFI);
in the Philippines.” BBC News, 7 December; Christine O. Digital Dragnets: Examining the Government’s Access to
Avendaño (2018) “Rappler links Duterte 2016 campaign Your Personal Data.
to certain fake news.” Inquirer.net, 31 January. 166. Vernise Tantuco (2021) “On Messenger, false information
152. Jodesz Gavilan (2016) “Duterte’s P10M social media spreads undetected, unchecked.” Rappler, 12 February.
campaign: Organic, volunteer-driven.” Rappler, 1 June. 167. New Coronavirus Variants are Creating More Challenges
153. Gerardo Eusebio (2022) “Fake news, internet to Global Healthcare System: A Brief Report on the
propaganda, and Philippine elections: 2016 to 2019.” Current Knowledge, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/
Rappler, 8 May; Jose Mari Lanuza et al. (2019) “Evolutions full/10.1177/2632010X221075584
of “Fake News” from the South: Tracking Disinformation 168. Sam Hancock (2022) “Public attitudes to the COVID-19
Innovations and Interventions between the 2016 and pandemic during the emergence of the Omicron
2019 Philippines Elections.” variant.” News-Medical.Net, 5 January; David Badre
154. Sheila Coronel (2022) “The Triumph of Marcos Dynasty (2021) “How We Can Deal with ‘Pandemic Fatigue.’”
Disinformation Is a Warning to the U.S.” The New Yorker, Scientific American, 24 January.; Anna Petherick et al.
17 May. (2021) “A worldwide assessment of changes in adherence
155. Kayleen Devlin (2022) “Philippines election: ‘Politicians to COVID-19 protective behaviours and hypothesized
hire me to spread fake stories.’” BBC News, 8 May; pandemic fatigue.” Nature, 3 August.
Camille Elemia (2002) “In the Philippines, a Flourishing 169. Ed Yong (2022) “America is Sliding into the Long
Ecosystem for Political Lies.” New York Times, 6 May; Pandemic Defeat.” The Atlantic, 27 June; Ian Fisher
Cherry Salazar (2022) “Marcos leads presidential race (2022) “Fauci Says It’s Up to Each Person to Assess Their
amid massive disinformation.” Philippine Centerfor Covid Risk Now.” Bloomberg, 10 April.
Investigative Journalism, 8 May.
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Asian American
Disinformation Table
AsianAmDisinfo.org