Executive Summary

The Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) organised their fourth annual workshop on “DRUMS: Distortions, Rumours, Untruths, Misinformation & Smears” as a three-part webinar series on 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th December 2020.

The webinar series explored trends and issues in information manipulation – disinformation, misinformation and online falsehoods – that bedevilled the world in 2020. These trends and issues affect national security by influencing the processes and outcomes of elections and political discourse, public health and safety, and trust in media sources and national institutions. Expert speakers at the webinar series also examined governments’ and civil society’s efforts, and digital campaigns to counter the information disorder.

The first webinar explored how malicious domestic and foreign geopolitical actors used information manipulation to undermine elections integrity and social peace, and influence online political discourse in western democracies and Asia.

On elections integrity, democratic societies need a comprehensive framework to protect themselves against risks from hybrid campaigns. These campaigns comprise cyber-attacks that target elections’ digital infrastructure, and disinformation targeting political figures and election results to sow public confusion and disorder. Disinformation could cause harm even when cybersecurity measures prevent hostile actors from attacking the voting systems. Regarding the Twitter-space, Western experts’ analysis unveiled a network of inauthentic accounts that had behaved in a coordinated manner to target western democracies. This campaign supports the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) narratives about issues such as COVID-19 that could be critical of China.

During the Myanmar 2020 elections, political parties, elements linked to the military, and extremist movements used disinformation tactics such as hoaxes and fake media outlets to target political opponents and minority groups. Throughout the U.S. 2020 elections, the coordinated use of peer-to-peer texting and influencers to engage voters presented regulatory loopholes and new vulnerabilities. Hostile domestic and foreign actors could exploit them to influence voting decisions and undermine trust in the elections system.

The second webinar explored how the COVID-19 infodemic aggravates the impact of the pandemic. It complicates the health crisis, fuelling racism and xenophobia, and could persist as countries seek the supply and distribution of safe and affordable vaccines.

In Malaysia, studies unveiled that COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation incorporates images and videos to appear credible, and spread mostly via the encrypted messaging platform WhatsApp besides Facebook. Misinformation and disinformation promotes scams, ill-will towards different races, religions and nations; and feeds religious apprehension that could drive anti-vaccine ideas. In Indonesia, civil society organisations such as MAFINDO help counter misinformation and disinformation resulting from the politicisation of the pandemic. Conspiracy theories and clickbait tactics exploit people’s concern for their families and religious identities to spread distrust and drive political contestations. Regarding healthcare organisations, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and healthcare officials worldwide are the targets of information attacks. For example, online memes, slurs and hashtags that are racist and conflate with anti-China messages had targeted the Director-General of the WHO each time he tweeted. In Europe, lesser-known social media platforms enable an ecosystem of online sub-communities where COVID-19 conspiracy theories and extremist ideas thrive. Non-governmental organisations such as EU DisinfoLab play essential roles in fact-checking and raising the public’s media literacy against the infodemic.

The third webinar explored how journalists and media outlets, deepfake technology, social media influencers and digital advertisements play a crucial role in the information environment. They could influence opinions and spread harmful content across all demographics of internet users.

On digital advertising, the work of grassroots social media campaign Sleeping Giants examined ad revenue models. The campaign reached out to brands that had inadvertently placed their advertisements on the extremist Breitbart website which circulates online disinformation. In preventing harmful content, digital marketers and brands should be of aware where their ads appear. On social media influencers and internet celebrities, societies should not underestimate their influence on topical conversations. Influencers use tactics such as “insta-vagueing” and memes. They are adept in leveraging social media platforms to optimise online engagements and disseminate messages. Deepfakes are growing in popularity among celebrities and politicians who use the technology for outreach and entertainment purposes. Experts are concerned that exposure to deepfakes could foment the liar’s dividend, and studies unveiled that a third of Singaporeans and Americans surveyed had unknowingly shared deepfakes. On influence operations, the media could be a conduit for it depending on the state-backed and private interests that fund them. Fake news outlets could conceal their origins to evade foreign influence countermeasures and engage journalists to reach their target audiences.

DRUMS 2020 Event Report