Washington: False images of the first lady of Ukraine tanning topless, inaccurate video subtitles accusing Pakistani feminists of "blasphemy," and slow-motion videos purporting to show "drunk" female politicians are just a few examples of the misinformation directed at women in the public eye.
According to researchers, "gendered disinformation," which occurs when sexism and misogyny combine with online lies, has relentlessly targeted women around the world, tarnishing their reputations, undermining their credibility, and, in many cases, upending their careers.
The fact-checkers at AFP have exposed online campaigns that use fabricated information or altered, frequently sexually explicit images to target politically engaged women or those associated with well-known politicians.
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Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, came under fire last year after a fake photo of her naked on a beach in Israel went viral on Facebook. Critics charged that she was enjoying herself while her war-torn nation was suffering. According to AFP's reverse image search, the woman in the picture was actually a Russian television presenter.
Both the current and former first ladies of France, Brigitte Macron and Michelle Obama, have been the target of deceptive online posts claiming they were born as men. The misinformation led to a flurry of satirical and transphobic comments.
Another well-known person who was subjected to a barrage of false information about her sex was Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, who announced her resignation in January.
Online misinformation unfairly targets women, especially those in positions of visibility and power, according to a report from Maria Giovanna Sessa, a senior researcher at the nonprofit EU DisinfoLab.
Another strategy that caused concern in 2020 was the virality of a video of Nancy Pelosi, the US House Speaker at the time. Her speech became slurred as a result, giving the impression that she was intoxicated. Lucina Di Meco, a gender equality expert, wrote in a study released last month that gendered disinformation campaigns "have a chilling effect on the women they target" because they "build on sexist stereotypes and are disseminated with malign intent."
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According to the study titled "monetizing misogyny," the misinformation frequently causes "political violence, hate, and the deterring of young women from considering a political career."
Political opponents frequently use disinformation strategies to paint female politicians as inherently unreliable, overly emotional, or promiscuous to hold office.
Germany's current foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, faced repeated misinformation campaigns when she ran for chancellor in 2021, raising concerns about her suitability for the position. One of them claimed to be of her and included pictures of a nude model with allegations that she had performed sex labour.
According to numerous researchers, gendered disinformation poses a threat to national security because autocratic nations like Russia can use it to exert influence abroad.
Di Meco's report warned that gendered misinformation is frequently used by state-aligned actors to undermine women opposition leaders and women's rights when autocratic leaders are in power. All over the world, women fight against myths that support stereotypes about their stupidity or inefficiency.
Al-Zahraa Shaaban, an Egyptian sports shooter, was falsely accused of shooting the referee, which led to her exclusion from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. That sparked a string of remarks making fun of women and doubting their capacity to engage in such sporting pursuits.
After an F-35 fighter jet crashed on the deck of a US aircraft carrier in the South China Sea last year, similar concerns were voiced about their capacity to serve in the military. False social media posts claimed that the F-35 crash was the fault of the world's first female pilot. The pilot was a man, after all.
According to researchers, such demeaning lies can have a silencing effect on women, who are motivated to disengage, self-censor, and even avoid male-dominated fields like politics.
That was a concern expressed in a letter to Facebook from numerous US and foreign lawmakers in 2020. Facebook and other platforms have been held accountable for the algorithmic amplifying of false and hateful content aimed at women.
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Facebook at the time acknowledged that online abuse of women was a "serious problem" and promised to work with policymakers to address their concerns in a statement to US media.
There is no doubt that these strategies, which are employed on your platform with malice aforethought, are intended to silence women and ultimately undermine our democracies, according to the letter. It is understandable why women frequently cite the possibility of swift, widespread, public assaults on their personal dignity as a reason to avoid entering politics.