Misinformation targeting migrants

Misinformation targeting migrants refers to the deliberate and widespread dissemination of false or inaccurate information directed towards migrants to the United States spread through various channels, including social media. This type of misinformation can include fake news, rumors, and the misinterpretation of facts, frequently involving the tweaking or twisting of existing information rather than outright fabrication. Misinformation targets various groups involved in migration, including in-transit migrants and immigrant/diaspora communities in destination countries. It is a pervasive issue in the context of migration, a topic that is highly mediatized and politicized.

Though misinformation can be perpetuated through traditional news outlets and individual perspectives, social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram are primary channels for its spread. Misinformation can be networked across a variety of platforms and websites outside of immediate social media datasets, including proprietary web pages, YouTube channels, and messaging platforms, amplifying misleading content. The decentralized nature of content generation and intense competition among online publishers contribute to the prevalence of sensational headlines and rapid content replication.

The spread of misinformation significantly impacts both migrants and local communities. For migrants, it can lead to exploitation by smugglers and traffickers, provide misleading information about journey risks and services, and create mistrust towards official authorities. In host societies, it fosters negative attitudes, reinforces prejudices, and can influence policy decisions. Efforts to combat this misinformation include promoting media literacy, evidence-based reasoning, and community-led fact-checking initiatives.

Examples

Examples of misinformation targeting migrants includes false claims about migrants' crime rates. Distortions about migrants' economic contributions through taxes. Inaccuracies about the realities of the asylum process. Misleading information about fentanyl seizures at borders. Portraying migrants as criminals or a threat to public safety, often supported by sensationalist media coverage. False narratives and rumors linking specific ethnic groups to terrorism or illegal immigration, such as those spread during the Rohingya crisis.

False information linking migrants to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, stigmatizing them as carriers of disease and resulting in discrimination and violence. Distorted political narratives, such as false claims related to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election (e.g., "the Big Lie" about the election being stolen, the "Stop The Steal" campaign), which were translated and spread among non-English speaking communities like Vietnamese Americans. These narratives can be particularly salient when tied to historical fears, such as anti-communist sentiments among those who fled communist regimes.

Mechanisms of spread

Social media platforms have become primary information sources for migrants, with platforms like Facebook and TikTok widely used by individuals planning dangerous journeys such as crossing the Darien Gap. Migrants rely on digital tools to maintain family connections, research destinations, communicate with smugglers, share border-crossing information, access translation services, and navigate bureaucratic processes. However, they often struggle to find credible information about their journeys online.

Much false information targeting migrants circulates through private channels at considerable speed. In the US, platforms popular with Asian Americans—such as WeChat and Facebook—face significant misinformation problems. On WeChat, information flows are heavily influenced by personal curation, with chat groups serving as distribution nodes through social networks.

The decentralized nature of digital publishing and the attention economy's demands contribute to misinformation's rapid spread through clickbait headlines, emotional manipulation, and inadequate source verification. Local outlets often amplify this problem, particularly on platforms like WeChat, by targeting overseas audiences for revenue while spreading false information.

Misinformation often takes on local characteristics, with community stories and policies particularly vulnerable to distortion when credible local reporting is lacking. This creates information vacuums that misinformation readily fills. The problem becomes more complex as false narratives draw from both domestic and foreign sources—for example, misinformation on WeChat often intersects with US far-right narratives and Chinese online discourse.

Social media platforms have been widely criticized for inadequately addressing non-English misinformation, dedicating fewer resources to content moderation in languages other than English. This language bias allows misinformation to proliferate unchecked in immigrant communities that primarily communicate in their native languages. Misinformation has also been shared in particular by Spanish-language media as well in the United States.

Impact

On migrants

Information precarity

Migrants often lack reliable online information about their journeys and must use informal methods to verify what they find. This information gap creates vulnerability to widespread misinformation about migration that distorts public understanding and policy discussions.

Misinformation frequently oversimplifies migration causes by attributing people's decisions to leave solely to poverty, violence, or persecution, when these factors are often interconnected with other complex drivers. Economic myths also proliferate, including false claims that immigrants lower wages or steal jobs from native-born workers, despite evidence showing more nuanced economic impacts.

Media coverage often reinforces harmful narratives by portraying migrants as criminals or public safety threats. Sensationalist reporting highlights isolated negative incidents involving immigrants while downplaying their beneficial contributions to host communities. This biased coverage perpetuates harmful stereotypes, such as targeting specific ethnic groups—like portraying Rohingya as terrorists during their humanitarian crisis.

Additionally, misleading statistics about migration numbers and demographics spread rapidly, as seen during the European migrant crisis, where distorted information about the scale and characteristics of migrants entering the region fueled public anxiety and influenced policy responses.

False hope

Migrants frequently encounter online rumors and deception regarding the dangers of the migration journey, border openings, asylum policies, and the availability of services, particularly those traveling to the United States via Mexico. Misinformation often depicts destination societies as idealized places of wealth and opportunity ("Eldorado"), creating false hope or unrealistic expectations.

Exploitation

Smugglers and other actors exploit online platforms to disseminate misleading information about journey risks and available services, complicating migrants' decision-making processes. Human traffickers specifically spread misinformation through online platforms to profit from irregular migration.

Reintegration challenges

When migrants return to their countries of origin, they may face difficulties reintegrating due to stigmatization, cultural readjustment, and economic hardship, exacerbated by misinformation.

Vulnerability

In-transit migrants are particularly vulnerable to online misinformation due to several interconnected factors. They must navigate unfamiliar territories and constantly changing policies, creating urgent needs for timely, accurate information that forces quick decision-making. However, migrants often lack access to credible online information about their journeys and must rely on informal strategies to verify what they find.

The uncertainty surrounding migration situations, combined with information scarcity or overload, creates fertile ground for misinformation to spread. Migrants may share false information simply due to unawareness of its inaccuracy or potential harm. Other contributing factors include reluctance to seek alternative sources and confirmation bias—the tendency to select information that reinforces existing beliefs. The complexity of migration discourse across multiple languages and communication styles further complicates information comprehension.

Research on combating online misinformation has focused primarily on general populations, leaving limited knowledge about effective strategies for migrant communities. Migrants in destination countries, especially those in non-English speaking communities, often lack access to or trust in fact-checking resources in their languages. They frequently rely on social networks for information, and this "weak-tie social curation" can amplify questionable content.

Historical traumas and specific cultural contexts make certain misinformation narratives particularly compelling for diaspora communities. The decline of ethnic media and lack of credible local reporting in immigrant-concentrated areas further reduces access to authoritative information sources, creating information voids that misinformation readily fills.

On society

Promoting prejudice and negative attitudes

Misinformation contributes to the formation of preconditions that promote false representations of migrants, foster negative attitudes, and consolidate prejudices against them. For example, the portrayal of migrants as criminals or a threat to public safety is a typical form of inaccurate information, often supported by sensationalist media. The false idea that immigrants lower salaries or take jobs from native-born employees is a common myth, despite studies showing migration can spur economic growth.

Political and social division

It reinforces biases in both origin and destination countries about migration flows, triggering misconceptions about policy challenges and regulation. Misleading information can shape public opinion and influence migration policies, as seen during the European migrant crisis in 2015, which created fear, xenophobia, and anti-immigrant sentiments. False claims related to election integrity, often linked to broader political campaigns. In some communities, narratives leverage historical traumas or political sentiments, such as anti-communist and anti-China rhetoric among the Vietnamese diaspora in the U.S. Misinformation targeting Chinese immigrants on platforms like WeChat has covered contentious issues such as affirmative action, undocumented immigration, and Islam, often linked to right-leaning outlets. Examples include false claims about immigrants starting wildfires or being linked to disease.

Human rights and social cohesion

Misinformation can perpetuate harmful narratives that undermine the rights and dignity of migrants, exacerbating social exclusion and discrimination. It can create divisions and tensions within societies, leading to polarized debates and the rise of extremist views.

Misinformation influences individuals' behaviors and political choices, potentially leading to negative legislation, violence, and prejudice towards migrants. Addressing the root causes of migration through international cooperation can be obscured by false information. Misinformation reinforces biases in countries of origin and destination about migration flows, triggering misconceptions about the challenges and opportunities of migration policy making and regulation. Countering misinformation is seen as contributing to the protection of human rights by preventing harmful narratives that undermine migrants' rights and dignity.

Response

United States Government

Both the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration have been accused on misinformation. During the Second Presidency of Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security released media statements that accused American media of spreading false information about migrants. Biden defended his response to immigration in the 2024 State of the Union Address.

International Organizations

Misinformation directed at migrants has been addressed by the United Nations through the International Organization for Migration. IOM Director General Amy Pope has called for demystification of migration through evidence-based data such as their annual report.

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