How Does Misinformation Lead to Racism and Xenophobia?

Hi, I'm Hari Sreenivasan, and welcome
to another edition of Take on Fake.

In this episode, let's take a look
at the rise in xenophobia

and a surge in racial harassment
against people of Asian descent,

all because of misinformation
about the coronavirus.

Let's go back in time all the way
to the end of January 2020,

when the whole world was waking up
to what COVID-19 was.

There was a video on YouTube
that resurfaced.

The title of it was:

"Do you get sick from eating
bat meat and bat soup?"

It showed up in lots of places like here

and here

and even here.

The commenters didn't just attack
the woman that was in the video.

They attacked everything about
Chinese people:

their eating habits, their culture.

This video wasn't even filmed in China.

It wasn't even filmed during
the time of the coronavirus.

It was filmed three years ago
in the Pacific Island of Palau.

Who knows that?

The travel vlogger who made it,
Wang Meng Yun.

This example is part of a larger pattern
of misinformation

where people take things out of context.

Why would somebody do this?

Well, because it gets
a huge reaction online.

The more emotional and vitriolic
they can get anyone that's reading this,

that means more comments.

That means more clicks.

That sometimes means more advertising.

Unfortunately for Wang Meng Yun,
the travel vlogger,

this became fuel for attacks against her
and Asian people in general.

I'm so sorry, but I think that was
a very racist comment.

-Yeah? Wow. Great
-Yeah.

What did you say?

I said, You dropped your coronavirus.

In the past couple of months, people
of Asian descent have been sharing

their stories on social media
of how they've been shunned.

They've been targeted.

They've been racially harassed
and discriminated against.

We spoke to Dr. Russell Jeung,
who helped develop a website

where Asian Americans can report
the kind of shunning, verbal harassment

and physical assaults that
they may have experienced.

So in January and February, we saw a spike
of xenophobic responses in news stories

and we realised that on the ground
it was occurring regularly

And so with my partner organizations,
Chinese for Affirmative Action and A3PCON,

we set up a website to collect
self-reported incidents.

And since we opened up,
we've had a flood of responses.

So over 100 hundred cases every day.

Does it cut across geography?

Does it cut across age, gender?

One of the major trends
we're noticing

is that women are three times more
likely to be harassed than men.

And that it's not just Chinese people
who are being attacked,

but anybody who looks Chinese.

So it's racial profiling.

What I see happening, like in any instance
when Asian Americans face racism

or any people of color face racism,

is that there's always resistance.

I want for Asian Americans
to continue to rally

and to challenge xenophobic statements
and to work with the government

to develop strategic policies
and help our communities.

Let's use social media to bring
people together, not divide us.

Until next time, don't spread fake news.
Keep it real!

I'm Hari Sreenivasan
and this is Take on Fake

If you were a witness to
or a victim of racial discrimination

that you think is motivated
by the coronavirus,

look at the link in the description below.

And if you have something
that you've seen in your social feeds,

that doesn't sit right, and you want
our team to take a look.

Please leave it in the comments below.

Thanks. See you next time.