There are 32-million Hispanic citizens eligible to vote in the upcoming election according to the Pew Research Center, making it the largest minority group of voters in the country. Many of these citizens reside in swing states – Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas — and winning their vote is vital to winning the election. A report by MIT Technology Review released this week, says that because of their pivotal role in the election, Hispanic communities are being bombarded by online propaganda.
At the heart of many of these disinformation campaigns is abortion rights, an issue that appeals to the Hispanic demographic that is 70% Christian. Social media platforms act as the distributors of the narratives that aim to persuade potential voters. Often times, false information is sent out in Spanish rather than English, to avoid detection by English language fact-checking measures by social platforms. This is done intentionally according to some experts. “They often co-opt [disinformation] and spread it quickly in Spanish,” Jacob Licona, a researcher at Equis Labs, an organization committed to building LatinX political power, told MIT. “And that oftentimes goes unchecked compared to some of the English-language content.” Licona believes that there is less accountability around Spanish-language content on social media.
Also a factor in the high levels of misinformation spread amongst Hispanics is the high use of the Whatsapp messaging service. “WhatsApp group chats are particularly popular among immigrant communities because the app doesn’t require a US phone number and offers end-to-end encryption that provides some security,” Tate Ryan Mosley writes in the MIT Technology Review. “But WhatsApp is hard to monitor and fact-check, making it nearly impossible for researchers and activists to monitor disinformation and bad actors.” She notes that Facebook, the owner of Whatsapp, has put limits on message forwarding in international territories in an attempt to curb misinformation and disinformation spreading online. That is not the case in the U.S.
This is particularly concerning given the proliferation of QAnon and other groups committed to spreading false information to shift public opinion. “Since its inception in 2017 QAnon has quickly metastasized, infiltrating American politics, internet culture and now — religion,” says Daniel Burke, the Religion Editor at CNN. Burke published an article this week titled ‘How QAnon uses religion to lure unsuspecting Christians,’ which quoted Ed Stetzer, the dean of Wheaton College in Illinois, who is also an evangelical pastor. “Right now QAnon is still on the fringes of evangelicalism,” Stetzer, told CNN. “But we have a pretty big fringe. Pastors need to be more aware of the danger and they need tools to address it. People are being misled by social media.”
Stetzer wrote a column warning Christians about QAnon that was published in USA Today. He offers the following suggestions on how Christians can fight disinformation:
1. Cultivate Discernment
In a 2018 poll we conducted at Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Research Institute, we found that 46% of self-identified evangelicals and 52% of those whose beliefs tag them as evangelical “strongly believes the mainstream media produces fake news.”
The level to which people attended church correlated with this belief; the more active in church, the less trusting of news media. Yes, news agencies have biases; this fact is not synonymous with producing fake news. CNN leans left; Fox leans right. But bias doesn’t equal fake news, and too many are rejecting legitimate news sources while being discipled by their social media. QAnon describes a deep state cabal of pedophiles. There are many of us, including evangelicals, who are strongly opposed to problems of child trafficking and pedophiles. Yet, one can oppose evil within the world without subscribing to the conspiracy theories like QAnon.
2. Recognize The Resistant
Many people and groups have issues with QAnon. The FBI expressed concerns about this group regarding potential domestic terrorism. Vice President Mike Pence said: “We dismiss conspiracy theories around here out of hand.” It is problematic that Trump noted his appreciation for QAnon supporters because of their support of his presidency. I am glad the vice president didn’t, along with other notable leaders of their party such as Sen. Ben Sasse and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. We need to hear them.
Dean Stetzer’s full article can be read on USA Today, here.