Covid-19: What are the Drivers of the Islamophobic Infodemic Communications on social media

在理解社交媒体网站上的阴谋论和错误传播如何被用来制造Covid-19“信息大流行”方面存在直接差距。在穆斯林社区的背景下，这一点尤为重要，因为极右翼成员能够利用非理性信仰和假新闻意识形态来兜售仇恨，这种叙事很快就能渗透到主流并变得正常化。例如，英国防卫联盟前领导人汤米·罗宾逊在社交媒体网站Telegram上分享的一段视频显示，一群穆斯林男子离开伯明翰的一座秘密清真寺去祈祷。西米德兰兹警方揭穿了这段视频是假的，因为清真寺已经被关闭了。许多类似的例子表明，假新闻造成的恐惧日益紧张，以及对这些信息的影响，可能会疏远社区，并可能产生真正重大的线下影响，让人们变得更加孤立。了解这种传播的驱动因素对于确保更有效和更可靠的媒体来源至关重要，在这些媒体来源中，复杂的信息可以用来帮助决策者和更广泛的公众。本研究将通过我们丰富的经验数据来解决这一差距，这些数据可用于强调执法部门在面对在线阴谋论和离线攻击时应该做些什么。此类信息的本质是它可以迅速传播，我们的项目将解决这一问题的驱动因素和涉及的肇事者，这对社交媒体公司、警察、政策制定者和其他关键利益相关者来说意义重大。当前关于Covid-19的阴谋论和种族主义“信息传播”错误传播的气氛可能会在取消社交距离措施后产生重大后果。由于社交媒体的性质，以及收集的社交媒体评论和行为的范围，这个项目将能够在我们确定触发事件的同时关注国家问题。社交媒体评论提供的细节，包括在某些情况下的位置（在社交媒体评论、用户个人资料或评论元数据中明确显示），将允许关注英国的某些地区或整个国家。这可能有助于跟踪和应对与Covid-19有关的本地问题、极端内容和误解。

There is a direct gap in understanding how conspiracy theories and miscommunication on social media sites is being used to create a Covid-19 'infodemic'. This is particularly relevant in the context of Muslim communities as members of the far-right are able to use irrational beliefs and fake news ideology to peddle hate, with such narratives quickly being able to penetrate the mainstream and become normalised. For example, one video shared on the social media site Telegram by the former leader of the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, alleges to show a group of Muslim men leaving a secret mosque in Birmingham to pray. West Midlands Police debunked this video as being fake as the Mosque had already been closed down. A number of similar examples show the rising tension of fear fake news creates and the implications for such information which risks alienating communities and can have a real significant offline effect where people become more insular. Understanding the drivers of such communication is critical to ensuring a more effective and trustworthy media source where complex information, can be used to aid policy-makers and the wider general public. This study will address this gap through our rich empirical data that can be used to highlight what law enforcement should do when confronting online conspiracy theories and offline attacks. The nature of such information is that it can spread quickly and our project will address the drivers of this and the perpetrators involved which will be significant for social media companies, the police, policy-makers and other key stakeholders. The current climate of conspiracy theories and racist 'infodemic' miscommunication on Covid-19 can have significant consequences when social distancing measures are lifted. Due to the nature of social media, and the range of social media comments and behaviour gathered, this project will be able to focus on national issues as we identify trigger events. The detail provided by the social media comments, including in some cases location (either explicitly in the social media comment, user profile, or comment meta-data), will allow for there to be a focus on certain regions with the UK, or countries as a whole. This may facilitate the tracking of and response to localised issues linked to Covid-19, extreme content and miscommunication.