Disinformation has surged in the U.S. and around the world and become an especially powerful threat during election years. Experts say immigrant communities and people of color are particular targets, as bad actors exploit political fears and ideologies and find these voters where they congregate – on messaging apps such as WeChat and WhatsApp.
News21 spoke with activists from different communities of color to learn more about how disinformation affects their friends, family and neighbors and how they’re fighting it. Click on each portrait above to hear and read their stories.
Azra Siddiqi
Azra Siddiqi is president of WiseUp TX, which educates South Asian Americans in Texas about voting issues and shares information about polling locations and dates.
“We are at this pivotal moment. I think we are going to have to redefine what democracy is, because I don’t think people feel that we live in a democratic country anymore.”
Transcript
My name is Azra Siddiqi. I am the founder and president of WiseUp Texas. WiseUp Texas is a nonpartisan, nonprofit catering to the Texas South Asian community for civic engagement.
Speaking Urdu
Literal translation is there are so many idiots in our democracy. I do think we are at this pivotal moment. I think we are going to have to redefine what democracy is because I don’t think people feel that we live in a democratic country anymore. I think the reason why people feel like that as more time has goes on, is people continue to demonstrate, you know, reach out to their elected officials and nothing tangible is passed by the government for us to continue to believe in the democracy.
Diana Maldonado
Diana Maldonado is executive director of Jolt Action, an organization in Austin, Texas, focused on encouraging Latinos to register to vote, educating voters on key issues and working with student clubs on college campuses to organize political action. The Latino community is the largest minority group in Texas and the second-largest demographic in the country. Maldonado says political messaging targeting Latinos has become more common as the population of young Latino voters increases.
“The state of democracy in our nation … it has a lot of uncertainty, but at the same time I am also comforted by the next generation.”
Transcript
My name is Diana Maldonado and I am the Interim Executive Director at Jolt.
Speaking Spanish
Obviously, being a Latina, I look at it from that lens of inclusivity, to be able to have many voices and many perspectives of thought and diversity to create something better than where we’re at.
Speaking Spanish
Every presidential election immigration comes up, but it’s more like a punting ball for them to use, but the punting ball is a lot of human beings.
Every 30 seconds a Latino turns 18. With Latinos being the largest minority that is growing in Texas now at 40.2 percent and political strategists wanting to feed and pay media into these channels that are Latino centric, and Latinos are a very loyal customer audience and that they’re very loyal to media entities such as Univision and Telemundo, so when they see a commercial or they see a messaging, they think, “Oh my gosh, this has to be true,” because it’s been vetted through a trusted source.
I have seen and have heard Latinos start the backlash against these immigrants and individuals and families looking for asylum and I think it is by design, by building up these fences and the barbed wire just to create more chaos.
For a mother to walk thousands of miles across countries to cross the Rio Grande, I mean, that mother is very determined to find a better life for herself and for her children at the cost of losing their lives.
They’re not criminals.
It’s very easy for political leaders to pit community members against each other, and we combat that by saying, this is their plight. This is the result of countries not speaking to each other to resolve a 30, 40 year issue because it is an issue where people use it for reelection versus solving a humanitarian crisis.
Speaking Spanish
The state of democracy in our nation, it’s growing, it has a lot of uncertainty, but at the same time I am also comforted by the next generation that will forge ahead and as long as we have our DNA, with regards to our values and principles for the greater good, we will prosper.
Angela Lim
Angela Lim is a fourth-year student from the Philippines pursuing journalism and Asian American studies at the University of Texas in Austin. In the summer of 2023, Lim worked at the university’s Center for Media Engagement propaganda lab, studying misinformation and political values within Filipino American communities. With friends and family often spreading and consuming mis- and disinformation, Lim felt the drive to investigate these misleading narratives plaguing her community.
“There is no true democracy without freedom for all people here in the United States.”
Transcript
Speaking Tagalog
There is no true democracy without freedom for all people here in the United States.
Hi, I’m Angela Lim. I’m a fourth year journalism and Asian American Studies major here at the University of Texas at Austin. I was an undergraduate research assistant at the Center for Media Engagement propaganda lab here at UT, from summer of 2023 to fall of 2023.
I’m Filipino American, I grew up in the Philippines and I really wanted to do research on my own community, because I feel like political mis- and disinformation is something that’s really rampant in my own circles or my friends’ circles.
A lot of Filipinos are on Facebook. It’s the largest social media network. My whole family has a group chat with each other on Messenger. That’s also how a lot of political information traveled.
I feel like a lot of those political posts that would be shared among my circles, they would have kind of like a shock value to them, whether it be, like, regarding the current president or the elections, exaggerated headlines, or maybe news articles taken out of context.
What you see definitely depends on the type of media you consume.
I know my parents, they primarily get their news from cable TV, or they watch TV, and I feel like that’s true in a lot of immigrant households, where you wake up early in the morning, you turn on the morning news.
In Asian American communities we’re often told to not rock the boat, or to just lay low, and I think that’s also something that my parents emphasized to us.
It’s very hard to find solutions to, you know, combating misinformation, disinformation. It’s easier said than done to be like “oh, have these conversations with your parents, send articles from the Washington Post, or the New York Times” or things like that, but there is only, like, so much that you can do.
Like, for example, my dad sent like an article, something about Texas or Austin, but it was reported by a national outlet and I was like, “You need to read more local news, or like news outlets based in Texas or in the area, because they know what is going on,” but my dad doesn’t read stuff like the Texas Tribune, or KUT, our local NPR station here. So it’s very hard to say, like, what a solution is, but ideally, it would be having those conversations.
Also, I think it helps to understand where they’re coming from too, like where my parents are coming from. Trying to understand like, how did they grow up to think this way, and try not to antagonize them so much. I feel like it’s very important to understand like, our life experiences have shaped us to think about things a certain way.
Michael Wei
Michael Wei, a father and toxicologist, is running for trustee with the school district in Round Rock, Texas.
“United States … it’s like tai chi. Tai chi you have yin and yang, right? In United States, you have left and right.”
Transcript
My name is Michael Wei. I am running for Round Rock I.S.D. Trustee.
Speaking Mandarin
I think United States it’s like tai chi, you know, tai chi you have yin and yang, right? In United States you have left and right. Regardless if you are left or right, eventually the thing is going to be come together.
So, that’s originally the United States democrat right? But now it’s just like this yin and yang is just too extreme.
Ling Luo
Ling Luo is the founder and chairwoman of the Asian Americans Leadership Council, a national organization focused on providing training and connections for Asian American leaders around the country.
“The democratic political system, giving people the right to vote so everybody can have a say by using their vote to speak. … I think that is exactly what democracy is about.”
Transcript
My name is Ling Luo. I am the founder and chairwoman of Asian Americans Leadership Council. This is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization. Majorly we train the AAPI young leaders and community leaders to become more involved in civic engagement.
Speaking Mandarin
Democracy is best exemplified by Democratic Party, and people come to America to pursue their dream of being free and with liberty. …
Speaking Mandarin
And also progress. I think the democratic political system giving people the right to vote, so everybody can have a say by using their vote to speak. We call your vote, your voice. I think that is exactly what democracy is about.
Speaking Mandarin
Fernando Avelar Toledo
Fernando Avelar Toledo is a writer and multimedia designer at Jolt Action, an organization that encourages Latinos to register to vote, educates voters about key issues and works with student clubs on college campuses to organize political action. He joined Jolt in July 2023, just after he became a U.S. citizen. He was interviewed before Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket.
“I think, I would hope, I expect, I pray that as we move on to our next elections that we get way different candidates who come from way different backgrounds.”
Transcript
My name is Fernando Avelar Toledo. I am the writer and multimedia designer for Jolt Texas.
Speaking Spanish
I think the current state of democracy in America is honestly, like, nerve-wracking. We are in unprecedented times with two presidential candidates who from my view are both not the top choice for a lot of people, especially young people.
I think, or I would hope, I expect, I pray that as we move on to our next elections that we get way different candidates who come from way different backgrounds. I would like to see a change in how politics operate overall. I would like to see a change in what motivates people to be politicians, like to vote for certain things or to go for certain policies.
And that’s why I hope that Latinos show up and use their vote, because we have the power to benefit our communities and through little elections kind of draw a path towards a future where Latinos are fairly represented, Latinos don’t have to deal with these hurtful narratives about them and our community is more united and stronger overall.
Becca DeFelice
Becca DeFelice is executive director of Emerge Texas, an organization focused on encouraging women to run for office.
“To me, the only way forward is to ensure that we are electing more people who are representative of the communities that they want to serve … because without that we are looking at another 30 years of the same. And, frankly, I don’t believe that our democracy will survive another 30 years of this.”
Transcript
I’m Becca DeFelice. I am the executive director of Emerge Texas. I also serve as the DNC AAPI caucus representative for Texas, essentially my entire life revolves around trying to build a better democracy for the next generation.
I think that we’ve gotten to the point where in America political participation is a privilege. It is something that is reserved for people who have the time and the energy or who are lucky enough to, and lucky is a very interesting word for this, work in politics.
We have made it inaccessible to so many people, and it is not by accident it is absolutely by design. To me, the only way forward is to ensure that we are electing more people who are representative of the communities that they want to serve, because without that we are looking at another 30 years of the same. And, frankly, I don’t believe that our democracy will survive another 30 years of this.
Ruei-Fong Tuo
Ruei-Fong Tuo is a civic engagement specialist at the Chinese Community Center in Houston, but her involvement with the center and the community goes beyond her work responsibilities. She saw the center grow from a one-room Chinese school to a three-building complex with services covering education, immigration, senior assistance and more. As the civic engagement specialist, Tuo focuses on creating translated voting information for Asian Americans to ensure equal access to reliable information.
“I realized that in order for a democracy to be healthy and strong, everybody needs to be involved and educated.”
Transcript
Speaking Mandarin
The American democracy is at the stage where we’re at a turning point.
Speaking Mandarin
More perfect union. … We either continue the path that we have been, which we survived quite a few, you know, crises in the past and we were able to still keep going on down the right path for this great American democracy, and we’re at that turning point again.
Speaking Mandarin
Where if it goes wrong we can completely lose it within years, so we would lose all this, over 200 years of experiment, and everybody needs to care, cause most people they’re so engrossed in their everyday lives, but also need to understand without the democracy, everything they care about can be gone tomorrow.
My name is Ruei-Fong Tuo. I’m the Civic Engagement Specialist here at the Chinese Community Center of Houston.
To have a sense of community and belonging is what all human, all humans want.
When you are at a place that you feel like you are the perpetual outsider, and you are being treated like a perpetual outsider, and then you feel vulnerable. When you feel vulnerable, you tend to stay in your bubbles, so you only get your news from inside your bubbles.
Chinese people love to get their news from WeChat, and people will be passing these articles around, and be like “Who wrote it?” and so “Oh, I don’t know, cousin Vinny sent it to me.” I was like, “yeah, but who wrote it?” “Well I don’t know, I just agree with it,” and I was like, “yeah but it is completely false.”
WeChat is different from Facebook, it’s more similar to Messenger, right? So the articles you receive will be like, passed to you from a friend and when something’s from a friend, you tend not to be as on guard, you tend to believe it. That’s why it makes all these misinformation, disinformation so easily spread.
It’s sometimes hard for people to see outside of their bubbles, I feel we just need to be patient, cause I do believe most people are good people.
OK, majority of the people when they come here, they always carry their memories of their, how their country, the home country worked, and when they come here they make the same assumptions.
For example, the concept of independent school district is very unique here in the United States, and also the concept of, “Oh, this little town or little city – they get to do whatever they want, as long as it’s following the federal and state laws,” right? And then if they’re within the county, depending on the jurisdictions, they also need to follow the county ordinance, right?
That’s a very hard concept, because in other countries, they have their hierarchies right? You get your, you know, federal, well for lack of a better words, the central government, and then you get your maybe province … and then the next would be well maybe the cities. And there’s a hierarchy, right? But over here, it’s not hierarchy. It’s more like a collaboration of governments, right? Supposedly, supposedly.
So I realized that in order for a democracy to be healthy and strong, everybody needs to be involved and educated.
Hatem Natsheh
Hatem Natsheh is a Palestinian American who has been involved in political advocacy in Texas for over 10 years. He currently works with the Austin for Palestine coalition and the Texas Arab American Democrats.
“I think there is a lack of democracy in this country. … Elected officials, they use it to advance their agenda and programs and, a lot of times, I believe, to advance their pockets.”
Transcript
My name is Hatem Natsheh, I am with Austin for Palestine Coalition, Austin with Palestine, as well as Texas Arab American Democrats. I am very active in the community, I have been in Austin for 40 years, very active in the Democratic Party locally as well as in my community at large, the Arab, Muslim and Palestinian community.
Speaking Arabic
Unfortunately, I think there is a lack of democracy in this country, the way I look at it. They use democracy, elected officials, they use it to advance their agenda and programs and a lot of times I believe to advance their pockets.
Speaking Arabic
Alice Yi
Alice Yi is a first-generation immigrant from China who has been involved with political action in Austin, Texas, for over 30 years. She co-founded Asian Texans for Justice, which encourages Asian Americans to mobilize, educates them about the voting process and provides fact-checked voting information. The misleading narratives targeting Asian Americans in the United States, and her experiences growing up in China, inspired Yi to take action against disinformation directed at Asian Americans.
“Our democracy was the reason we come into United States – to study, to stay. … But more, I feel like our democracy went backwards.”
Transcript
Speaking Mandarin
My identity is what make me feel like I want to, I need to involve more politically, more active…
Speaking Mandarin
… because Asian American community was being ignored for so long and we do need to speak out and speak loud.
Speaking Mandarin
That’s why I feel like we need to educate our community to speak loud so we can have our democracy.
Speaking Mandarin
Really, really, we need to fight for our own democracy.
Speaking Mandarin
My name is Alice Yi. I am one of the co-founder for Asian Texans for Justice.
Our democracy was the reason we come into United States to study, to stay, but more, I feel like our democracy went backwards.
First generation immigrants really not pay attention too much about the politics and we often to tell them, “yes, you don’t interest in politics. Politics play big role in your life. If we don’t involved with our vote, we don’t make an impact and we will be pushed away.”
The immigrants coming to the United States through the legal processing and now they cannot and also try not to let the people vote easily. This is maybe just Texas, our voting polling location, getting less, and the voting ID laws, all this process in small policy making is all against the people to vote. For the 2024, 2022 and why we are still fighting for voting rights.
I testified one time I said “this is really shame for Texas people,” too hard to get registered and hard to go vote. Just for example, early voting location in Texas, ballot by mail drop off location only one location, no matter where you live. So, southeast and northeast side of Austin, Travis County, which has a lot of immigrants, Latinas, Black community, whole household only one car and they have to work from daylight to sunset, so they have no time to go to the far away polling location to vote and they have no way to drop the ballots to the county court office. Those procedures eliminate our working class to vote.
Who are the working class? People of color.
Educate the voter, registered voter, voter turnout, working together beyond our AAPI community toward Latinos, to the Black community, so people of color need to be united, so our vote matters, our voice is louder.
By myself I couldn’t do much and even by our organization maybe couldn’t do much, but at least I can be honest with myself when I lay down on the hospice bed, I was thinking back, I did something, I didn’t just let it go, I didn’t fight for it.
I fought for democracy. I fought for Asian American community. I think what I have to do, the result is not on our way, but I’m honest to myself, I can’t close my eyes without saying I regret, I didn’t do anything.