are planning to do so because they have noticed that whenever a major political event occurs, there is an intensification of fake accounts on social media. Trolls appear to be linked to In some cases, political government figures or certain opposition campaigns and candidates figures, but this has not yet been verified. have been targeted on the Doorov stated that this observation is basis of religion or ethnicity. based on the similarities in the style, languages, and phrases that tend to be used in comments left by these fake accounts in response to their articles. In some cases, political campaigns and candidates have been targeted on the basis of religion or ethnicity. For example, in the 2016 Jakarta gubernatorial elections, the incumbent governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (a Christian with ethnic Chinese ancestry in Muslim-majority Indonesia), was accused of blasphemy on the basis of a misleadingly edited video of one of his speeches, implying that he had insulted or misinterpreted a verse in the Koran (Columbia University 2021). He was prosecuted and sentenced to two years in prison. He lost the elections. Likewise, Nalaka Gunawardene, a science writer and media analyst in Sri Lanka, has observed the promotion of ethno-nationalist narratives in the run-up to elections: Come election time [...], it used to be the “Ali Koti Giwisuma” allegation always levelled against the UNP [United National Party], for a quarter century. No evidence was ever produced, but the rival camps only had to say, “Ah, there is this secret deal with the Tigers [LTTE guerilla group].” Now what they say is, again, that the UNP has some secret deal to sell national assets to the West, and it’s “un-fact-checkable.” And yet it is the kind of false narrative that will immediately gain traction. In decisive times, like five days before an election and national elections, these things do matter. (interview, 2021) Women’s rights activists have also found themselves the targets of hate speech. For example, Ramsha Jahangir, a journalist in Pakistan, observed: For instance, organizers of this women’s rights march have also been accused of treason. There have been cases filed against them in the court to ban them, calling for them to be hanged as well, because they were accused of blasphemy last year. It’s very intense and, of course, it threatens the safety and lives of participants of the march. Their pictures have been leaked, their private information has been leaked. And it’s I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH more than a hate comment or cyberbullying. Of course, it is accompanied by that as well. There have been alternate hate campaigns, online hate campaigns at the same time, like “Ban Aurat marchers” or “Hang these blasphemers” or these hashtags have also trended. But on the ground, it is worse. It’s very, very blatant. And this is why women’s rights activists have been asking the state to do something about it, to provide safety, because all they’re asking for is a women’s rights celebration; whatever they’re demanding is not something that should put their lives at risk. But the situation has definitely escalated more and more [in recent] years. Opponents also were throwing rocks and attacking the marchers in the capital in Islamabad. So it’s definitely both offline and online, [and] it’s very big. (interview, 2021) In the Philippines, Cheryll Ruth Soriano, a professor in the Department of Communication of De La Salle University, studies “historical distortion.” She investigates YouTube videos which attempt to whitewash or downplay atrocities committed during the Marcos regime’s era of martial law: “In another study [we were doing] that was not about politics, these narratives from these YouTubers that surfaced in our research came up several times. That’s how we learned that your regular driver, your regular students are using these YouTube videos as their sources of educational information about their history” (interview, 2021). This is significant, as members of the Marcos family still have political aspirations. Foreign disinformation campaigns have been observed, as well as geopolitical tensions contributing to information disorder. For example, in 2020 the EU Disinfo Lab released a report in which they stated that they had “uncovered a massive operation targeting international institutions and serving Indian interests: “‘Indian Chronicles’—the name we gave to this operation—resurrected dead media, dead think-tanks and NGOs. It even resurrected dead people. This network is active in Brussels and Geneva in producing and amplifying content to undermine—primarily—Pakistan” (Alaphilippe, Adamczyk, and Grégoire 2020). Similarly, Doublethink Lab in Taiwan released a report in 2020 on information operations based in China targeting the 2020 general elections in Taiwan. According to the report, “During Taiwan’s 2020 general election there were countless disseminators of disinformation, residing in both China and Taiwan. In addition to politically-oriented disinformation manufacturers and distributors, Asia – 1 95