Thread by @CodaStory

In Italy, politician @lauraboldrini stands out from the crowd. A big part of her political mission involves campaigning for migrant and women’s rights.

And it’s made her a target.
codastory.com/disinformation…

Italy’s ruling parties have weaponized social media against @lauraboldrini, using her gender as a tool in online disinformation campaigns.

“The fact that she is a woman means she is often insulted because of her gender,” Giovanni Orsina, professor of political science at Luiss University, explains

A little background: Italy’s deputy PM Matteo Salvini turned Italian politics into a 24-hour reality TV show when he rose to power, using Facebook Live and Twitter to speak out against liberal opponents like @lauraboldrini, as well as the EU, taxes and even beach holidays

Whenever a story of migrant crime hits the headlines, @lauraboldrini comes under attack.

“This has resulted in a flood of violence towards me, for every rape, every murder, every theft, as if I were the instigator, as if I had the responsibility,” she says.

The attacks are a drain on time and resources. In July, TV personality Alessandro Meluzzi shared a four-year-old fake news story on Twitter with fake quotes from @lauraboldrini.

She decided to sue him

https://twitter.com/lauraboldrini/status/1153314574961172480

Death threats against @lauraboldrini started flooding in. “Italian politics have always been quite aggressive, but that has worsened with social media,” Giovanni Orsina, professor of political science at Luiss University, told us

In February 2014, founder of the Five Star Party, Comedian Beppe Grillo wrote an FB post: “What would happen if you found Boldrini in a car?”

The post linked to a video with a man talking to a cut-out of @lauraboldrini

“Take her to a gypsy camp and let the camp chief screw her,” someone responded. “What if she likes it?” another wrote

Grillo’s post had real-life consequences. A few days later, on February 5, workers in a sorting center intercepted a package addressed to @lauraboldrini.

Inside, they found a threatening letter – and a bullet.

These are not fantasies, it has happened,” @lauraboldrini says, remembering the murder of British Labour MP Jo Cox who was assassinated by a far-right radical in 2016.

Cox was known for championing the same values Boldrini stands for. tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.108…

Across the globe, women in politics face targeted attacks from their opponents.

Last year, amid a massive ongoing disinformation crisis in Brazil, human rights activist and elected politician Marielle Franco was murdered. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

In this piece from 2017, our reporter @wiczipedia looked at how women in power in Ukraine and Georgia were victims of online disinformation campaigns codastory.com/disinformation…

Back in December, our editorial partner @rapplerdotcom reported on how women in politics are singled out in the Philippines: “Female targets of disinformation often face direct attacks on their identity as women.” rappler.com/newsbreak/in-d…

And @realdonaldtrump has made it his personal mission to attack “The Squad,” consisting of @AOC, @Ilhan, @RashidaTlaib, and @AyannaPressley — four Democratic congresswomen of color vanityfair.com/news/2019/08/t…

But @lauraboldrini says she won’t be stopped by the threats: “Sometimes I say, enough, this is a lost country. It’s one of the darkest times. But leaving would be like a failure. I can’t do it.” codastory.com/disinformation…