Thread by @TheSyriaCmpgn

🌍 Ten ways disinformation has had an impact in the real world🌍
Every day #disinformation permeates into our lives, from Covid-19 conspiracies to false claims about the war in Ukraine. But what impact does this online disinformation have in the real world and on real people?

To uncover the human and political costs of the disinformation campaign around #Syria @ISDglobal and The Syria Campaign did the most comprehensive deep dive into Syrian disinformation to date. We found that:

1. Lies Cost Lives: Disinformation has attempted to discredit war crimes evidence from frontline responders like @SyriaCivilDef & medics, & to justify their deliberate targeting & murder by Russian & Syrian forces. 296 volunteers have been killed in the line of duty since 2012.

2. Confusion and doubt provide cover for political inaction, making it easier for governments to shirk their responsibility to act. This dangerous tactic often led to silence and inaction in the face of international war crimes, interviewees told us.

3. Erasing history & denying war crimes: Preservation of history is at stake when war crimes such as chemical weapons attacks are denied all together. For those who have lost loved ones or been forced to flee their life & homes, this denial causes devastating real-world harm.

4. Online hate adds insult to injury: It is a failure of governments and social media platforms that hate-filled conspiracy theories are so much part of human rights work and that survivors of torture and other war crimes must face a barrage of criticism for telling the truth.

5. Legitimizing governments' anti-refugee policies: Anti-refugee or asylum policies have benefited from disinformation, with some governments borrowing Assad and Russia’s claims that Syria is now safe and refugees can go home, despite stark evidence to the contrary.

6. Diverting valuable resources: In the face of Russian disinformation, policymakers must work harder to explain the truth to the public & other states.

7. Hampering humanitarian response: No one knows how much critical funding humanitarian organizations have lost due to disinformation campaigns.

8. Making a mockery of international law and institutions: When hospitals are bombed without consequence and humanitarians are called “legitimate targets” for attack, the credibility of our global systems are thrown into flux.

9. Paving the way for Ukraine: International inaction on Syria, helped by Russian disinformation, made the Ukraine invasion possible.
10. Undeterred: Despite the harms of disinformation, human rights defenders are more determined to save lives and expose war crimes & the truth.

Read the full report ‘#DeadlyDisinformation: How online conspiracies about Syria cause real-world harm’: deadlydisinformation.org
And sign the #petition to demand that social media companies protect Syrian human rights defenders from disinformation: thesyriacampaign.org/deadlydisinfo