RESEARCHBRIEFINGREPORT
CORONAVIRUS,FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA
SPREADS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
2020
ANTI-MUSLIM HATRED WORKING GROUPProfessor Imran Awan and Roxana Khan-Williams onbehalf of the Independent Members of the AMHWG
CONTENTS
07
“Muslimsare a bigger threat than anydisease like the coronavirus
ever will be….”
02 Introduction
Mosques are to blame for Covid-19
09Meme culture and the peddling ofIslamophobia
12Conspiracy theory: Muslims as superspreaders of Covid-19
How fake news spreads05
INTRODUCTION
The current Covid-19 crisis has led to localcommunities coming together to supportone another and showing solidarity andunity. Whilst this is extremely positive news,a more chilling effect and consequence ofCovid-19 has been the proliferation andmanifestation of Islamophobic languageand narratives on social media.
Online hate speech can come in manydifferent forms from racial harassment,religiously motivated abuse includingIslamophobic abuse and directed abusemore generally which targets someonebecause of their disability, gender,culture, race and beliefs. OnlineIslamophobia can be categorised asbeing forms of ‘cyber harassment’, ‘cyberbullying’, ‘cyber abuse’, ‘cyberincitement/threats’ and ‘cyber hate’.
PAGE 2 CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
[1] See: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/police-investigate-uk-far-right-groups-over-anti-muslim-coronavirus-claims
A screenshot of the video shared claiming to showpeople leaving a secret mosque in Birmingham
The aims and objectives of thisreport are to try and provide asnapshot of trends of anti-Muslimbigotry and Islamophobicnarratives circulating on socialmedia in relation to Covid-19. Theobjectives are to provide anoverview of how these narrativesare formed and how they areimpacting communities bothonline and offline.
Objectives:
For example, Covid-19 has been utilised bythe far-right and those who sympathise withthis ideology to peddle hate, with suchnarratives quickly being able to penetratethe mainstream and become normalised.For example, one video shared on the socialmedia site Telegram by the former leader ofthe English Defence League, TommyRobinson, alleges to show a group ofMuslim men leaving a secret mosque inBirmingham to pray with the video beingwatched over 10,000 times [1].
As the internet can act as an echo chamber, thethemes presented in this report show thatonline cyber hubs are being created where thisdiscourse is impacting narratives on themainstream media. These highlighted forms ofIslamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry found onsocial media reinforce negative views andconflict concerning issues around economics,social cohesion and social mobility. For example,conspiracy theories around Muslims andRamadan that claim it is a point where the virusis likely to spread have been rife within thepopular press and have entrenched perceptionsthat Muslims are responsible for thecoronavirus crisis. Another example of howsocial media can act as an echo chamber forhate is through unfounded narratives that argueethnic minorities, and particularly Muslims, aregiven preferential treatment by the police andthe establishment.
As we will highlight this sentiment is usedby some users on social media to arguethat the police do not work for them andtip-toe around ethnic minorities for fearof being called racist. This is importantbecause in a climate of Covid-19, far-right groups will often use the effects of‘strain’ to target minorities because ofsocial and economic issues, thus leavingethnic minorities more at risk due to theintersections of poverty and class.
This example is based upon the visualrepresentations of Islam which have becomesynonymous with people who fear thepervading sense of Muslims more generally.For example, the depiction of mosques,headscarves and minarets can helpcontribute towards the ‘othering’ of suchcommunities. In the online space, thedepiction of Muslims through visualcartoons, memes and posting of fake videosis dangerous and can be used by extremistsand fundamentalists to dehumaniseMuslims.
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28/03/2020
This report does not intend to provide aquantitative analysis of trends or numbersin relation to tweets and posts, however itaims to provide a snapshot of collated andexamined posts from Twitter, Facebook,Telegram and content from the traditionalfar-right and content that is circulating onWhatsApp which contain anti-Muslimprejudice and Islamophobic narratives. The goal of this briefing report is try andbetter understand how Islamophobicnarratives online emerge and theconsequences in relation to the Covid-19crisis. In this report we provide a snapshotof some of the hateful rhetoric on socialmedia and categorise five key themes thathighlight the main areas in which anti-Muslim bigotry have arisen in light of thecorona virus crisis. Our report focuses on how quickly fakenews can spread; how Mosques are usedas a symbol of hate; how Muslims havebeen falsely accused of flouting the rules;how memes have been used to negativelyportray Muslims and how conspiracytheories link Muslims as Muzrats (vermin)to blame them for Covid-19. This is not anexhaustive list, but does provide policy-makers, community groups, the media,social media companies, the police andother key stakeholders an opportunity towork with communities in helping confrontIslamophobic abuse online and on socialmedia.
Key trigger events, such as the New ZealandChristchurch terror attacks, showed anincrease in online Islamophobic hate crime.Following the ‘trigger event’ in the case ofCovid-19, this ‘new’ digital form of anti-Muslim bigotry has become even morestriking and prevalent within social media,thus mutually reinforcing the relationshipbetween offline attacks and online hatespeech.
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Islamophobic hate crimes increasefollowing ‘trigger’ events as they operate togalvanise tensions and sentiments againstthe suspected perpetrators and groupsassociated with them. At this present timethere are no indications that anti-Muslimhate crime is increasing likely due to socialdistancing measures, however this maybecome a very real possibility once theseare lifted, if this type of hatred is allowedto incubate online. Indeed evidence showsthat anti-Muslim hate crimes haveincreased significantly following ‘trigger’events including terror attacks carried outby individuals who choose to identifythemselves as being Muslim or acting inthe name of Islam. Such spikes in anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidentsfollowing ‘trigger’ events are not confidedto offline settings; rather, the offlinepattern is replicated online.
There is a continuity of anti-Muslimhostility in both the virtual and thephysical globalised world. WhilstIslamophobic hate crimes and incidentsoften occur in public spaces such asstreets and public transport networks,they also occur online. Rather thanbeing single, one-off incidents,Islamophobic hate crimes cansometimes form part of an ongoingprocess of victimisation that oftenmakes up part of a victim’s everydayexperiences of hostility.
How Fake News Spreads
‘Othering’ is when communities orindividuals are stereotyped into groupswho are portrayed negatively. This canhave consequences which can lead toseparateness and the formulation of ‘in-group/out-group’ mentality and the over-policing of minorities.
The political rhetoric and fake news videosposted on social media during Covid-19illustrates the ways in which Muslimidentities can be transformed across timeand space. The effect of thesetransformations has been an increase ofhate and fear, resulting in a rise in thelevel of Islamophobia through theconstruction of British Muslims assynonymous with 'deviance’ and being a‘problem-group’. This discourse haspositioned British Muslims ashomogeneous and therefore isunderstood through the binaries of ‘themand us’.
One of the fake news stories that hasparticular ramifications for Muslimcommunities has been the presence ofMuslims flouting social distancingmeasures.
PAGE 5
There appears to be many fake newsvideos surrounding British Muslims andtheir presence outside during lockdown, with one example of a picturebeing taken outside a Leeds mosquewhich appeared to show Muslims actingin a self-serving manner by breaking therules of the official lock down set by theUK Government. Whilst West Yorkshirepolice were quick to debunk the story,this did not stop the fake news gaininga lot of traction on social media.
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In another related example a tweetposted on the 26th March 2020 from auser claiming to have spoken to his localMosque in Shrewsbury also reveals howindividuals can create fake news storieswhich spread quickly. The user claimedto be ‘horrified’ to find that this Mosquewas still open, adding that the peopleinside could be ‘super spreaders’ of thevirus, and urged the police to act. Aftera fact-finding exercise it was quicklyrevealed by the police that there wasnot even a Mosque in Shrewsbury.
Similarly, on the 25th March 2020 apicture emerged on Twitter whichseemed to show Muslims praying on thestreets of central London and notadhering to the social distancing rules. Again, the story was debunked as thepicture had been taken weeks ago. [2]
In another incident West Midlands Policehad debunked a fake video being sharedon social media which aimed to demoniseMuslims in Birmingham by claiming theywere congregating at a mosque in SmallHeath during the coronavirus lockdown. However, it was revealed that the video inquestion was actually shot well before thelockdown had been enforced.
The problem with such information is thatit can lead to wider retribution on socialmedia which acts within the echochamber as the comments on the forumthreads can lead to wider vitriolic hate. For example, in relation to the newsarticle shared on Facebook below somemessages from users indicated theywanted Muslims “off the streets!!” and thatMuslims are “praying in groups thendriving taxis afterwards” focusing onregional events such as the groomingevents in Rotherham to call out BritishMuslims as being “deviant”. Another userstated that “all over the world theseignorant religious idiots are responsiblefor spreading this further". This led towider dehumanizing language aroundwanting British Muslims to go “back home”and therefore homogenizing andgrouping all Muslims together.
CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
[2] See: https://tellmamauk.org/no-the-muslims-praying-in-this-video-arent-ignoring-the-coronavirus-lockdown-its-far-right-fake-news/
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02/04/2020
Mosques are to Blamefor Covid-19
PAGE 7
The prevalence and severity ofIslamophobic hate crimes areinfluenced by ‘trigger’ events of local,national and international significance.The incidents are often provoked byantecedent events that incite a desirefor retribution in the targeted group, asthey operate to galvanise tensions andsentiments against the suspectedperpetrators and groups associatedwith them.
The markers of Islam are also often themain way in which individuals will targetthose they perceive as being the problem. For example, whether this is theheadscarf, someone’s visible identity or aminaret it becomes a key way forindividuals to target a whole community. This has been particularly strikingfollowing Covid-19 with a number ofdepictions and stories to how socialgatherings within Mosques are part of theproblem. Below is a selection of socialmedia posts where users specifically pusha narrative that Mosques remain openand therefore are spreading Covid-19.
CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
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Meme culture and thepeddling of
Islamophobia
Evidence shows that Islamophobia ishighly gendered. Muslim women inparticular are more likely to be attacked orabused than men in public settings,especially if they are visibly Muslim. In fact,evidence shows that Muslim women aremore likely to be abused online too. Aswith Mosques, the visual identifiers ofIslam are the tools for identification uponwhich Islamophobia is expressed on socialmedia. This approach demonstrates whycertain individuals and groups are morelikely to become targets for hostility thanothers.
In the sample of tweets and postscollected some examples show howMuslim women are mocked at andabused because of their appearance. Forexample, a Muslim woman who waswearing a hijab and a protective maskoverheard a man in a supermarket say tohis partner “look a bomb!” and pointed ather. The woman then confronted the manin the car park and he apologised. Inanother incident a Muslim woman saidshe was approached by a man whocoughed in her face and claimed he hadcoronavirus.
CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
The alleged assault in Croydon, southLondon was on 18th March 2020 and wasreported to the Metropolitan police. Thewoman, who wears a hijab, said she triedto avoid her attacker but the man turnedtowards her and “got in her face”.
See:https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/4/3/uk-police-investing-corona-cough-attack-on-muslim-woman
Alongside the gendered way in whichIslamophobia occurs on social media,there is also a range and selection ofmemes that have been specifically used tolink Covid-19 to historical events such asthe Crusades. By using these visualdepictions of Covid-19 and Muslims, usersare quickly able to whip up fear andanxiety. Some of the images also usevisual Muslim identity as a trigger to targetMuslims through Islamophobic rhetoric.
Source: https://me.me/i/covid-19-is-a-hoax-set-up-by-the-muslim-and-83d8bff7aec24e09b23bb50092cb5045
Source: https://imgflip.com/m/politics/tag/covid+19
Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1780041-4chan
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As well as social media posts thatridicule and dehumanise BritishMuslims, a number of social mediaposts promoting a white Britishdisillusionment narrative, claimed thatthe police were biased towardsethnic minority groups, thereby reinforcing ‘us versus them’ narrativeswhich undermine social cohesion andcreate further social divides, during atime of societal crisis.
In another appaling set of social mediaposts British Muslims are also describedas being Muzrats, another word todescribe Muslims as vermin thus linkingthem to Covid-19 as part of the disease.The examples below use the term Muzratto politicise the crisis and elude toMuslims taking over the country.
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CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
^ In reference to the BBCbroadcasting Islamic prayers over theradio
[3] See: https://www.indy100.com/article/coronavirus-uk-lockdown-mosque-shropshire-police-9437521[4] See: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-leeds-mosque/false-claimbritish-mosque-remains-openduring-coronavirus-lockdown-idUSKBN21I3AX
28/03/2020
06/04/2020
Conspiracytheories: Muslims as super
spreaders of Covid-19
The coronavirus crisis has led to a wave ofconspiracy theories connecting BritishMuslims, Islam and the virus in variousways. Amongst far right onlinecommunities Mosques are nowfalsely being portrayed as epicentresof spreading Covid-19, as opposedto extremism, due to their self-serving practices. Conspiracy theories areformed because of latent stereotypeswhich are often prevalent within publicdiscourses - in the current crisis - theseproblematising stereotypes surroundingBritish Muslims have evolved fromnarratives around the inherent threat ofextremism and violent terrorism tonow viewing British Muslims as inherentlyspreading coronavirus, through theirculture and beliefs. In a series of highlyinflammatory social media posts, BritishMuslims are viewed as the spreaders ofthe virus and that Covid-19 is just anotherattempt to spread Islam in Britain.
CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
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A number of the examples above highlighthow from a UK perspective Islamophobiais formed on social media. However Covid-19 does have an international perspectiveand this also reveals how Islamophobia istriggered by events. In India, online andoffline hate towards Muslims hasproliferated since the outbreak of Covid-19. Shops have been boycotted, peoplehave been attacked on the streets andthere has been widespread disinformationshared online. Some have argued that thegathering of an Islamic missionaryorganisation, Tablighi Jamaat is the reasonfor the outbreak of Coronavirus and somehave even gone as far to say that Muslimshave invented the virus to spread jihad.This rhetoric has gained much tractiononline with digital human rights groupEquality Labs claiming that the hashtag#CoronaJihad has appeared nearly300,000 times [6]. These narratives fromIndia echo and reinforce the discoursehere in the UK of Muslims being blamedfor the spread of the virus.
[6] See https://time.com/5815264/coronavirus-india-islamophobia-coronajihad/
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Concluding remarksThis report had aimed to provide asnapshot of reports and trends in theevolution of anti-Muslim and Islamophobicnarratives circulating on social media in thecontext of Covid-19, and to explore howthese changing narratives are impactingcommunities and may reinforce negativestereotypes that already have wideprevalence in some sectors of society. Theanalysis demonstrates that many of the keynarratives that can lead to higher rates ofIslamophobic hate crime incidence havebeen reinforced in new ways by the Covid-19 crisis. Rather than simply dissipating, thisreport has shown how online narrativesrooted in anti-Muslim bigotry are evolvingand transforming in the new social contextcreated by the pandemic. In this newcontext, Islam and Muslims have beenassociated directly with the causes of thepandemic, fitting well within broader well-known far-right themes depicting Muslimsas parasitical to society – foreign, alienand ‘disease-like’. This report should not beused to extrapolate broad generalisationsabout precisely how prevalent orrepresentative these online trends are,instead it provides a snapshot of some ofthe hateful Islamophobic rhetoric espousedonline.. It cannot be used to extrapolate
The cross-government Anti-MuslimHatred Working Group is made up of
representatives from Muslimcommunities, independent experts, and
academics who are known asindependent members. The Group is thegovernment’s main forum for discussing
issues of concern with Muslimstakeholders and the communitieswhose interests they represent and
convey. It also plays a valuable role inboth disseminating and providing
feedback on key policy messages andapproaches.
About the AMHWG
Stay connected
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www.anti-muslim-hatred-working-group.home.blog/
PAGE 14 CORONAVIRUS, FEAR AND HOW ISLAMOPHOBIA SPREADS ON SOCIALMEDIA
broad generalisations about precisely howprevalent or representative these onlinetrends are. This report has undertaken athematic approach using targeted keywordsearches and narrative analysis to examinehow specific language and discourse isbeing adapted to the age of Covid-19.However, the data has identified specificinstances of memes and posts achievingvirility online across certain social mediaplatforms. The key examples highlightedindicate that the new shift in narrative-focusin a Covid-19 context has significantresonance within online communities whichare already sympathetic to far-right ideas,groups, individuals and causes. Further more comprehensive research isrequired to determine how prevalent thesealarming trends are becoming. The mostimmediate impact of these narratives is ofcourse to undermine a sense of nationalsocial cohesion, to create dangeroussuspicions between different faith andethnic groups, and to dehumanise BritishMuslim communities in a way thatundermines their sense of nationalbelonging. Our concern that this is naturallya vulnerable moment for this countryduring which the rapid dispersal of suchshifting negative narratives can sow distrustthat may pose longer term security risks.Our more far-reaching concern is that thisshift in narratives indicates a growing riskthat online Islamophobic narratives beingincubated during the lock down may act asa trigger for unleashing a renewed bout ofhate crimes in a post-lockdown context. Inparticular, we found that the amplificationof Islamophobic narratives online is beingused by certain groups and far-rightmembers to push an ‘us vs them’ narrative.This constant threat of anti-Muslim hate canlead some in Muslim communities to adopta siege mentality, keeping a low profile inorder to reduce the potential for futureabuse; it can also increase the risks ofactual abuse.
