Latest news with #InstituteforStrategicDialogue
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Surge in anti-South Asian hate directed mainly at Indians in Canada: Report
Posts containing anti-South Asian slurs, mainly directed at immigrants of Indian origin, increased by over 1,350% from 2023 to 2024 on X, while police-reported hate crimes against South Asians in Canada went up by over 227% between 2019 and 2023, a report of the think tank Institute for Strategic Dialogue has said. High immigration from India has been blamed for issues like housing affordability and pressure on health and transport infrastructure, and rising crime. (PTI/Representative) The report released on Thursday said over 2,300 posts containing anti-South Asian rhetoric were shared across platforms and generated over 1.2 million engagements ahead of the federal election in Canada in April. It added the use of keywords such as slurs indicates the scale of hate targeting South Asians. The analysis said pajeet, an invented name which sounds Indian, was among the most common slurs. 'Between May 2023 and April 2025, there were over 26,600 posts which included 'pajeet' and other anti-South Asian slurs in the Canadian context, compared to nearly 1,600 posts containing anti-Muslim slurs,' the report said. Institute for Strategic Dialogue's data set showed that Indians were commonly targeted with language invoking the Great Replacement, an often at least implicitly antisemitism conspiracy theory alleging that non-white migration to Western countries is part of a plan by elites to deliberately change country demographics. 'Other posts contained wider stereotypes of Indians being dirty, dangerous, and clannish; by contrast to earlier caricatures of Indians being overly educated, they are often portrayed as lacking formal skills or training,' the report said. 'The staggering rise of anti-South Asian hate across Canada both on- and offline represents an urgent threat to these communities and the country's social fabric.' HT in August last year reported about the rise in xenophobia in Canada, driven by high immigration blamed for issues like housing affordability and pressure on health and transport infrastructure, and rising crime. Antipathy was focused on Indian immigrants, as they comprise the largest and most visible cohort of newcomers to Canada.
Toronto Star
4 days ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Steep rise in hate toward South Asians in Canada documented through social media posts
Canada has seen a steep rise in hate toward South Asians on social media in recent years, with a large spike occurring during the recent federal election — especially aimed at former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, according to a new report. The report, titled 'The Rise of Anti-South Asian Hate in Canada' and published by the U.K.-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue, used the social media monitoring tool Brandwatch to analyze posts that mention Canadian cities and regions and South Asians on X.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia is amplifying conspiracy theories about the L.A. protests
Protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles have triggered a flood of falsehoods and conspiracy theories online, and Russia has sought to exploit and amplify them, experts say. Russian media and pro-Russian voices have embraced right-wing conspiracy theories about the protests, including one that alleged the Mexican government was encouraging the demonstrations against President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Mexico has strongly rejected the accusation — which was repeated by Trump's chief of homeland security — as utterly false. The episode illustrates how foreign adversaries are taking advantage of genuine divisions among Americans, a tried-and-true strategy in information warfare, analysts say. Right-wing American voices online are pushing the idea that the protests in Los Angeles are not what they appear and that a secret, leftist cabal tied to Democratic politicians and the billionaire philanthropist George Soros is orchestrating unrest, experts said. 'We are following a playbook that we've followed many times before. We're seeing a lot of the same tropes, even a lot of the same exact conspiracy theories that we've seen circulate around previous protests,' said Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University who studies social media disinformation. There were echoes of how falsehoods spread during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, he said. 'People are, as they tend to do on social media, believing the messages that they're inclined to believe,' Linvill said. 'And influencers are taking advantage of that, oftentimes with false or sort of purposefully misleading content.' Right-wing users have posted baseless assertions that the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, has ties to the CIA and is orchestrating protests to oust President Donald Trump. 'Bass is a political warlord. She's utilizing her expertise to encourage these riots—to try to topple Trump & you,' wrote conservative podcast host Liz Wheeler on a post on X. Moustafa Ayad of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an international nonprofit that focuses on 'safeguarding democracy,' said there were parallels to how social media users have reacted to previous protests or to hurricanes that struck the Southeast last year. 'I liken it to the aftermath of Milton and Helene last year,' Ayad said. 'We have a crisis or a conflict point that is occurring, and there are numerous narratives that are being spread online that the government is somehow involved in the protests, paying protesters, or this is a deep-state plot against the United States by the CIA and other government actors,' Ayad said. From the political left, narratives online have focused on how the federal government and the military were allegedly preparing to use lethal force, while right-leaning voices warned of plots to oust Trump and cause chaos in American cities, according to Ayad. 'It's a bit like being on a seesaw, just gyrating between those two things,' he said. 'Sadly, there's this giant reinforcing loop that just builds further steam as the protests continue day to day.' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday repeated baseless assertions online that the Mexican government was encouraging violent protests. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, quickly responded, rejecting the accusation as 'absolutely false' but saying she was confident that the 'misunderstanding will be cleared up.' The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Conservative and pro-Russian social media accounts cited an outdated video of the Mexican president as the basis for their claims she was fomenting protests in Los Angeles, according to NewsGuard, a fact-checking website. The video was taken from a press conference on May 24, nearly two weeks before the start of the L.A. protests. The Mexican president's remarks were taken out of context. Sheinbaum was referring to a proposed tax by the Trump administration on any income earned by Mexican immigrants that is sent on to their families in Mexico. She criticized the proposal and said at the time: 'If necessary, we'll mobilize' against the tax. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson then posted the May 24 clip of Sheinbaum after protests began last week in Los Angeles and wrote that she was calling for protests in the United States. The post has received 6.7 million views. At a news conference on Monday, Sheinbaum made clear her government opposes any violence associated with protests. 'We do not agree with violent actions as a form of protest.' Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank's Alliance for Securing Democracy, said Russia's information operations online were embracing pro-Trump portrayals of the protests as a leftist violent assault. 'Russia is in effect cheering on Trump's response and suggesting that it's warranted,' Schafer said. 'They have certainly intimated that these protests are being staged or funded by the radical left.' Russian news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted a Russian blogger in L.A. saying the protesters were not migrants but 'militants' who arrived on buses. Russian nationalist commentator Alexander Dugin wrote on X that the protests were an insurrection, a 'nationwide conspiracy of liberals against not only Trump but against American people in general.' Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer dubbed the 'Merchant of Death' by U.S. and British authorities who was released in a prisoner exchange in 2022 after spending 11 years behind bars in the United States, also weighed in on the protests. Russian media outlet Pravda quoted Bout comparing the demonstrations to the 2014 Maidan protests in Ukraine against what was then a pro-Moscow government, with Bout claiming the L.A. protests were highly organized. Pravda also quoted Sergei Markov, a former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the United States was in the middle of a 'civil war' pitting coastal states against interior states. Sputnik reposted a viral image of a pallet of bricks, asking why it was near the protest sites. But fact-checkers at Lead Stories geolocated the photo to a construction site about 3,000 miles away, in New Jersey. China, however, was taking a different tack. Instead of leaning into pro-Trump narratives and repeating right-wing conspiracy theories, Beijing portrayed America as a country in turmoil. Chinese media and pro-China voices argued the American government's response to protests in Los Angeles was 'heavy-handed and therefore hypocritical' in light of Washington's criticisms of other countries' treatment of dissent, according to Schafer. An affiliate of China's global television network reminded viewers that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had praised protests in Hong Kong in 2019 as a 'beautiful sight' but asked if the American government viewed the L.A. protests in the same way. A pro-Beijing commentator, Li Jingjing, denounced what she called U.S. interference in other countries' affairs even as it denounced protesters on its soil. 'US hypocrisy at its best,' she wrote in a post. The pervasive online image of the supposed pallet of bricks frequently shows up when there are street protests, according to the Social Media Lab, a research team at Toronto Metropolitan University. 'It's catnip for right-wing agitators and grifters,' the lab said in a social media post. 'The fact that these types of fake images are used isn't a coincidence. It's part of a pernicious & persistent narrative that protests against government policies are somehow inauthentic,' it added. The approach is 'meant to make these movements seem less legitimate or less worthy of public support.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Russia is amplifying conspiracy theories about the L.A. protests
Protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles have triggered a flood of falsehoods and conspiracy theories online, and Russia has sought to exploit and amplify them, experts say. Russian media and pro-Russian voices have embraced right-wing conspiracy theories about the protests, including one that alleged the Mexican government was encouraging the demonstrations against President Donald Trump's immigration policies. Mexico has strongly rejected the accusation — which was repeated by Trump's chief of homeland security — as utterly false. The episode illustrates how foreign adversaries are taking advantage of genuine divisions among Americans, a tried-and-true strategy in information warfare, analysts say. Right-wing American voices online are pushing the idea that the protests in Los Angeles are not what they appear and that a secret, leftist cabal tied to Democratic politicians and the billionaire philanthropist George Soros is orchestrating unrest, experts said. 'We are following a playbook that we've followed many times before. We're seeing a lot of the same tropes, even a lot of the same exact conspiracy theories that we've seen circulate around previous protests,' said Darren Linvill, a professor at Clemson University who studies social media disinformation. There were echoes of how falsehoods spread during the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, he said. 'People are, as they tend to do on social media, believing the messages that they're inclined to believe,' Linvill said. 'And influencers are taking advantage of that, oftentimes with false or sort of purposefully misleading content.' Right-wing users have posted baseless assertions that the Democratic mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, has ties to the CIA and is orchestrating protests to oust President Donald Trump. 'Bass is a political warlord. She's utilizing her expertise to encourage these riots—to try to topple Trump & you,' wrote conservative podcast host Liz Wheeler on a post on X. Moustafa Ayad of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an international nonprofit that focuses on 'safeguarding democracy,' said there were parallels to how social media users have reacted to previous protests or to hurricanes that struck the Southeast last year. 'I liken it to the aftermath of Milton and Helene last year,' Ayad said. 'We have a crisis or a conflict point that is occurring, and there are numerous narratives that are being spread online that the government is somehow involved in the protests, paying protesters, or this is a deep-state plot against the United States by the CIA and other government actors,' Ayad said. From the political left, narratives online have focused on how the federal government and the military were allegedly preparing to use lethal force, while right-leaning voices warned of plots to oust Trump and cause chaos in American cities, according to Ayad. 'It's a bit like being on a seesaw, just gyrating between those two things,' he said. 'Sadly, there's this giant reinforcing loop that just builds further steam as the protests continue day to day.' Baseless claims of Mexico fomenting violence Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday repeated baseless assertions online that the Mexican government was encouraging violent protests. Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, quickly responded, rejecting the accusation as 'absolutely false' but saying she was confident that the 'misunderstanding will be cleared up.' The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Conservative and pro-Russian social media accounts cited an outdated video of the Mexican president as the basis for their claims she was fomenting protests in Los Angeles, according to NewsGuard, a fact-checking website. The video was taken from a press conference on May 24, nearly two weeks before the start of the L.A. protests. The Mexican president's remarks were taken out of context. Sheinbaum was referring to a proposed tax by the Trump administration on any income earned by Mexican immigrants that is sent on to their families in Mexico. She criticized the proposal and said at the time: 'If necessary, we'll mobilize' against the tax. Conservative commentator Benny Johnson then posted the May 24 clip of Sheinbaum after protests began last week in Los Angeles and wrote that she was calling for protests in the United States. The post has received 6.7 million views. At a news conference on Monday, Sheinbaum made clear her government opposes any violence associated with protests. 'We do not agree with violent actions as a form of protest.' An opportunity for Russia Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank's Alliance for Securing Democracy, said Russia's information operations online were embracing pro-Trump portrayals of the protests as a leftist violent assault. 'Russia is in effect cheering on Trump's response and suggesting that it's warranted,' Schafer said. 'They have certainly intimated that these protests are being staged or funded by the radical left.' Russian news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted a Russian blogger in L.A. saying the protesters were not migrants but 'militants' who arrived on buses. Russian nationalist commentator Alexander Dugin wrote on X that the protests were an insurrection, a 'nationwide conspiracy of liberals against not only Trump but against American people in general.' Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer dubbed the 'Merchant of Death' by U.S. and British authorities who was released in a prisoner exchange in 2022 after spending 11 years behind bars in the United States, also weighed in on the protests. Russian media outlet Pravda quoted Bout comparing the demonstrations to the 2014 Maidan protests in Ukraine against what was then a pro-Moscow government, with Bout claiming the L.A. protests were highly organized. Pravda also quoted Sergei Markov, a former adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the United States was in the middle of a 'civil war' pitting coastal states against interior states. Sputnik reposted a viral image of a pallet of bricks, asking why it was near the protest sites. But fact-checkers at Lead Stories geolocated the photo to a construction site about 3,000 miles away, in New Jersey. Beijing accuses Washington of hypocrisy China, however, was taking a different tack. Instead of leaning into pro-Trump narratives and repeating right-wing conspiracy theories, Beijing portrayed America as a country in turmoil. Chinese media and pro-China voices argued the American government's response to protests in Los Angeles was 'heavy-handed and therefore hypocritical' in light of Washington's criticisms of other countries' treatment of dissent, according to Schafer. An affiliate of China's global television network reminded viewers that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had praised protests in Hong Kong in 2019 as a 'beautiful sight' but asked if the American government viewed the L.A. protests in the same way. A pro-Beijing commentator, Li Jingjing, denounced what she called U.S. interference in other countries' affairs even as it denounced protesters on its soil. 'US hypocrisy at its best,' she wrote in a post. The pervasive online image of the supposed pallet of bricks frequently shows up when there are street protests, according to the Social Media Lab, a research team at Toronto Metropolitan University. 'It's catnip for right-wing agitators and grifters,' the lab said in a social media post. 'The fact that these types of fake images are used isn't a coincidence. It's part of a pernicious & persistent narrative that protests against government policies are somehow inauthentic,' it added. The approach is 'meant to make these movements seem less legitimate or less worthy of public support.'
The Citizen
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
‘Toxic beauty': The rise of ‘looksmaxxing' influencers
Many looksmaxxing influencers appear to have a financial incentive, while pushing unproven and sometimes dangerous techniques to boost sexual appeal. Looksmaxxing influencers – part of an online ecosystem dubbed the 'manosphere' – have surged in popularity across social media, capitalising on the insecurities of young men eager to boost their physical attractiveness to women. In posts across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, they promote pseudoscientific methods to achieve everything from pouty lips to chin extensions and almond-shaped 'hunter eyes', often while monetising their popularity by endorsing a range of consumer products. In more extreme cases, these influencers advocate taking steroids, undergoing plastic surgery and even 'leg-lengthening' procedures to become more attractive. ALSO READ: Why a flu jab is still the smartest thing you can do this winter While women may pay regular visits to aestheticians or buy new beauty products, spurring a global beauty retail market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the manosphere at times promotes a DIY approach that draws on the nearest toolbox. 'Babe, what's taking you so long in the bathroom?' reads the caption flashing across a viral TikTok video of a man seen hitting his cheeks with the sharp edge of a hammer, in what he calls his 'skincare routine'. 'Underneath the video are dozens of comments warning that 'bone smashing', also known as the hammer technique, is 'dangerous' while others hail it as a legitimate way to achieve an angular jawline. In other videos, British influencer Oscar Patel promoted 'mewing', an unproven technique that involves pressing the tongue into the roof of the mouth for improving jaw and facial structure. Without offering evidence, he told his nearly 188 000 TikTok followers that such tricks would turn them into a 'PSL god', an internet slang for exceptionally attractive men, short for perfectly symmetrical looks. Toxic combination In another video, US-based TikToker Dillon Latham misleadingly told his 1.7 million followers to whiten their teeth by applying hydrogen peroxide to their teeth with a cotton swab. Some dentists warn that regularly using store-bought peroxide could damage tooth enamel and gums. The looksmaxxing trend is fueling 'an industry of influencers who promote 'perfect bodies and perfect faces', often to feather their own nest,' Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP. 'Among men, this is mixed with the misogyny of the manosphere, which often blames women for male insecurities, creating a toxic combination,' he added. Many looksmaxxing influencers appear to have a financial incentive, frequently leveraging their popularity to promote products ranging from skin cleansers to pheromone perfumes, and even Chinese knock-off watches. ALSO READ: Recipe of the day: Roast chicken on the coals Looksmaxxing is rooted in 'incel' – or involuntarily celibate – communities, an internet subculture rife with misogyny, with men tending to blame women and feminism for their romantic failings. 'The incel ideology is being rebranded to looksmaxxing on TikTok,' Anda Solea, a researcher at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, told AFP. In a study, Solea found that incel-inspired accounts on TikTok were circumventing a ban on hateful language with a focus on looksmaxxing and more palatable words about self-improvement. 'There are a lot of pressures on men – we want to protect women from gender-based violence, but we should also be careful about young men and boys,' Solea said. Deeply damaging Other related maxxing trends have also gained traction, including 'gymmaxxing', which focuses on building muscle, and 'moneymaxxing', which centres on improving financial status, all with the ultimate goal of increasing sexual desirability. Looksmaxxing influencers – many of whom idolise male models such as Australian Jordan Barrett and American Sean O'Pry, have amassed massive followings as algorithms propel their content to millions. These algorithms can lead to real-world harm, experts warn. T he danger was dramatised in the recent Netflix hit Adolescence, which follows the case of a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a classmate after absorbing misogynistic content online. The fictional crime drama references the popular but unfounded '80/20' theory that claims 80% of women are attracted to 20% of men. ALSO READ: What to stream this weekend: 'Adolescence' — entitlement and hatred of females In a study last year, researchers at Dublin City University created fake accounts registered as teenage boys. They reported that their TikTok and YouTube feeds were 'bombarded' with male supremacy and misogynistic content. 'More widely, this does feed into toxic beauty standards which affect men as well as women,' said Venkataramakrishnan, from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. 'The idea that if you don't look like a Hollywood star, you might as well give up trying for a relationship is deeply damaging.'
