ハリス氏標的の性差別的な中傷や偽情報、ネットに急増

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】カマラ・ハリス米副大統領が大統領選の民主党候補となる公算が大きくなったのを受け、ネット上には同氏を標的にした加工画像、性的な誹謗（ひぼう）中傷、人種差別的な投稿が急増し、専門家は、性差に基づく偽情報の氾濫に警鐘を鳴らしている。（写真は、米ホワイトハウスのサウスローン〈南庭〉で、演説に臨むカマラ・ハリス副大統領）
　ジョー・バイデン大統領は２１日、選挙戦からの撤退を表明し、黒人、南アジア系、女性として初の副大統領を務めるハリス氏を後継の民主党候補に推薦。ハリス氏は、党の候補指名を獲得し、１１月の大統領選でドナルド・トランプ前大統領を打ち負かすと宣言した。
　一方でネット上では、ハリス氏に関する女性蔑視的、性差別的な投稿が爆発的に増加。中には、過去に虚偽だと証明されたデマも含まれている。
　保守派のインフルエンサーは、ハリス氏が１９９０年代にウィリー・ブラウン元サンフランシスコ市長と短期間交際していたことを引き合いに出し、ハリス氏が「枕営業でトップに上り詰めた」ことを示唆する内容を繰り返しＳＮＳに投稿している。
　さらにＸ（旧ツイッター）では、米富豪で少女への性的虐待事件で勾留中に自殺したジェフリー・エプスタイン元被告とハリス氏が並んでポーズを取っているように見える加工画像も再び拡散された。
　この画像については、ＡＦＰが数年前に逆画像検索で検証した結果、一緒に写っていたハリス氏の夫、ダグ・エムホフ氏がエプスタイン被告に加工されていることが明らかになっている。
　さらにネット上には、米国生まれのハリス氏を「アフリカの黒人女性」と嘲笑する書き込みもあり、同氏の成功は実力によるものではなく、単に少数派として人種的に優遇されてきたおかげだとする見方もある。
　偽情報を監視する団体「アメリカン・サンライト・プロジェクト」の共同設立者ニーナ・ヤンコウィッチ氏は、「こうした作り話やうそは、影響力を持つ女性が公職に就いて任務を果たすのを性別、生い立ち、肌の色によって阻む試みの一つだと認識することが重要だ」と強調。
　「ハリス氏の出馬に反対する人には、彼女に対して不快な表現を使うのではなく、彼女の政策や実績の是非についてきちんと議論してもらいたい」と訴えた。
　また、カナダ・トロント大学のコンピューター・セキュリティー専門家グループ「シチズンラボ」の代表を務めるロナルド・デイバート氏は、ネットにはあらゆる偽情報があふれていると指摘。
　「プロによる組織的な影響工作で、場合によっては外国の敵対勢力の支援を受けているものもあれば、悪意のある人間が個人的に生み出しているものもある」と注意を呼び掛けた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/07/23-17:58）

Doctored images, sexual slurs, racial innuendos -- false narratives around Kamala Harris surged online as she emerged as the Democratic frontrunner in the US presidential race, with researchers warning of an incoming flood of gendered disinformation.
President Joe Biden exited the race on Sunday and endorsed Harris -- the first Black, South Asian and woman vice president in US history -- who vowed to win her party's nomination to take on Donald Trump in November.
An online explosion of misogynistic and sexist narratives about Harris quickly ensued, including previously debunked falsehoods.
Some social media posts repeated suggestions Harris slept her way to the top in American politics, citing her brief relationship in the 1990s with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.
The charge was refloated by conservative influencers such as Candace Owens, Matt Walsh, and Clay Travis.
Meanwhile, posts on the platform X recirculated a doctored image of Harris appearing to pose alongside disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The picture -- debunked years ago by AFP's fact-checkers using a reverse image search -- had been manipulated to include Epstein instead of Harris's husband, Douglas Emhoff.
Online posts also derided US-born Harris as a Black African woman, with some attributing her success solely to her ethnicity.
It's important to label these narratives and lies as what they are: an attempt to undermine a powerful woman's public service because of her gender, her background, her skin color, said Nina Jankowicz, co-founder of the disinformation watchdog American Sunlight Project.
I challenge anyone who opposes Harris's candidacy to engage in a substantive debate on the merits of her policies and track record, rather than calling her disgusting names.
- 'Lies and conspiracies'
In 2020, Jankowicz led a study that found more than 336,000 instances of gendered abuse and disinformation used to attack 13 women politicians. Some 78 percent of that targeted Harris.
The disinformation involved not just sexual tropes but also false transphobic narratives, such as Harris could not have ascended politically without secretly being a man.
Also included were racist narratives falsely asserting Harris was ineligible to run for office because both her parents were immigrants, while some insisted that she was exaggerating her racial identities for political gain.
Roberta Braga, executive director of the Digital Democracy Institute of the Americas, warned internet users to be alert for lies and conspiracies about Harris in the coming days.
The misinformation will be laced with gender-based attacks. And it won't be new, Braga said.
Women candidates of color in the 2020 elections were twice as likely as other candidates to be targeted with disinformation, according to a report from the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology.
They were also four times as likely as white candidates to be targeted with violent abuse, the report added.
- 'Full spectrum' -
Gendered disinformation ?- when sexism and misogyny intersect with online falsehoods -- has relentlessly targeted women politicians around the world, tarnishing their reputations, undermining their credibility and, in many cases, upending their careers.
AFP's global fact-checkers have regularly debunked falsehoods targeting politically active women, who are often sitting ducks for online abuse and sexually-charged trolling.
As the White House race -- already vulnerable to an avalanche of disinformation -- heads into its final months, researchers are bracing for a flood of falsehoods targeting Harris.
Widely available artificial intelligence tools are expected to add fuel to the fire on social sites such as X -? the platform formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk, who is strongly backing Trump.
Platforms including X have scaled back content moderation, removing many of the guardrails against false information, and reinstated accounts of known purveyors of falsehoods.
We should expect a full spectrum of disinformation, said Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, a research center affiliated with the University of Toronto.
That will range from well-organized and professional influence operations, in some cases backed by foreign adversaries, through to amateur productions created by miscreants, Deibert told AFP.