And now Kamala Harris has officially received the Democratic nomination and in November she is going to run for president against Donald Trump. At the same time, however, Harris is receiving the biggest war of misinformation that a candidate has ever faced in the US.

There have been rumors, for example, that she has worked as a prostitute, offering her “services” to various politicians to advance her career, while some posts that have even gone viral have linked her to Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of sexual crimes. Still others believe that because the 59-year-old does not have biological children of her own, she is transgender or that she is not really American and therefore, because of her origin, she cannot claim the presidency.

But what accounts for such widespread misinformation? First of all in the rapid development of social media, as well as in artificial intelligence technologies, which make it very easy to create, alter and spread fake videos or photos.

And secondly, American society and politics are highly polarized and divisive. In addition, external players such as China, Russia and Iran also have an interest in influencing the American elections – as they had tried to do in previous election contests.

Gender Misinformation?

However, if the 59-year-old was not black and indeed a woman, but a white man, the disinformation against her would be of a different content and extent. Any rumors circulating online about the American politician are usually about her gender, the color of her skin, or her Indian and Jamaican roots.

In 2020, the Wilson Center in Washington conducted an analysis of misinformation against 13 female politicians of different political and ethnic origins – including Harris. The investigation found not only that gender-related misinformation is widespread, but also that the vast majority of incidents of misinformation were directed against Harris, who was then a member of the Senate.

Nina Yankovic, one of the authors of the Wilson Center analysis, explains to DW that “we and other researches have found that women who are also black or gay, for example, suffer even more abuse and are even more misinformed. And Kamala Harris represents three different identities: she’s a woman, she’s black, and she’s also South Asian.”

Intimidation, humiliation, defamation

In a 2018 study, sociologist Sarah Sobierai cited three strategies used to limit women’s influence in the online public sphere: intimidation, humiliation, and defamation.

Yankovic and her colleagues, on the other hand, make a threefold distinction regarding the content of gender misinformation: sexist, transphobic, and racist approaches. And the political scientist knows very well what she is talking about, having herself been the victim of sexist behavior on the internet and has even received threats of abuse and against her life.

The gender bias is also reflected in the different treatment that Kamala Harris receives compared to Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Who has ever delved so thoroughly into the past of these men or claimed that in the past they prostituted themselves and advanced in their careers because they offered someone “their services”? Shouldn’t such discussions be about Trump who has been convicted of sexual assault and more?

Or on the other hand, how many posts were made questioning the gender or parentage of Biden or Trump?

Kamala Harris is not the only one

Other women like Harris have also been targeted by “transvestigation”, i.e. misogynist and anti-LGBTQ conspiracists – for example, Michelle Obama has also been rumored to be transgender.

Barack Obama has been accused accordingly by fake news that he was not born in American territory and therefore is not American.

All this shows that women on the one hand are more likely to be humiliated and reduced to sexual objects because of their gender, while misinformation against people of color is more about their origin or education, precisely because of the color of their skin.

And these examples are only the tip of the iceberg: there are thousands of fake or fake videos, photos and posts that are also sexist and racist, but in a much more subtle way.

Don’t reproduce something if you’re not sure

According to Yankovic, the rapid reproduction of disinformation material today is mainly related to the nature of social media. In addition, the expert also criticizes the platforms themselves, which seem to be less and less interested in restricting such content – even though this supposedly violates their terms of use.

That’s why users themselves must be careful: “Whether it’s gender misinformation or something else: when someone feels strong emotions like anger or resentment after seeing a post, it’s very likely that something they saw not apply, but simply an attempt at manipulation,” says the expert. Hence it is better to wait a little, to look in reliable sources to see if what we saw is true and in case we are not sure, not to forward it to others.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas