Disinformation can have a devastating impact during armed conflicts. Unreliable information can prevent people from accessing safe places, causing them to withdraw from certain areas through dangerous passages, or prevent access to essential services or humanitarian assistance. In an exclusive article for the G20 Brazil website, Joelle Rizk, Digital Risks Adviser at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Protection Department, warns of the spread of disinformation, hate speech and dehumanizing narratives that target people in need of protection, such as refugees and displaced people, instilling them fear and putting their safety at risk.
The advent of digital tools has affected all spheres of human experience. States and armed groups see the possibilities opened by the digitalization of operations and communications as opportunities to achieve information advantage. As they strengthen their own capabilities and weaken those of their opponents, a set of risks bolstered by digital tools opens for the civilian populations, especially as they are exposed to narrative that is potentially harmful to their physical, psychological, economic, and social wellbeing. Such narratives may be constructed on information that is unintentionally false, such as misinformation, other that is purposefully fabricated or manipulated such as disinformation, or hateful and dehumanizing speech.
Disinformation can have a devastating impact during armed conflicts. Unreliable information may prevent people from accessing safe places, cause them to evacuate using dangerous passages, or hinder their ability to access essential services or humanitarian assistance.
The G20, under the leadership of Brazil, has been focusing on a myriad of new debates of global interest, including the fight against disinformation and hate speech, within the framework of information integrity and trust in the digital environment. This is an issue that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about. That's why we are committed to integrate the efforts to untangle this challenge and to be prepared to prevent and address the consequences of harmful information in times of conflict and other humanitarian settings.
Between 2021 and 2023, the ICRC convened a Global Advisory Board of high-level experts from the legal, military, policy, technological, and security fields to advise the organization on digital threats and to develop concrete recommendations to protect civilians against such threats. This Board released a comprehensive report available online.
The picture is worrying. In humanitarian crises, when people need to make decisions that affect their safety, access to timely and reliable information becomes a question of life or death. In recent years, we have seen digital platforms being used to incite violence against civilians, medical facilities, and humanitarian responders. Regrettably, the spread of disinformation, hateful speech and dehumanizing narratives target people in need of protection, such as refugees and the displaced, infecting them with fear and jeopardizing their safety.
False narratives fuel polarization and threaten prospects for peace and reconciliation, in a downward spiral that feed the protraction of conflict and violence. At times, in armed conflict, escalatory narratives may undermine the respect for international humanitarian law and its principles.
Furthermore, we often see the spread of disinformation designed to undermine the work humanitarian organizations and the delivery of aid to those in need. In sum, the digital information space may contribute to an environment that increases the vulnerability of civilians, and undermines their safety and their dignity, contributing to physical, psychological, and societal harms.
In multiple contexts in which the ICRC operates, false rumors fueled by severe grievances and divisions seem to have been the catalyst for lynching, the targeting and attacking of small businesses, incitement for the expulsion and killing of certain groups, violence, and hateful rhetoric directed at or by influential figures.
In polarized and digitally connected contexts, narratives which promote the dehumanization of an opposing group through hateful rhetoric, inflammatory language, and discrimination can quickly spread and lead to violence by civilians against civilians. In addition, harmful information in parallel to overt conflict can fuel distress, insecurity, and anxiety, contributing to spreading fear among civilian populations.
In many contexts where harmful information spreads on social media platforms, in ways that trigger fear and hatred and encourage violence against opponents, such content may remain undetected. Limited detection and moderation and the rapid spread and distribution may be combined with poor awareness to help discern fact from manipulated content increases people's vulnerability to harmful effects of disinformation and hateful speech.
To outline these risks, ICRC's Global Advisory Board on digital threats identified two main trends:
1. Amplification of harmful information: Harmful digital information occurs at greater scale, speed, and reach than ever before. It spreads across multiple information ecosystems and platforms, distorting facts, influencing people's beliefs and behaviors, raising tensions, triggering violence against civilians and their properties as well as causing displacement, fostering distrust, and spreading hatred online and offline.
2. Damage to trust in humanitarian organizations: Cyber operations, data breaches, and disinformation can undermine humanitarian organizations' ability to provide life-saving services to people affected by armed conflict. Threats are multi-faceted and can also refer to disinformation aimed at jeopardizing humanitarian organizations' reputation and undermining their ability to operate and access people in need.
This is a complex and relatively recent debate, and the ICRC is willing to work towards effective solutions. In this regard, we seek dialogue with parties to armed conflict and engage with social media companies that operate digital platforms to help them understand the impact of MDH, and how to better implement their duty to respect people's safety, dignity, and other fundamental rights.
This year the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, a civilizational milestone that form the core of international humanitarian law (IHL). Revised in the aftermath of World War II and ratified today by all nations of the world, the Conventions triggered a stark universal recognition that wars needed rules to limit their horrific effects on people. These legal instruments maintain a degree of humanity even in the worst of wartime and remind us that regardless of the circumstances, respect for human dignity, compassion, and empathy should guide our actions.
With the changing nature of conflicts, we favor the idea that the principles of IHL should also be applied to the digital sphere to protect the civilians. It is therefore extremely positive to see the commitment of the Brazilian G20 presidency to address this issue and to promote discussions in favor of a safer world - online and offline.
