{"id":1055022,"date":"2023-04-08T14:22:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T14:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asiapacificreport.nz\/?p=86858"},"modified":"2023-04-08T14:22:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T14:22:44","slug":"rise-in-nz-disinformation-conspiracy-theories-prompts-calls-for-election-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/04\/08\/rise-in-nz-disinformation-conspiracy-theories-prompts-calls-for-election-protections\/","title":{"rendered":"Rise in NZ disinformation, conspiracy theories prompts calls for election protections"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Russell Palmer<\/a>, RNZ News<\/a> digital political journalist<\/em><\/p>\n Unprecedented levels of disinformation will only get worse this election in Aotearoa New Zealand, but systems set up to deal with it during the pandemic have all been shut down, Disinformation Project researcher Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa has warned.<\/p>\n He says the levels of vitriol and conspiratorial discourse this past week or two are worse than anything he has seen during the past two years of the pandemic — including during the Parliament protest — but he is not aware of any public work to counteract it.<\/p>\n “There is no policy, there’s no framework, there’s no real regulatory mechanism, there’s no best practice, and there’s no legal oversight,” Dr Hattotuwa told RNZ News.<\/p>\n He says urgent action should be taken, and could include legislation, community-based initiatives, or a stronger focus on the recommendations of the 15 March 2019 mosque attacks inquiry.<\/p>\n Highest levels of disinformation, conspiratorialism seen yet “I don’t want to alarm listeners, but I think that the Disinformation Project — with evidence and in a sober reflection and analysis of what we are looking at — the honest assessment is not something that I can quite share, because the BSA (Broadcasting Standards Authority) guidelines won’t allow it.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/strong>Dr Hattotuwa said details of the project’s analysis of violence and content from the past week — centred on the visit by British activist Posie Parker —<\/a> were so confronting he could not share it.<\/p>\n