Remember the photo of thousands of migrants supposedly embarking on a big vessel to ‘take over’ Europe? The photo went viral in under 24 hours, spurring panic-mongering among far-right internet users.
Or yet another photo that was shared thousands of times amidst widespread indignation and condemnation, showing another ‘migrant’ wearing a pair of expensive-looking headphones on the bus?
What do these two photos have in common? Both were fake news; the ship in the first photo was the Vlora, which had landed in Bari, Italy, back in 1991 and which had nothing to do with the current migration issue. And the music-lover immortalised as a ‘migrant with money’ was simply a random stock photo.
It is undeniable that the proliferation of fake news through social media has added to the challenges faced by migrants across Europe. Now, an EU-funded project operating under the Erasmus+ programme hopes to work toward stemming the tide of fake news.
The project, called MARSA – Move Against Rash Decisions and Statements, was conceived by VisMedNet Association of Malta and its sister organisation Associazione ValIda of Rome with the aim of engaging at least 25 young people from five countries to put together a social media campaign on migration.
Antoine Gambin, project co-ordinator at VisMedNet, explains that although the subject of the campaign is migration, none of the creative team is an expert on the subject: “We will not assume we are experts, and this is exactly what we want the public to do – not to assume they know it all and that they can speak about anything assuming an expert’s point of view,” Mr Gambin says.
What the campaign will be doing, instead, is bringing in the actual experts, who will explain in very short clips the vocabulary of migration.
“We believe that, by explaining terms like ‘asylum seeker’, ‘search and rescue area’, ‘human trafficking’ and so forth, people may be better equipped to understand what is being talked about – including whether others are posting and sharing statements that make sense.”
His hope is that these campaigns will inspire people to stop and filter what they read, what they share and what they like and comment on.
He describes social media as a loaded gun, probably due to the absence of education in critical thinking. “Rash statements show the lack of education on the subject of migration, and we wish to be part of this education effort.”
Mr Gambin and his team plan to counteract this status quo with “patience, persistence and content that is correct and verified”.
The team, he explains, has embarked on creating a large digital footprint that will cross paths with as many people as possible.
“Content will be short, clear and technical. We are not out to embark on a battle of statements on migration, because that is not what the campaign is all about.”
The first level of the project is a public drive to encourage people to think for themselves and filter what they see when reading, sharing and liking or passing comments. The second part of the campaign will present those clips from the real experts.
Meantime, three other partners have been brought into the consortium – the Youth Express Network of Strasbourg; the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Province of Bolu in Turkey; and ASI of Romania. The project has been officially approved for funding by the European Union Programmes Agency of Malta and the team is ready to get into action.
So, is social media really to blame for this state of affairs? Not quite, Mr Gambin says: online platforms can bring about positive things when tapped in a good way.
“The upsetting part is that, many times, the rash statements are made by leaders who wish to see migrants as the enemy. Many times, this fits their agenda. It is easier to convince people using scaremongering and hatred than using constructive ideas.
“We are living in a period of leaders who want to be seen as gun-toting sheriffs, and social media is their big horse,” he concludes.