The Queensland election campaign officially began on October 1 but the fight against misinformation and disinformation began years ago.
Just like a game of whack-a-mole the Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) is working to combat nonsense rhetoric in what has become a “very tribal” political landscape.
Experts and the Electoral Commission of Queensland say misinformation and disinformation are seeping into this month’s state election. (ABC News: Bree Dwyer)
From false claims that unvaccinated people cannot vote, to rigged voting machines, the ECQ concedes disinformation and misinformation are increasingly “a real issue” in elections across Australia and internationally.
With the increasing threat of artificial intelligence (AI), niche groups pushing their own agendas, and political parties weaponising emotive issues, voters are being warned to do their own research.
“Think about the information they’re saying. Think about where it has come from and the source of that information,” Queensland’s assistant electoral commissioner Wade Lewis said.
‘Very fragmented’
Voters often choose to believe information that best fits with how they see the world, according to Redbridge pollster Kos Samaras.
Kos Samaras says more people are only listening to sources they agree with, making them more likely to be consuming misinformation. (ABc News: Peter Healy)
It creates fertile ground for the spread of untruths.
“LNP voters will consume certain types of media. Labor voters and Greens voters will equally consume a certain type of media,” he said.
“Both different and equally, both camps would consume misinformation or disinformation either through politicians or on the internet, through social media, or seek it out if it aligns with their views.”
Mr Samaras said voters were now consuming information from podcasts and YouTube channels even if those outlets were just re-using footage or reports from mainstream outlets.
“It’s very, very fragmented,” he said.
Group seeks to ‘re-educate’
Mr Samaras said some voters would also be voting based on groups that had sprung up in recent years intent on civil disruption.
What started as an anti-vaccination group, My Place Australia claims to have more than 180 chapters across the country, including 49 in Queensland.
It pushes unverified or debunked claims — from fluoride in water supplies to sovereign citizenship.
Some have dozens of members, while the Townsville chapter has more than 1,200 on its Facebook page.
Its national social media account has more than 15,000 followers.
On the front foot
The ECQ uses its own platforms to debunk common falsehoods as it tries to combat those seeking to undermine faith in the electoral process.
One example was that Queensland elections were rigged due to the use of Dominion voting machines — widely used in US elections.
Voters in Queensland do not use voting machines of any kind.
But the threat of AI to elections was growing and becoming harder to stop, according to University of Queensland Professor Gianluca Demartini.
“We have seen in the past that misinformation can play a key role in affecting the results, the outcomes of a political election campaign,” Professor Demartini said.
Gravitating towards ‘extreme content’
Hot-button issues like youth crime and abortion have become weaponised as the major political parties seek to cut through to voters and minor parties take advantage of voter disgruntlement.
Labor’s record on crime during its three terms in office has come under consistent attack from the opposition and minor parties, even though Queensland Police Service (QPS) data from July found youth offending was down 6.7 per cent on the same time last year.
Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) has vowed to “punish Labor” on crime while it set its sights on the LNP on the issue of abortion.
Less than a decade after it was decriminalised KAP has vowed to put an abortion repeal bill back into the parliament if the LNP wins government.
Bond University Assistant Professor Jessica Stokes-Parish said abortion was always going to be an “emotive, hot topic”.
“It’s a really easy hook and it gets a lot of airtime,” Dr Stokes-Parish said.
“What I’ve observed over the last three to four years, online content is becoming increasingly polarising.
“The more polarised it becomes the more chances you have of engaging somebody.”
Activists at a rally for abortion rights at King George Square in Brisbane in 2022. (AAP: Jono Searle)
Dr Stokes-Parish said balanced perspectives were failing to get any traction.
“It’s too long, it’s not pithy enough,” she said.
“So we see this real gravitation towards extreme content which doesn’t help us in our day-to-day, offline life.”
As it gets harder to sort fact from fiction, UQ’s Professor Demartini urged voters to ask themselves whether what they were reading, watching, or listening to sounded reasonable, trustworthy, or made sense.
“These questions could be a very simple step to address these attacks that are being made on our decision-making processes,” he said.
