On 27 February 2025, GATE submitted a report to the Call for inputs for the study of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights (HRC resolution 55/10)
Summary
The submission addresses disinformation and its impact on the enjoyment and realization of human rights for trans and gender diverse communities globally. It aims to examine the specificities of disinformation as they target trans and gender diverse individuals and issues, explore its relationship with the enjoyment of human rights, assess the responses of States and digital companies, and provide recommendations for combating disinformation.
What is disinformation?
Disinformation is the deliberate dissemination of verifiably false or misleading information. In this context, this is targeting individuals, groups and/or issues based on their gender identity and/or gender expression, reinforcing harmful stereotypes, perpetuating discrimination based on cisnormative patriarchy and undermining gender equality. It aims to exploit societal biases and power imbalances to manipulate public opinion and control the narrative.
Why do anti-gender movements spread disinformation?
Shortly, to advance wider conservative, hierarchical, patriarchal, and antidemocratic political agendas.
By disseminating false information and spreading harmful stereotypes about gender and sex, and trans and gender diverse people, anti-gender actors aim to create fear, confusion, and hostility towards certain communities, especially trans and gender diverse communities. These disinformation campaigns seek to erode public support for trans rights, deny the existence and legitimacy of gender diversity, and ultimately hinder progress toward equality and inclusion, not only for the trans community but for all.
What are the challenges?
It is necessary to highlight that the combination of social media algorithms that fuel hatred and the lack of adequate policies and resource investment to address disinformation can result in atrocities that are translated into real-world violence. From the many challenges, we can highlight the following:
- Social media platforms are failing to be safe places for LGBTQI people
- Anti-LGBTQ hate and disinformation are inadequately moderated, being characterized by fear-mongering, lies, gender stereotypes, conspiracy theories, dehumanizing tropes, and violent rhetoric.
- Current policies and their enforcement fall short of effectively addressing harmful and dangerous anti-LGBTQ content
- In many countries, lawmakers and politicians increasingly leverage public hostility toward LGBT individuals as a political strategy to enhance their popularity.
What is the impact of disinformation on the enjoyment of human rights?
The primary impacts are in the areas of freedom of expression, association and assembly in the following main ways:
- Psycho-emotional stress among human rights defenders, which often leads to burnout (54% of respondents)
- Advocacy opportunities become more limited, and activists have less capacity to reach decision-makers.
- Trans communities can’t access needed services, leaving them in even more vulnerable situations, especially when it comes to life-saving services related to HIV, psychoemotional support, and other medical, social, and legal assistance (24% of respondents)
How to combat disinformation?
In combating gendered disinformation, GATE advised the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on the impact of disinformation on the enjoyment and realization of human rights (HRC resolution 55/10) to consider the following recommendations:
- Examine the role of news aggregation in combating disinformation by curating content from diverse sources.
- Recognize that increasingly, disinformation campaigns target trans and gender diverse communities, especially trans women, and weaponize them for political objectives that go far beyond the trans community.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive international framework and mechanism that explicitly addresses disinformation.
- Encourage digital companies to adopt and enforce robust fact-checking and content moderation policies.
- Hold corporations accountable for failing to have robust policies, mechanisms, and resources to address disinformation.
- To encourage States to invest in media, information, and digital literacy to equip individuals with critical thinking skills for distinguishing between verifiable and unverifiable, scientific and manipulative/unfounded information.