Video
From Disinformation to Radicalization: A Detailed Look at the Impact on AAPI and Latinx Communities
The 2020 election and January 6th insurrection underscored the extent to which disinformation impacts political discourse and democratic norms in the United States. Many pundits, academics, activists, and politicians discuss the effects of disinformation in American life, yet these conversations lack a thorough evaluation of how disinformation and even radicalization specifically impact Latinx and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. This panel aimed to fill this gap, focusing on how members of these communities have accessed, reacted, and forged new identities because of disinformation campaigns. This event was co-sponsored by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, the AAPI Caucus, and Latinx Caucus at Harvard Kennedy School.
Panelists included:
- Sonja Diaz, Founding Director, Latino Policy & Politics Initiative, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
- Minh-Thu Pham, Co-Founder, New American Voices, and Board Member, PIVOT (the Progressive Vietnamese American Organization)
- Dr. Jonathan Corpus Ong, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Mariana Ruiz Firmat (Moderator), Executive Director, Kairos and AY 2020-2021 Technology and Democracy Fellow at the Ash Center, Harvard Kennedy School
Cassandra Duchan Saucedo, HKS MPP/Stanford MBA 2023, gave welcome and Nick Sung, HKS MPP 2021, moderated audience Q&A.