There Are No Girls on the Internet - DISINFORMED: The New York Post’s lie about Kamala Harris went viral. Here’s why we should all be angry.

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

The New York Post published a viral lie about Kamala Harris’ children books Superheros are Everywhere being included in “welcome kits” to unaccompanied migrant children. A climate where women in politics are disproportionately subjected to disinformation and lies harms us all. Here’s why.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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844-844-I-Hart. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. You're listening to This Informed, a mini-Sucing, from there are no girls on the internet. I'm Bridget Todd. It brings me no pleasure to report that right-wing media

keeps on giving us great examples of how complete lies are created, spread, and mainstreamed online. And this time, it's about Vice President Kamala Harris. The New York Post alleged that unaccompanied minors who crossed the border were given copies of Harris' book as part of welcome kits. The story included a picture of Harris' children's book called Superheroes Are Everywhere, alongside a backpack and hygiene items on a cot at the Long Beach Emergency Intake Site for unaccompanied minors.

The story went viral. And importantly, it wasn't just promoted by fringe right-wing conspiracy theorists. It was shared by mainstream Republican figures and elected officials, like the official GOP Twitter account, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, and White House Republican whip Steve Scalise, who tweeted, Is Kamala Harris profiting off the border crisis? Americans need to know. The story was picked up and repeated.

by other big conservative news outlets like Fox News and The Blaze. Fox News White House correspondent Peter Ducey even asked White House press secretary Jen Saki about it in a press conference. Every migrant child being brought to a shelter is being given a copy of her children's book, superheroes are everywhere. Do you know why that is and if she is making any money off of that? You're talking about if they go to shelters or if they go to... Yeah, in the Welcome Kit, apparently, there's a copy of her 2019 children's book,

Superheroes are everywhere. I'd have to certainly check on that. Only none of it was true. The Washington Post confirmed that one copy of Harris' book that was donated, not included in, quote, welcome kits, that was in that now viral photo. And that one photo was the basis for the entire fabrication that Harris' books were being included in welcome kits

and the insinuation from Republican elected officials that Harris was personally making a profit from the situation at our border. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement to Newsweek that the referenced book was one of an assortment of hundreds of titles donated to the Long Beach emergency intake site as part of a City of Long Beach new books and Toys Drive. No taxpayer dollars were used to purchase Vice President Harris's book. Kevin Lee, chief public affairs officer for the city, also clarified that the city had no involvement in the book's curation. It was just donated as part of their book and toy drive. The city of Long Beach, in partnership with the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, had a citywide book in Toy Drive that is ongoing to support the migrant children, he said.

The single book you referenced is one of hundreds of various books that have already been donated. The book was not purchased by HHS or the city. Now, after the story was debunked, the reporter who wrote it, Laura Italiano, resigned admitting that she'd been pressured into writing it, saying, the Kamala Harris story, an incorrect story I was ordered to write in which I failed to push back hard enough against was my breaking point. Now, the New York Post has not even officially retracted the story. Instead, they temporarily removed it from their site

and then republished it with an editor's known at the bottom, saying the original version of this article said migrant kids were getting Harris's book in a welcome kit. But that has been updated to note that only one known copy of the book was given to a child. This is completely insufficient when you consider the lie is already out there, and all of those prominent Republican figures I told you about earlier, their tweets are still up on Twitter as of me recording this episode. And here's why it's not really about this one lie.

The data is clear that women of color, especially black women in politics, face a disproportionate amount of disinformation, especially lies and attacks that rely on negative stereotypes about our gender and race. They paint us black women as untrustworthy liars and rely on unfair attacks on our identities to fuel those lies. Even before Harris was named as Biden's running mate, she was subjected to a flood of racist

sexist disinformation on social media, like posts that made racist claims that she wasn't even eligible to serve in the White House, or that she was lying about her black and Indian heritage. Intelligent Software Service Zignal Labs found over one million mentions of Harris on Twitter since June 2020 that had hashtags or terms associated with misinformation about her. Now compare that to her white male counterparts. Misinformation accounted for less than 1% of Twitter talk when Mike Pence and Tim Cain were running for vice president. While misleading information about Harris is much more prevalent, making up more than 4% of the conversation about her on Twitter. And it's not just Harris. Gender disinformation campaigns are widespread for women in politics.

And her report for the Wilson Center called Malign Creativity, how gender, sex, and lies are weaponized against women online. Researcher Alexandra Pavliac found that gendered abuse affected 12. of 13 research subjects. While nine out of 13 subjects were targeted with gender disinformation narratives, these narratives were racist, transphobic, and sexualized in nature. The overwhelming majority of the recorded keywords relating to the abuse and disinformation were identified on Twitter and directed toward Kamala Harris, who accounted for 78% of the total recorded instances. Her report also found that online abusers used evasive, tricky language like dog whistles, where they don't come right out and say the racist or sexist thing

in order to avoid detection by social media moderation tools. I'm talking about things like social media posts that refer to Kamala Harris as, quote, Heels Up Harris, a sexist insinuation that she, quote, slept her way to the top, which is a common sexist line of attacks that Harris faces online. And here's why this is such a big problem for all of us, not just women. When attacks on women and women of color are allowed to fester and spread,

it is a chilling effect on women's participation in politics and political discourse. It keeps us from running for office or even just speaking up about our political opinions online because who would want to volunteer to be attacked or become the target of a disinformation campaign just because of who you are. It keeps our entire country from being able to have a democracy where everyone, women, women of color, are able to fully participate. And this isn't just a threat to women. It's a threat to all of us. Everyone is better served when all of us can be fully involved in our democracy. If we're ever going to create an equal playing field

for the next generation of women in politics, we've got to create a digital media landscape where racist, sexist attacks are not widespread and are just not tolerated. Women, women of color, and black women deserve to be judged by our records, actions, and words, not sexist, racist lies and attacks on who we are. If you enjoyed this podcast,

please help us grow by subscribing. Got a story about an interesting thing in tech or just want to say hi. We'd love to hear from you at hello at tangoady.com. Disinformed is brought to you by there are no girls on the internet. It's a production of IHeart Radio and Unbossed Creative. Jonathan Strickland is our executive producer. Tari Harrison is our supervising producer and engineer.

Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm your host, Bridget Todd. For more great podcasts, check out the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman. help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going?

On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything.

Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you, exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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