Social Media plays a major role in raising awareness of worldwide affairs in a fast and efficient manner, and influencing the lifestyle of individuals. Despite this, it is also a space for negativity such as racism, that can result in harmful consequences due to racist hashtags, misinformation and the influence of both political figures and daily users.

Social media can be defined as ‘a set of information technologies which facilitate interactions and networking (Kapoor et al, 2017, Oestreicher-Singer & Zalmanson, 2013, as cited by Wolf et al., 2018). Instagram and Twitter can be argued to be one of the top social media platforms, offering an outlet where users can stay connected, upload photos and build internet communities. In the modern era, individuals have become so invested with these online technologies that they are incorporated in one’s lifestyle. This exposes individuals to the views and perspectives of others whilst, at times, urging them to extend their own to make an impact. Affairs such as COVID-19 is one of the most recent examples in this context.

The COVID-19 epidemic sparked a number of controversial rumors, quickly turning communities against each other. However, with social media platforms being a free, public space, it encourages individuals to raise their voice regardless of the potential consequences. It is without a doubt that social media has become the most powerful tool in spreading awareness and affairs (Osterrieder, 2013), allowing virtually all individuals access to the platforms. With the development and advancement of technology, the time spent on these online networks has significantly increased from 90 minutes (exactly 1 and a half hours) to 153 minutes (exactly 2 and a half hours) per day in the last seven years (Madhumathi et al., 2021). Within those seven years, the event of COVID-19 has taken almost half of that time, increasing the already existing prejudice toward the Asian community. In brief, the Asian community have been through many events of physical and verbal violence, driven by xenophobia ever since they first arrived in America in the late 1700s (Gover et al., 2020). Ever since, discrimination toward the Asian community have risen, and the event of COVID-19 has unfortunately encouraged the spread, leaving foreigners frightened and going as far as to create national insecurity (Gover et al., 2020). It can be argued that COVID-19 information, consumed on social media platforms, have played a major role in increasing Asian discrimination, and this is primarily due to false information and accusations.

The rapid dissemination of information’ (Shu et al., 2017) encourages people to consume the news on online networks, therefore it is highly understandable why individuals turn to social media like Twitter for current affairs. Alternatively, it allows false and low-quality information to unfurl, resulting in negative consequences on communities (Shu et al., 2017). In this case, it is the Asian community that has been impacted by the dissemination of the COVID-19 affair. Twitter is one of the key examples of an online network that has contributed to the discrimination toward Asians. According to the Congressional Social Media report in 2018, it was found that Twitter is one of the most, if not the most, popular online platforms for politicians (Arora & Kim, 2020).

Donald Trump was the president of the United States during the years 2017-2021 and was not an exception in his utilization of the online network. His influence in anti-Asian discrimination started in the early stages of the epidemic, March 16^th, 2020, where he posted a tweet renaming the COVID-19 virus to ‘Chinese Virus’ (Hswen et al, 2021). This was not only a racist remark, but a negative perspective to the entire Asian community, regardless of their true ethnicity. Unfortunately, Trump’s supporters were extremely influenced that they had commended the president for calling the virus ‘what it is’. (Dubey, 2020). Trump’s influence led to the hashtag ‘#ChineseVirus’ becoming the most trending hashtag in the world, surpassing ‘#Covid19’ (Chou & Gaysynksy, 2021). Asian prejudice were negative before the use of online networks, but in current affairs like COVID-19, the accessibility of platforms like Twitter has worsened the prejudice. Though not all politicians sided with Trump’s racist sentiment (Arora & Kim, 2020), there is no denying that his influence dominated the Twitter platform. This can be seen in the statistics taken in 2021, at the time of Trump’s presidency. The impact of his racist tweet increased the hate crime toward the Asian community, from 4% before the epidemic, to a rise of more than 16% in 2020 (Gray & Hansen, 2021). A recent study found that the COVID-19 epidemic, and the racism it manifested, was not to be blamed on the virus itself, but the existing prejudice toward the Asian minority (Jia et al., 2021). An example of this includes the 1907 Vancouver Riot. The Vancouver Asiatic Exclusion League had formed a march to restrict the Asian immigration (Robinson, 2017). The racism was so profound that the league had acted as far as destroying the homes of the Chinese and Japanese people (Nicol, 2006). Thus, prejudice toward Asians have increased due to the online networks such as Twitter, using racist hashtags and political influence.

What could have led individuals to attack Asians comes down to one of the most critical factors; misinformation. Restless Development, a non-for-profit youth advocacy group, created 15 new Instagram accounts to examine misinformation on the network, starting with how its recommendations progressed. They followed accounts ranging from wellness, alternative health, and anti-vaccine advocates (Shannon, 2021). These accounts had produced misinformation and antagonistic anti-vaccine, as well as conspiracy theories and identity-based hate, as stated by anti-Semitic content, Ahmed. The only accounts they followed that did not spread misinformation were recognized health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO). That being the case, with the misinformation that was being spread on Instagram about COVID-19 and its origin, it is clear that though social online networks allow users to keep updated on current world affairs, it can produce harmful consequences to the Asian community.

Twitter is an online network that collects and processes data, enabling it to understand the public’s opinions. The advancement of technology such as this portrays social media as having significant advantages than that of ‘traditional information systems’ (Politis et al., 2021), particularly in situations where there is an emergency. Without online networks, events such as the COVID-19 epidemic may have been worse due to inefficient awareness. Social media such as Twitter, which shares small posts, enables users to be informed in extreme emergencies. Furthermore, the providing of information can decrease levels in anger and anxiety (Politis et al., 2021). However, there are also disadvantages for using social networks like Twitter, in circumstances like COVID-19. One of the many include political influence.

Twitter allows users to join for free, and states its purpose was to build and connect communities. However, it can’t be overlooked that Twitter users, especially politicians, have somewhat a ‘free reign’. An example of this includes the former president of America, Donald Trump. It can be argued that he used Twitter to influence his supporters, and in regard to COVID-19, his image as a powerful leader was undermined due to his racist language (Holtz-Bacha, 2021). As mentioned previously, the racist tweet relating to ‘ChineseVirus’ was not immediately, if at all, taken down, even though it was xenophobic. It is with political figures and their image, like Donald Trump, that contribute to negative side of social media in spreading information on news like COVID-19.

Social media users should also be held to account for employing prejudice to Asians. These daily users of online social networks, such as Twitter, also play a role through the exploitation of accessibility. There are no harsh consequences, even though their actions have severely affected the Asian minority. It is with tweets such as ‘I KNEW IT I think all countries should declare war on China’ (Dubey, 2020) that drive Asians into further isolation. Moreover, with such a ‘free reign’ on Twitter, there is no denying that social media platforms in general are heavily accountable for the discrimination toward the Asian community.

Anti-discrimination also arises through other online networks, such as Instagram. While this platform offers individuals a space to upload photos and that of their interests, some individuals see this space as an opportunity to express their opinions (Niknam et al., 2021) that may put others down. For example, Instagram surged with the number of violent threats against Asians in the height of the pandemic, one of the many stating that they will go with friends and ‘take the f***ing guns and shoot at every Asian we meet’, claiming that it was the only way to clear the COVID-19 epidemic (Li et al., 2021). Because Instagram is so accessible, the public can use the platform without any consequence unless reported by other accounts. Despite this, the reported person can still create another account and thus continue to state unnecessary opinions. Yet, there are so many consequences of these actions that take place outside social media platforms. Discrimination on social media is widely known for its harmful effects on individuals, and according to a recent study, there is a risk factor in the diagnosis of depression (Pan et al., 2021). And, with virtually everyone, particularly the Asian community, looking to social media to update themselves on this affair, the amount of hate on these online networks are sure to break the screen.

Online social networks such as Instagram are popular platforms where people of all ages, including teenagers, have access. At the start of the COVID-19 epidemic, social media use and its accessibility quickly grew, with a CENSIS report in 2021 revealing ‘an even progressive increment of smartphone use’ (Bozzola et al., 2022) among the youth, reaching 95%. It was also revealed that Instagram was the most used online network among adolescents, at 72%. With these statistics, it is not hard to imagine the impact of racist and cruel sentiments on the Asian youth. Once again, it is important to note that Instagram is listed as one of the top online networks across adolescents, including Asian university students. University students are especially hit hard because phones are not banned, unlike usual school hours. Thus, it leads to these students to experience racism on campus, and though a majority of these instances were before the epidemic, the surge of prejudice both online and offline forced them to ‘rectify campus culture’ (Williams et al., 2021).

Social media platforms, such as Facebook, can increase awareness on worldwide affairs, however, consequences resulting from racist sentiments online can lead to mental health issues in individuals. For example, they can spread not only current affairs such as COVID-19, but also mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. As mentioned previously, Asians experienced xenophobia prior to COVID-19, and according to a study, was ranked the top ethnicity to have the greatest depression risk (Misra et al., 2020, as cited by Tiwari & Zhang, 2022). Similarly, the study conducted by Tiwari and Zhang found the diagnosis of psychological distress in the Asian community increased sevenfold, consistent with Woo and Jun’s study (Tiwari & Zhang, 2022). This is due to the fact that many Asians, even after the height of the pandemic had calmed, was still experiencing racist sentiments, especially online. An example of this can be shown on Facebook, where there was a post claiming ‘Eating Asian food will infect you with coronavirus’ (Haokip, 2020). Thus, though social media can help with raising awareness on COVID-19, they can also negatively impact targeted communities.

To summarize, social online networks such as Twitter and Instagram allow individuals worldwide to interact, upload photos, share their opinions with other communities and spread awareness. Having stated that, it is important to acknowledge that while these online platforms offer features in a positive outlook, there is also a negative side that must be addressed. Utilizing these social platforms have resulted to harmful consequences effecting the Asian community, during the COVID-19 epidemic. They have experienced cruel threats and racist sentiments in the height of this period, due to racist hashtags, misinformation regarding the affair, and the influence of political figures and daily users on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.

 

 

References

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