Introduction

The rise of digital disinformation as a threat to liberal democracies confronts the role of gender relations in foreign policy in new ways. The acceptance of ‘gendered disinformation’ as a foreign policy issue signals a gender-informed understanding of digital disinformation as a security concern. Digital disinformation campaigns that emanate from hostile actors around the world deliberately fuel misogyny, stereotypes and biases to manipulate public opinion and voting behaviours. These campaigns thereby intersect with and overlap public debate. Gendered disinformation is often successful because it resonates with the domestic contestation of gender norms. The construction of gendered disinformation as a security concern thereby implicates the sensitive relationship between disinformation and public opinion. The rise of gendered disinformation in the realm of foreign policy therefore challenges the status of gender norms in the liberal order by exposing the vulnerabilities of domestic polarization over gender equality. This chapter aims to introduce gendered disinformation as a foreign policy issue, and to discuss how studying this phenomenon may draw from previous scholarship on gender and feminism in foreign policy.

Digital disinformation, the diffusion of false information on digital platforms with the intent to deceive, strategically targets the foundations of democratic discourse and public deliberation by exploiting societal division around contested norms. It is a valued foreign policy instrument because it allows actors to exploit socio-political cleavages to spread confusion, amplify conflicts and further divide societies. Gender identities and norms have proven particularly susceptible to this form of manipulation (Bradshaw and Henle, 2021). Disinformation narratives gain traction in online networks when they resonate among audiences by connecting with local narratives, myths or identities (Schmitt, 2018). Digital disinformation thereby insects with and amplifies the known effects of online gender-based violence, such as the silencing and censoring of voices (Suzor et al, 2019). Disinformation campaigns, often favoured by autocratic regimes or groups and their allies, thus further weaponize sexist narratives within domestic debates as part of a foreign policy strategy (Di Meco and Brechenmacher, 2020). Analyses of foreign interference in democratic elections have demonstrated how prominent female candidates like nominee Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election of 2016, are disproportionally targeted through disinformation campaigns that exploit stereotypical and biased attitudes in voters (Jensen, 2018; Nee and De Maio, 2019).