[1]Women's March
Hi John, I’m Noor! If we haven’t
met before, I lead our Digital Defenders program at Women’s March.
I’m writing to you because we currently face a massive disinformation
crisis in our country. This crisis poses a direct threat to our democracy
and our ability to keep pushing forward in our progressive agenda.
That’s why today I want to take a moment to explain the impact of
disinformation online and share with you the work Women’s March is doing
to address this crisis.
[ [link removed] ]When you’re done reading, I hope you can donate $3 or
anything you can to help us train Women’s Marchers to combat
disinformation online and join us in rising against one of the most urgent
challenges of our times.
THE CHALLENGE:
Especially since the rise of Trump, far-right and extremist groups have
been exploiting social media networks to disperse disinformation that
raises money for the far-right while eroding our democracy.
The false narratives that they promote online have real and dangerous
consequences. This was made clear when Trump and his supporters generated
widespread misinformation about the 2020 election results — leading up to
an attack on the Capitol on January 6th.
Not satisfied with a failed coup, the far-right has set its sights on
undermining our national COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Politicizing COVID-19
vaccines has been both profitable and effective for the far-right; a
recent study found that only 51% of women said they were somewhat or very
likely to take the COVID vaccine. Getting as many people as possible in
our country vaccinated — and equipping them with the knowledge and
information they need to feel confident in doing so — is one of the
biggest hurdles facing our nation to overcome the pandemic.
The far-right has only accumulated more power with coordinated efforts to
recruit members to their ranks as they spread lies to line their pockets.
Over the past years, Women’s Marchers have been increasingly concerned
about losing their loved ones to Q-Anon or other conspiracy communities.
They wish they had known how to talk to them with love, compassion, and
grace before they lost them for good.
We know that there is no magical solution or quick algorithm for
deprogramming our peers, but we do know that we have to intervene before
there is more grief and violence.
HOW WE'VE BEEN FIGHTING BACK:
Since 2019, the Digital Defenders program has trained over 1,500 activists
in debunking dis/misinformation through peer-to-peer interactions on
social media.
Our trainings have covered issues that are most plagued by deliberately
planted falsehoods and myths online: immigration, abortion, climate,
COVID-19, protests, and the 2020 election. Digital Defenders are Women’s
Marchers like you.
Our training time is 6-8 hours in length, and our sessions are often held
over a number of days depending on the complexity of the content. Upon
graduating, our Digital Defenders receive coaching on their engagement,
have access to robust messaging toolkits and most importantly, enter a
community of peer learning about dis/misinformation across a variety of
issues.
All of our content is supplemented by content tailored for sharing on
Instagram and Facebook (in our election phase itself, we disseminated over
240 pieces of creative content, with over 190 million total views).
OUR NEXT STEPS:
Everywhere we look, people are talking about vaccines — and in turn,
there's a lot of disinformation out there about how safe they are for
women, their effectiveness, and how to get vaccinated.
That's why WM's Digital Defenders is taking on this challenge head on.
With enough grassroots support, here's what future Women's March's efforts
to combat vaccine disinformation will look like:
* Democratizing knowledge about the vaccines
* Reaching people who may be reticent to being vaccinated
* Training Women's March volunteers on how to spot and counter vaccine
disinformation online
* Producing public education videos specifically targeting women
* Funding billboards and other ads spreading awareness and knowledge of
the vaccines
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
I’m going to be honest with you: There are very few organizations —
especially led by women — that do work like this because it takes
significant funds, planning, and resources to run a disinformation
training program.
That’s why today we’re asking our grassroots supporters to help us raise
the money we need to grow our Digital Defenders program.
[ [link removed] ]Will you contribute $3, or anything you can, to help
fund our upcoming Digital Defenders initiative to combat disinformation on
the COVID vaccine and much more?
[ [link removed] ]DONATE $3 →
Thank you for being a part of this important project. Our work is only
possible thanks to grassroots donors like you.
Noor
Noor Mir
Digital Advocacy Director
Women's March
Contribute to Women's March: [link removed]
This email was sent to
[email protected]. Email is the most important way for us to reach you about opportunities to get involved. If you need to remove yourself from our email list, click here to unsubscribe:
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time:
[link removed]
Women’s March is a 501c(4) organization. Your generous support helps us prepare for fights we see coming and those we don’t. Donations are not tax deductible. If you prefer to make a tax-deductible gift, we encourage you to support the Women’s March Network. Gifts to the Network support our organizing, communications, advocacy and public education efforts.
