Rohingya targeted by resurgence of 'hateful' disinfo in Malaysia

A wave of political disinformation targeting Malaysia's Rohingya population has raised alarm among rights groups that say it is fuelling xenophobia and intimidation against the refugee community.

AFP fact-checkers have debunked a torrent of falsehoods about the Muslim ethnic group on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok -- including fake quotes, doctored videos and fabricated statistics.

While anti-Rohingya disinformation has proliferated for years amid military crackdowns in their home country of Myanmar, analysts say the recent uptick is part of a broader political campaign ahead of Malaysian elections next year.

"Refugees have become a convenient proxy through which wider anxieties about the economy, migration, public services, security and national identity are channelled and expressed in the most violent and hateful language," said Lilianne Fan, head of the Secretariat of the Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar.

"And ultimately the end message seems to be: The government is not listening to citizens."

Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers through the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

More than 126,000 are Rohingya, making them the country's largest refugee population.

Anti-Rohingya sentiment surged in late May after social media posts accused them of dumping waste from a cattle slaughter during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, a major public holiday in Malaysia.

The incident sparked an online petition calling for the government to resettle Rohingya refugees in "another country" and garnered nearly half a million signatures before it was removed.

Malaysia's human rights commission issued a statement last month expressing its "deep concern over the growing hostility, discriminatory rhetoric and online attacks directed at the Rohingya community".

'Outrage over accuracy'

Accompanying the flood of hate are rumours that the Rohingya are seeking their own territory, special rights and citizenship through marriage to Malaysians.

One Facebook post from a group called "Rohingya Malaysia" claimed there was a call for a Malaysian town to be handed over to a local refugee community.

However, AFP fact-checkers found the post -- which racked up thousands of interactions -- was generated by artificial intelligence, and that no such activist group existed.

A screenshot of another Instagram post shows a man in robes kicking somebody in traditional Malaysian clothing, with the words "Rohingyas kick out Malaysians".

AFP tracked down the account owner in the United States, who dismissed the fabricated image and denied having posted it.

Dozens of other posts identified by AFP used fabricated news reports to falsely claim two million babies were born to Malay-Rohingya marriages -- a figure disproved by official data and refuted by experts as "impossible".

"Algorithms reward outrage over accuracy, allowing isolated incidents to be generalised to the entire Rohingya refugee population," said Fan, a leading Rohingya crisis expert.

Victoire Rio, a France-based information integrity analyst, analysed some of the accounts behind the posts and found "many that had a history of monetising on Facebook" as partner publishers.

"Financially motivated activity often relies on politically charged issues, like the Rohingya refugee issue, as these issues are divisive and offer particularly fertile ground for 'engagement farming'," Rio said.

'Fear becoming targets'

Malaysian NGOs have also raised alarm about rising hate speech and intimidation targeting the Rohingya, with activists saying any disputes involving the ethnic group often fuel wider hostility.

"Community members are also increasingly hesitant to share their experiences or seek support because they fear becoming targets of online abuse or public hostility," said an official from the Rohingya Rights Response advocacy group, who asked not to be named due to safety concerns.

Despite accommodating one of Southeast Asia's largest refugee populations, Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not officially recognise refugee status.

Responding to the calls for deportation, Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution said last month that the government would aim to balance security and humanitarian issues by working with other countries that have a high number of migrants.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim added that Malaysia will "engage through ASEAN mechanisms with the Myanmar authorities to resolve part of the issue".

"Through our common effort, we will work to resolve the predicament of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and also here," he said in a joint press conference with his Bangladeshi counterpart.