If successful, the vote will change the nation’s constitution for the first time in 46 years, creating a body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to advise the government on policies affecting their communities.
Though some argue the shift reflects public sentiment, Yes campaigners blame it on an ecosystem of disinformation - which they say is being led by figures in the No camp and “amplified” by suspicious accounts on social media.
“Race is a prime vector for abuse, trolling, disinformation and conspiracy theorising and on the No side of the debate, Twitter [X] is rife with that,” says Dr Timothy Graham, a digital media lecturer who has analysed over 250,000 Voice-related posts.
Among them have been lies that Mr Mayo told another Indigenous man to “sit down and shut up” for asking questions at a Yes campaign event; manipulated videos of the prime minister; rants insisting that non-Indigenous people will be banned from the country’s biggest sporting venues; and claims that the Voice had already failed at a referendum over 20 years ago.
However, some online accounts responsible for spreading messaging around racial division show signs of “inauthenticity” and bot-like behaviour, according to social media experts working with the Yes campaign.
Megan Krakouer, a Menang woman who helps run the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, says her team has also seen a serious spike in reports of “racism and comments of hate”.
The original article contains 1,402 words, the summary contains 236 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
If successful, the vote will change the nation’s constitution for the first time in 46 years, creating a body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to advise the government on policies affecting their communities.
Though some argue the shift reflects public sentiment, Yes campaigners blame it on an ecosystem of disinformation - which they say is being led by figures in the No camp and “amplified” by suspicious accounts on social media.
“Race is a prime vector for abuse, trolling, disinformation and conspiracy theorising and on the No side of the debate, Twitter [X] is rife with that,” says Dr Timothy Graham, a digital media lecturer who has analysed over 250,000 Voice-related posts.
Among them have been lies that Mr Mayo told another Indigenous man to “sit down and shut up” for asking questions at a Yes campaign event; manipulated videos of the prime minister; rants insisting that non-Indigenous people will be banned from the country’s biggest sporting venues; and claims that the Voice had already failed at a referendum over 20 years ago.
However, some online accounts responsible for spreading messaging around racial division show signs of “inauthenticity” and bot-like behaviour, according to social media experts working with the Yes campaign.
Megan Krakouer, a Menang woman who helps run the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, says her team has also seen a serious spike in reports of “racism and comments of hate”.
The original article contains 1,402 words, the summary contains 236 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!