Communication’s Jonathan Corpus Ong and Wayne Xu Lead a Network Grant on Disinformation in the Global South

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Jonathan Corpus Ong, associate professor of communication, is the recipient of new $365,000 “Global Democracy Frontliners” grant from Luminate Group and their Reset initiative. The grant supports applied research, academic-and-civil society partnerships, and South-to-South knowledge exchange spaces addressing disinformation and digital hate.

Joining Ong as co-investigator on the grant is fellow UMass associate professor of communication Wayne Xu. Communication doctoral students Nora Suren, JM Lanuza and Yena Kang also join their projects as affiliate doctoral researchers for spring 2023.

Ong and Lanuza are co-leading the “South-to-South Knowledge Exchange Series vs Disinformation” together with Brazil-based community partner DigiLabour. They recently co-produced a comparative analysis exploring disinformation ecosystems and electoral campaign trends in Brazil and the Philippines. Their aim is to connect researchers, journalists and civil society organizations in the global South to learn from each other’s experiences both in responding to disinformation trends as well as navigating complex politics and overcoming Euro-American-centric frameworks in the digital literacy and disinformation space.

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On March 20, Ong and Lanuza will host a webinar about the recent elections in Brazil and the Philippines, and the value of Global South knowledge exchange in addressing disinformation, which will connect researchers and policymakers in both countries.

Meanwhile, Ong, Xu, Suren and Kang are collaborating on new initiatives investigating Asian American political organization. They are building new research collectives that harness interdisciplinary perspectives of communication, history and ethnic studies to respond to challenges around “Asian hate” and other racially targeted misinformation.