The country has seen a rapid uptick in protests and online disinformation, tinged with far-right undertones<\/p>\n
For more than a year, New Zealand\u2019s \u201cteam of 5 million\u201d stood largely united in the face of Covid-19. This month, as the country expanded vaccine mandates and a tougher roadmap of restrictions for the unvaccinated, that mood has splintered and darkened. Among a small but vocal sliver of the population, dissent has been turning ugly, with death threats against MPs and journalists, increasing protests<\/a>, warnings from security services about Covid-prompted terror threats, and what researchers have called a \u201cwave\u201d of disinformation tinged with violent rhetoric, QAnon-style conspiracy theories and far-right undertones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking \u2026 your aunt and uncle type-people using language like Nuremberg 2.0, common law trials, like \u2018the prime minister is a Nazi\u2019 \u2013 these are quite extreme terms and terminologies,\u201d says Kate Hannah, a research fellow at Te P\u016bnaha Matatini\u2019s disinformation project, a research institute that monitors online extremism and rhetoric. Hannah says the team observed an incredibly rapid shift in both the volume and tone of disinformation circulating in New Zealand\u2019s online communities since the Delta outbreak and level 4 lockdown began<\/a>.<\/p>\n