From Rakhine to the Digital Battlefield: A New Front in Refugee Protection

In August 2017, the world witnessed the brutal expulsion of over 750,000 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh following a military crackdown described by many as ethnic cleansing. That violence, responsible for thousands of deaths and unimaginable suffering, was significantly amplified by the unchecked spread of misinformation and hate speech on social media, according to a landmark UN fact-finding mission a year later.

Now, eight years on, the problem has worsened and gone global. Today, refugees and stateless persons around the world find themselves increasingly vulnerable—not just to violence and discrimination in the physical world, but to a barrage of toxic digital content that fuels xenophobia, stokes fear, and in some cases, directly incites real-world violence and forced displacement.

The Rise of AI and the Weaponization of Misinformation

According to Gisella Lomax, senior advisor on information integrity at the UNHCR, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence has supercharged the flow of misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech. Using simple tools, anyone can now create realistic deepfakes, fabricate content, and disseminate it to millions with the click of a button.

“This is more than just an issue of online safety,” Lomax emphasizes. “The normalization of dangerous rhetoric about refugees has led to violence, undermined humanitarian operations, and threatened the safety and dignity of displaced populations across continents.”

Such content often portrays refugees as opportunistic, criminal, or violent, undermining public support and triggering policy shifts that can lead to refoulement or denial of asylum. Even worse, it erodes public trust in the critical information disseminated by humanitarian actors during crises.

Electoral Flashpoints and the Rohingya’s Harrowing Journey to Indonesia

The stakes are particularly high during elections, when refugees often become political scapegoats. In late 2023, as Indonesia prepared for national polls, over 1,700 Rohingya refugees arrived in Aceh Province after perilous sea journeys. Traditionally greeted with compassion, these new arrivals instead faced hostility and mob violence.

A coordinated campaign of online disinformation and hate speech turned the tide of public opinion. Fake UNHCR social media accounts sprang up, spreading rumors and fear. By December 2023, the hostility boiled over: hundreds of students stormed a shelter in Banda Aceh, forcibly evicting 137 refugees onto trucks and demanding their removal.

UNHCR condemned the attack, highlighting it was not an isolated incident, but the direct result of organized digital manipulation.

Piloting Solutions: From Board Games to TikTok Campaigns

To counter the crisis, UNHCR—supported by the European Commission’s humanitarian aid arm (ECHO)—has initiated a global response strategy. This includes a series of innovative pilot projects across continents.

In South Africa, where online xenophobia has emboldened violent anti-immigrant vigilante groups, UNHCR piloted a “pre-bunking” program with Innovation Norway. Given the lack of internet access in many schools, the initiative took the form of a board game called “Mzansi Life”, developed in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education and private sector partners.

The game encourages schoolchildren to walk in the shoes of refugees, promoting empathy while equipping them with critical thinking tools to detect manipulation. Early feedback has been positive, showing shifts in attitudes and increased resilience to misinformation. Plans are now underway for a digital version of the game and a TikTok competition encouraging youth to create solidarity-focused content.

Creative Counter-Narratives: Rohingya Voices Take the Lead

In six Asian countries, UNHCR is also supporting a pilot aimed at combating online hate targeting Rohingya refugees. This initiative partners with civil society, refugee-led organizations, and media to monitor harmful content and generate culturally relevant, positive narratives.

One notable collaboration involved Yasmin Ullah and Hafsar Tameesuddin, former Rohingya refugees and founders of the Rohingya Maiyafuinor Collaborative Network. Together with the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), they created a humorous video confronting myths about their community—a strategic blend of light-hearted engagement and truth-telling.

“Sometimes we have to be cheeky just to be heard,” Ullah explains. “When you don’t have many resources, creativity becomes your most powerful weapon.”

Launching the Information Integrity Toolkit

Building on these pilots, UNHCR launched the Information Integrity Toolkit, a comprehensive, cross-sectoral resource funded by ECHO. It offers practical tools, frameworks, and guidance for humanitarian actors grappling with digital threats. Lomax sees this as part of a larger push under the UN’s Global Digital Compact, which envisions a safer, rights-respecting internet for all.

The toolkit is designed to be adaptable, acknowledging that information risks differ by region, and local actors are critical to shaping responses. “Hate speech and disinformation are both global and hyperlocal,” Lomax explains. “We need grassroots insight just as much as we need global tools.”

Building Multistakeholder Alliances for Digital Protection

In recognition of the complexity and scale of the issue, UNHCR has prioritized multistakeholder partnerships. A new project funded by Switzerland is enabling UNHCR to deepen collaboration with governments, digital rights organizations, tech firms, and refugee-led groups.

In preparing for the South African pilot, for example, UNHCR partnered with Google, which shared best practices from its own pre-bunking campaigns combating false narratives about Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, 23 diverse organizations—ranging from private sector giants to refugee-led NGOs—pledged to scale up their efforts to combat digital misinformation.

“The goal is to get tech companies to care about humanitarian contexts,” Lomax said. “We need their algorithms, tools, and attention directed toward the world’s most vulnerable populations.”

From Reactive to Proactive Protection

As digital platforms become the primary battleground for public opinion, humanitarians face an urgent challenge: how to protect truth and dignity in a time of weaponized information. UNHCR’s evolving strategy represents a shift from reactive crisis management to proactive resilience building, offering a model that others can adapt.

In a world where the wrong tweet can spark riots and fake news can endanger lives, information integrity is now a frontline humanitarian concern. And for the world’s 110 million displaced people, the stakes could not be higher.