United States Institute of Peace

Social media in general has also helped proliferate violence, such as in January, when riots erupted in Port Moresby and other cities across PNG. According to many we have spoken with about the riots, social media, particularly Facebook, played a significant role in spreading the violence around the city — and even between cities and towns. In today's social media landscape, there is also a notable proliferation of horrible images, videos and viral narratives surrounding sorcery accusation related violence (SARV), along with justifications for employing violence against those who are accused.

Social Media in Papua New Guinea

The proliferation of these images should be understood in the context of Papua New Guinea’s high rates of violence, which manifest in many different forms.

Notably, gender-based violence is endemic throughout the country, with some reports describing PNG as one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman or a girl. There are also several common forms of collective violence. Election-based violence occurs in the context of political contestations and is often a central route through which cash and arms find their ways into the hands of clansmen in rural areas. Intergroup violence, which involves different tribe-based or clan-based groups, is also systemic in the country’s Highlands area. Finally, SARV — whereby an individual is accused of being a sorcerer or witch — is also increasingly prevalent across the country.

There is a clear potential for social media to exacerbate all these forms of violence, such as facilitating the rapid spread of inflammatory content, rumors or calls to violence. In particular, the widespread dissemination of violent images heightens the potential for collective violence, which could destabilize communities and escalate conflicts.

‘Violent Display’ in the Age of Social Media

In fact, the images that circulate on social media oftentimes appear to be deliberately staged to incite a particular response. This indicates that perpetrators are deliberately using social media as an avenue to exacerbate violence.

This is part of what scholar Lee Anne Fuji refers to as a “violent display,” where the stagings of violent acts is not simply for the sake of carrying out violence itself, but to publicly communicate very deliberate messages as well. In Papua New Guinea, the positioning of bodies, frequently mutilated, demonstrate this same sort of intentional staging. And with the advent of social media, the images of violent display can now be viewed by multitudes and spread faster than ever before.

This exposure to volatile material is especially dangerous in an environment where tribal identities and histories of intercommunity conflict are deeply rooted. Moreover, populations in PNG are increasingly vulnerable to the influence of provocative and false content on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp due to the increasing connectivity of rural and remote areas to digital infrastructure. Unfortunately, while more individuals are coming online, they often do not have adequate media literacy or access to balanced news sources, placing them increasingly at risk of being influenced by violent images and messages.

At present, we have no idea what emotional and psychological impact consuming and sharing such content has on viewers, yet alone how to effectively disrupt it or potentially harness or redirect it toward a more peaceful outcome.

We conducted a pilot research project to begin gathering some insights into these questions. In particular, we wanted to see if, and how, we can gain better insights into the relationship between violence and social media in PNG.

There were two main points of interest that came out of a small pilot study on comments posted on YouTube videos dealing with instances of SARV. The first was that — although it was not possible to be sure of commenters' identities, backgrounds and locations — it did appear that in these spaces there were interactions between people from PNG and those from outside PNG. This opens up questions of the role of international players in contributing to, or helping to defuse, local conflicts through the use of social media.

There is significant evidence that the international scale of social media can impact local conflicts. Examples include the Khalistan movement by the Sikh diaspora, where social media has been used to mobilize supporters, escalating tensions in Punjab, India. Similarly, the Burmese diaspora's use of social media to support democratic movements in Myanmar has prompted the government to increase crackdowns and violence. These cases demonstrate how social media can both mobilize positive change and lead to exacerbated local conflicts.

The second point of interest was the proliferation of comments advocating "spiritual warfare," in the context of fears about the use of sorcery. This terminology is associated with Pentecostal Christianity and indicates a religious understanding of the need to do battle with demons and evil spirits. Pentecostal Christianity is becoming a significant force in PNG — and internationally, it is increasingly using social media to spread its message.  The comments on the YouTube videos reflected an amalgamation of Christian religious doctrine and cultural norms justifying violence against individuals accused of witchcraft. These comments appeared to come from people both within and outside Papua New Guinea, again demonstrating dialogue of sorts occurring internationally across communities interested in notions of spiritual warfare.

What Can Be Done in Response?

So, what can countries such as the United States do in response to the potential of social media to spread violence? One approach is to work with the PNG government and civil society organizations to develop programs that encourage and support the development of local norms and mechanisms for responsible social media use. For instance, such programs could emphasize societal-level awareness about the negative impacts of forwarding violent images, the problem of misinformation and the importance of fact-checking. These programs could be based in schools and possibly also rolled out through church networks. Currently, there are very few, if any, campaigns in Papua New Guinea warning people about the dangers of misinformation on the internet.

Another approach is to understand that social media may also be used to foster peacebuilding through connecting coalitions of actors working to prevent violence. One possibility is funding adaptive strategies like community-led social media monitoring groups to empower communities and grassroots peace networks to respond to emerging threats.

Another is to broadcast success stories related to peace initiatives, such as the incredible work done by peacebuilders in Hela province and in Jiwaka. By highlighting these success stories, other communities may be inspired to adopt similar peacebuilding strategies, generating a spread of peacebuilding to counter the spread of violence.

Policymakers in PNG can also gain valuable insights by studying how technology and social media have been used in peacebuilding in other regions — for example, university students from Muslim Mindanao who implemented a peacebuilding project countering Islamophobia-linked hate speech online.

Additionally, platforms like Ushahidi have been used in multiple countries to report and monitor violence, assist in disaster response, and support local activism. These platforms offer the potential for peacebuilding by engaging citizens and gathering their grievances to inform policy decisions.

One certain conclusion is that social media stands to play an ever-increasing role in the spread and escalation of violence in Papua New Guinea. Therefore, it’s imperative to understand this role more clearly. In particular, much more knowledge is needed about the different ways that online content impacts users’ emotions; the links between online content and the triggers and escalations of violence; the role played by international actors in generating these dynamics; and how any links between social media and violence can be interrupted.

Joe Barak is a research officer at the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute.

Anurug Chakma is a research fellow for the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University.

Miranda Forsyth is a professor in the School of Regulation and Global Governance at the Australian National University.