Defunded by Trump, a Sri Lankan Project Confronts the Problem It Tried to Solve

On February 5th, Elon Musk took him to X and criticized the US International Development Agency. The Trump administration had already suspended funding for 90% of government projects around the world. However, the mask said “agent”Radical left political Psy opA few weeks after President Trump halted most of his operations, he was hit by his 221 million followers. On this particular day, he retweeted the list of “” with “.A ridiculous project“Speed ​​response 47, flagged by accounts affiliated with the White House. “7.9 million [went] The post insisted on teaching Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid “binary gender languages.” Musk has denounced the initiative as “a crazy waste of your taxes”! His followers responded with a conspiracy theory, asking USAID staff to receive prison time.

In Sri Lanka, staff at democratic Sri Lankan Media Empowerment, who are allegedly funding pronoun training, were shocked by the attention. They didn’t spend their money on the kind of work Musk described. The $7.9 million repairs have countered the disinformation in Sri Lanka by equipping students, teachers, civil servants and journalists with educational resources. It held training sessions that taught individuals to find misinformation, develop reporting skills and engage in mobile journalism.

None of the former Mend employees expected their small initiative to be targeted by the kind of fake news they were actively working to fight. “This particular activity is a classic example of a disinformation campaign,” said Ishara, a former employee.

MEND is one of more than 5,000 projects worldwide that lost funds under the Trump administration’s USAID closure. With the project closed, the original staff worry that its end could produce more than an antagonistic X comment. In Sri Lanka, social divisions that have come to an enormous scale online for the country’s 26-year civil war, and news outlets have threatened that the end of programs like Mendo will fuel violence offline.

Sri Lanka has become a breeding ground for online hate speech and false information over the past decade. It’s in the country more Mobile devices than people More than a third Its citizens are actively using social media. That high connectivity was at the expense of its cost. Disinformation is a common problem on increasingly popular social media sites such as Facebook and X. It has risen sharply Around the island. False digital claims catalyze violent attacks against the island’s ethnic and religious minorities. in 2018a Facebook post about the death of a Sinhalese Buddhist during a traffic arguing with two Muslim individuals escalated rapidly into a riot where the crowd burned men. The experts helped to build digital literacy skills that could compete with the sector, reflecting the work of groups like Mendo.

“This is Sri Lanka’s needs,” said Sanjana Hattuwa, former director of the New Zealand-based Disformation Project and a researcher studying Sri Lanka’s digital landscape. “[Disinformation] It has a significant impact on livelihoods and livelihoods, the policies taken by the government, and the policies taken by the government. This has a direct impact on Muslims and other minorities in this country. ”

The group has not emerged in Mend’s absence, and the lack of alternatives has led to concerns that digital violence will worsen over the next few years. “If there’s no population inoculated against the way social media can manipulate emotions, reactions and behaviors, then problems arise,” Hattuwa said. “It’s a very clear progress towards a precarious and violent society.”

A few months later, employees wonder why they were targeted, fearing that the launch of the fiery mask warnings on social media will only underscore the need for work they are not currently able to do. “[The trainings] It gave us a sense of media, how media works, media ethics, and how people should be aware of the media as consumers. [to] Avoid incorrect information…[and] How people become vulnerable to using hate speech and how it affects people,” said Shaifur Rahman Sadhaka, former trainer at Mend.

The project has worked closely with a variety of media organizations. I received it praise From US Ambassador Julie Chung on his contributions to promoting independent and accurate journalism. With that support, local media expanded their capabilities. That resource was particularly meaningful in advancing gender equality on the ground. “In countries like Sri Lanka, there is a lack of comprehensive relational education and there is no effective and sustainable system to address topics such as gender, gender-based violence and school sexual health, but this responsibility often rests on the media,” Ishara said. only 15% The government-registered Sri Lankan journalist is a woman, and the project’s employees have seen discussing gender inequality as a necessary component to strengthen local reporting. During the training session, employees also found that many young participants wanted information on how to report on gender identity. Some people have heard about the LGBTQ+ community in Sri Lanka, but they felt there was a lack of knowledge to effectively cover. MEND provided basic technical information that could enable this report. “That’s why the work we did through the MEND program was extremely important, especially from a gender perspective,” Ishara said.

In conversations with former employees, some people have never heard of the “Binary Gender Language” project where Musk is being referenced. Others can only consider one potential instance.