ABSTRACT
Anti-immigrant disinformation is strongly associated with the ideology of exclusion and nativist supremacy that underpin right-wing populism and far-right extremism. In many countries, high-profile political actors have normalised anti-immigrant disinformation, often in compliance with sympathetic media outlets. The infrastructure of platforms facilitates anti-immigrant disinformation in many ways. As with disinformation generally, automated bots and fake accounts are frequently used to inflate the popularity of anti-immigrant disinformation. Anti-immigrant attitudes and the appeal of anti-immigrant disinformation have been contextualised in relation to patterns of economic and social change and the decline of traditional party systems. In many respects, anti-immigrant disinformation is part of a culture war in which an ecosystem of actors (far right, alt-right, populist, and conservative) reinforces a common opposition to a pluralist worldview. Finally, the proliferation of anti-immigrant disinformation requires attention from mainstream media and politicians in terms of how immigration is discussed and reported.
