Viral Misinformation and Hate Speech COVID-19 misinformation spreading through social media is a well-documented phenomenon.13 Social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, have all adopted new policies as they contend with the spread of inaccurate and misleading COVID-19 material on their platforms.14 In the same way that misinformation about the health aspects of COVID-19 is spreading through information ecosystems – often gaining widespread reach through social media – misinformation is all but certain to materialize for elections as well. As users share content out of a mix of motivations – fear, ideology, prejudice, a desire to be helpful – their decisions on what to amplify and give voice to in relation to voting in elections during the time of COVID-19 are subject to the same impulses. As users share content out of a mix of motivations – fear, ideology, prejudice, a desire to be helpful – their decisions on what to amplify and give voice to in relation to voting in elections during the time of COVID-19 are subject to the same impulses.” COVID-19 misinformation in Somalia and Niger, for example, has forced electoral authorities to make public clarifying statements. In Somalia, the national EMB took to Twitter to deny claims that it had delayed elections due to COVID-19.15 By the time they issued this clarification, reports to this effect had already begun circulating in online media sources.16 In Niger, though the origins of this narrative were unclear, the national EMB issued an official communication reporting that malign actors faked an announcement by electoral authorities that voter registration processes had been suspended in certain regions.17 While hate speech and incitement are often weaponized in large-scale domestic or foreign influence operations, as discussed in the following sections, individually perpetuated hate speech is also deeply problematic. In the context of elections, hate speech has the potential to undermine electoral integrity by impacting different communities’ ability to participate, resulting in an erosion of their fundamental political rights and the skewing of democratic outcomes. Actors have used COVID-19 to generate new hate narratives and exploit existing ones in ways that could intimidate candidates, voters, election administrators, civil society and journalists, particularly in countries with histories of intercommunal or electoral conflict. For liberal democracies working to build an inclusive, human rights-centered polity, hate speech poses a fundamental challenge as it creates, amplifies or entrenches a sense of “otherness.” For example, incidents of anti-Asian hate speech and harassment in online and offline spaces have proliferated in countries across the world in the wake of COVID-19.18 Some African immigrants in China are being evicted and subjected to arbitrary quarantine and testing as fears of the virus’ resurgence reignite entrenched xenophobia.19 As online audiences increase with large numbers of people under stay-at-home orders, transnational white supremacist audiences on Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform, have also grown, using COVID-19 as a recruitment narrative.20 Gender inequality and misogyny are adding to these challenges. It is well documented that domestic gender-based violence increases during natural disasters as women may be confined with their abusers for extended periods of time.21 COVID-19 is no different. For example, France and Lithuania have reported a 32 percent and 20 percent increase in violence against women, respectively.22 In an environment where individuals are spending more time online, social media and websites that promote sexual harassment and violence as entertainment for men contribute to this unsafe environment for women. IFES, in its violence against women in elections (VAWE) work, has established an adverse connection between domestic violence, sexual harassment and sexual violence – online and offline – and women’s political participation.23 In many countries, women also have lower literacy24 and more limited digital access,25 International Foundation for Electoral Systems -7-