Information Disorder in the Information Age : Actors, Tactics, and Impacts in South and Southeast Asia

This monograph maps the political economy of information disorder—misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation—across South and Southeast Asia. It profiles actors (state-linked networks, profit-seeking content farms, ideological groups), platforms and encrypted channels, and the tactics they employ: synthetic amplification, deepfakes, cross-platform seeding, and micro-targeting. The study documents impacts on elections, public health, communal harmony, and disaster response, showing how low media literacy, polarized ecosystems, and opaque recommendation systems compound harm. Case studies illustrate how narratives travel across borders and languages, leveraging diasporic networks and regional grievances. The report evaluates regulatory responses, fact-checking initiatives, and platform policies, acknowledging free-expression trade-offs and risks of overreach. It proposes a layered strategy: transparent political advertising, interoperable trust signals, adversarial testing for recommender systems, legal clarity on harmful coordinated behavior, and investment in civic media. Finally, it highlights the role of universities, newsrooms, and civil society in building resilience through media literacy, open datasets, and rapid-response collaboration during high-risk events.