Digital Disinformation's Attack on Black Unity: How Algorithms and Influencers Are Weaponizing Division



The History Behind The Headlines



By Darius Spearman (African Elements)




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Algorithmic Warfare: How Tech Companies Profit from Black Division



The digital battlefield is real. Black communities face an unprecedented assault of carefully engineered disinformation designed to tear us apart. According to Onyx Impact, Black users experience disinformation 2.7 times more frequently than the general population. This is no accident. Moreover, artificial intelligence systems and social media algorithms deliberately amplify divisive narratives about gender, sexuality, and national origin to exploit our vulnerabilities.





When scholars gather to discuss these issues—as Black feminist academics did in November 2025 at a panel titled "Diaspora Wars and Going 50/50—they are examining something deeply troubling. The University of Michigan panel brought together researchers like Brooklyne Gipson from Rutgers University and cultural critic Jamilah Lemieux to analyze exactly how and why debates about gender and cross-cultural identity consistently dominate Black social media spaces. The answer points directly at the algorithms running these platforms. These systems prioritize engagement above all else, meaning the most emotionally charged, divisive content gets pushed to more people. Platforms profit when we fight. Meanwhile, social media influencers amplify these manufactured conflicts, either knowingly or unknowingly, spreading propaganda that weakens Black solidarity.



The mechanics are simple but devastating. Bots compose approximately 42 percent of all social media traffic, according to Onyx Impact's Digital Green Book. These fake accounts deliberately inject inflammatory content into Black discursive spaces. Real people, unaware they are being manipulated, engage with this content and spread it further. Influencers with large followings share divisive talking points without verifying their accuracy. The algorithm notices heightened engagement and pushes the same divisive narratives to thousands more.



The Silencing of Black Voices Through Content Moderation Bias



Platform moderation systems amplify suppression. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that when Black Americans share personal experiences with racism on social media, their posts face disproportionate flagging by both algorithmic systems and human moderators. Five state-of-the-art content moderation algorithms from major tech companies—ncluding advanced large language models—suppressed posts about racial discrimination more than any other category of content. Instagram users whose activity suggested they were Black faced approximately 50 percent higher rates of automatic account suspension compared to white users, according to this groundbreaking research.



This creates a vicious cycle. When Black people are prevented from speaking about our experiences, we internalize the message that our concerns do not matter. Witnessing this suppression damages how Black Americans view their communities and their place within them. Yet the platforms claim neutrality while profiting from our erasure.



When Influencers Become Weapons: The Economics of Black Content Creation



Black creators build culture. They establish trends, shape conversations, and generate enormous value for social media platforms. Yet the influencer economy compensates them accordingly: Black influencers earn 35 percent less than white influencers for comparable work, according to research documented by HubSpot. Furthermore, 77 percent of Black influencers occupy "nano" influencer positions, meaning they have minimal reach and earning potential, while their white counterparts secure lucrative brand partnerships and sponsorships.



This economic disparity ensures that the highest-paid influencera—predominantly white—set the cultural narrative. When these well-compensated voices promote divisive talking points about diaspora conflicts or gender wars, their amplified reach ensures the narratives spread widely. Meanwhile, Black creators who might offer counterarguments or nuanced perspectives lack the platform and compensation to compete.



Some influencers deliberately participate in propaganda campaigns. According to research on algorithmic bias reported by The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, TikTok's search engine and recommendation algorithms systematically associate members of marginalized groups with derogatory and violent search prompts. This is not accidental design—it is systematic suppression that benefits those with resources to advertise around these biased results.



From Reconstruction Lies to Jim Crow Propaganda: The Original Disinformation War



The current assault on Black communities through digital disinformation follows a centuries-old playbook. Understanding this history illuminates why the stakes matter today.



After the Civil War ended in 1865, a partisan information war erupted over the very definition of truth. As William A. Blair documents in "The Record of Murders and Outrages: Racial Violence and the Fight over Truth at the Dawn of Reconstruction," white Democrats led by President Andrew Johnson deliberately spread false narratives denying that racial violence was occurring across the South. They labeled reports of massacres, lynchings, and terrorism directed at freedmen as "fake news"—fabrications invented by Radical Republicans to justify federal intervention protecting Black people.



This was not accidental misinformation. This was strategic disinformation. When Republican Senator Charles Sumner provided testimony to Congress detailing racial atrocities, even Northern newspapers like the New York Times attacked him for allegedly fabricating "eyewitness" accounts to generate "anger and estrangement" between regions. The goal was transparent: prevent Americans from knowing the truth so that political pressure to protect Black freedom would evaporate. And it worked. As Reconstruction ended, federal troops withdrew from the South, and violent white supremacists seized political power through terrorism and fraud.



Throughout the Jim Crow era, disinformation remained a tool of racial control. "When disinformation becomes 'racialized'" according to research shared with ABC News, disinformation campaigns targeting Black Americans intensified during pivotal political moments. Stereotypes and false narratives about Black criminality, laziness, and moral corruption were deliberately circulated to justify segregation, police violence, and economic exploitation.



The Black Press as Counter-Narrative: When Journalism Was Resistance



Black communities never passively accepted disinformation. The Black press emerged as a direct response to the lies white-controlled media spread about us. In 1827, when Freedom's Journal published its first issue, editors John B. Russwurm and Samuel Cornish made their mission explicit: "We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us. Too long has the public been deceived by misrepresentations in things which concern us dearly."



For nearly two centuries, the Black press provided what mainstream outlets would not: truthful coverage of Black life, Black achievement, and Black resistance to oppression. When the Chicago Defender reported on Emmett Till's 1955 murder, they called it what it was—a racial terror killing. White newspapers buried the story or labeled it a kidnapping. The difference was not subtle. One framing demanded justice. The other enabled it to continue.



Black women wielded particular power through the press. Through publications like Women's Era and the National Association of Colored Women's National Notes, Black women used editorial authority to elevate women's issues and organize politically. The Black press championed causes beyond its immediate community, publishing early condemnations of Japanese American internment and later critiquing American financial connections to South African apartheid. This was journalism rooted in liberation, not profit.



Gender, Diaspora, and the Weaponization of Internal Conflict



Disinformation campaigns have always exploited internal divisions within Black communities. Historically, these campaigns weaponized gender tensions, with white supremacist media portraying Black women as immoral "jezebels" deserving violation and abuse, or as domineering "matriarchs" destroying Black families. These false narratives justified both sexual violence and the systematic denial of economic opportunity.



Today, digital disinformation resurrects these same tactics but with algorithmic precision. Research on social media's influence on Black women reveals that Black women encounter degradation online not only from outside communities but from within our own digital spaces. The narratives promoted algorithmically often echo white supremacist tropes about Black womanhood, creating environments where Black women internalize these stereotypes and where other Black community members repeat them.



Cross-cultural tensions within the African diaspora—sometimes labeled "diaspora wars" by scholars—have been deliberately amplified by disinformation operatives. The National Black Cultural Information Trust defines diaspora wars as cross-cultural arguments among different ethnicities of African people that become destructive when we internalize anti-Black narratives about each other. Recent research shows that online disinformation campaigns have deliberately used these cultural conversations to weaken Black activism and cause confusion. Paid operatives and bot networks specifically target discussions about diaspora identity to sow distrust between African Americans, Africans born on the continent, and members of the Black Caribbean diaspora.



Today's Digital Plantation: Algorithms as the New Overseers



The mechanisms of algorithmic bias are not mysteries. According to Forbes, TikTok's algorithm flags keywords and phrases affirming Black identity as inappropriate while allowing white supremacist content to circulate freely. When Black creator Ziggi Tyler tested the platform's content moderation system, he entered phrases like "Black Lives Matter," "Black success," and "I am a Black man." The algorithm immediately flagged these for removal as violations. When Tyler then entered "white supremacy" and "I am a neo-Nazi," the system raised no alerts.



Why? Because, as author Frederick Joseph explains to Forbes, "these algorithms were designed primarily by white engineers with white individuals in mind. The designers are conditioned in white supremacy and so are their algorithms."



This is not a glitch. It is structural. A Harvard Law Review essay documents how disinformation has historically functioned as a form of knowledge production. When false narratives are repeated enough, they become "common knowledge." When "common knowledge" is written into law, it becomes institutionalized discrimination. Algorithmic systems reproduce this entire cycle at digital speed. Racist stereotypes get baked into training data. Machine learning systems identify patterns in this biased data. The algorithm then amplifies content matching these patterns, spreading stereotypes further. Soon these stereotypes shape how platforms moderate content, which influences public discourse, which eventually shapes policy.



The Digital Green Book: A Modern Defense Against Information Warfare



Recognition of this crisis has sparked organized resistance. Onyx Impact launched the "Digital Green Book for the Culture," deliberately referencing the original Green Book (1936-1966) that guided Black travelers to safe spaces during Jim Crow. This modern version serves as a digital roadmap against manipulation. The platform teaches Black users to spot online manipulation, protect their data, identify misinformation, and amplify Black-owned media.



Moreover, Onyx Impact's Information Integrity Lab links Black influencers with legacy Black newspapers, increasing visibility and trust while building what they call a cultural ecosystem designed to reclaim narrative control. In pilot programs, the approach generated significant results. Influencer Elizabeth Booker Houston's partnership with the Washington Informer produced over 34,000 likes, 3,200 shares, and 6,700 new Instagram followers for the newspaper. This demonstrated that when Black media organizations and creators work together deliberately, we can amplify truth-telling at scale.



The Role of Education: Media Literacy as Resistance



Scholars and practitioners increasingly recognize that fighting disinformation requires building cognitive resilience—the mental capacity to critically assess information and resist manipulation. According to the World Economic Forum, media and information literacy equips individuals with tools to access, analyze, evaluate, and create information responsibly. This is not merely individual skill-building. It is collective self-defense.



Researchers have pioneered effective strategies. The DISMISS campaign in the United Kingdom achieved a reach of over 9 million people through short-form videos and animations teaching young voters to identify political disinformation. Five months after the campaign, 100 percent of focus group participants could accurately recall the content. Confidence in recognizing political disinformation increased from 0 percent to 25 percent. Participants reported increased rigor in fact-checking and critical evaluation of content.



These approaches work because they meet audiences where they are—on social media, through engaging visual formats, in language that resonates with lived experience. According to research on algorithmic literacy for journalists, every news worker needs some degree of algorithmic literacy, the ability to understand and critically evaluate algorithmic systems and their consequences. If professionals need this literacy, so do all of us navigating a digital ecosystem shaped by algorithmic curation.



Why This Matters: The Stakes for Black Liberation



The assault on Black information spaces is an assault on Black freedom. When disinformation about "diaspora wars" fractures our international solidarity, we cannot organize collective resistance to white supremacy operating globally. When algorithms suppress Black women's voices about our experiences, we cannot build feminist consciousness or demand accountability from our communities. When influencers—incentivized by platform algorithms and paid disinformation operations—promote divisive narratives, they weaken our capacity to recognize common enemies and common goals.



The digital age has transformed disinformation from a phenomenon occurring in newspapers and political speeches into an invisible architecture shaping what we see, think, and believe. It is personalized. It is targeted. It operates at the speed of machine learning. And it disproportionately harms Black communities already navigating multiple forms of systematic oppression.



Yet we have responded before. The Black press defeated the lies that justified slavery and Jim Crow. Mary Ellen Pleasant used her wealth and influence to support Black journalists during Reconstruction, understanding that controlling narrative was as crucial as controlling territory. Black women wielded editorial power to shape national discourse. Our ancestors understood that information is power. That journalism is resistance.



Today's resistance takes similar forms with updated tools. Black media organizations partnering with creators to amplify truth. Scholars analyzing how algorithms encode racism to demand accountability and change. Educators teaching digital literacy to build collective cognitive resilience. Activists organizing to regulate platforms and demand that tech companies prioritize equity over engagement-based profits.



The disinformation targeting Black communities will not stop on its own. The algorithms will continue prioritizing engagement. The influencers will continue being compensated according to racial hierarchies. The bots will continue spreading propaganda. This is by design. But we have never depended on our oppressors to stop oppressing us. We have always built our own counter-narratives. We have always told our own truths. And we will continue doing so—more intentionally, more collectively, more effectively than ever before.



Our information independence is our freedom.





About the Author



Darius Spearman has been a professor of Black Studies at San Diego City College since 2007. He is the author of several books, including Between The Color Lines: A History of African Americans on the California Frontier Through 1890. You can visit Darius online at africanelements.org.

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