Brussels: European parliamentarians (MPs) have warned against the capacity of social media users in India to manipulate the digital information environment for political and ideological propaganda.
The London Story and several members of the European Parliament, European Commission and experts at the UK’s Home Office attended the event. One of the panellists, Saikat Chatterjee, chief data analyst of the London Story, stated that experts are investigating the capacity of India’s information manipulation ecosystem (that spreads disinformation and hate speech) and its potential impact on democracies around the world.
The session also pointed out that digitization in India comes at the cost of information manipulation for first-time internet users, who are more prone to falling prey to scams and lies. Earlier, the conspiracy of undermining Pakistan by developing fake news content has been put out internationally by the EU DisinfoLab report of 2020.
The report has revealed the largest ever fake media and disinformation network against any country to date. As per the report, India has tried to malign Pakistan with the introduction of fake media outlets which worked in collaboration with each other, for spoiling Pakistan’s image across the world. The report has unleashed the Indian propaganda, which is actively working for more than 15 years, spread across 119 countries, involving European Union and the United Nations as well.
The presence of Fake websites, news agencies and NGOs has created smoke screens of organizations, with often an online presence only, which can cross-reference each other. Moreover, Indian nationals and organizations are playing a significant role in attaining the objectives of strategic communications and narrative building.
An example of this was given in “Indian Chronicles”, where the obscure Srivastava Group (SG) and its subsidiary Aglaya, a small New Delhi-based company have played a huge part. Indian strategic communication and narrative building are not just based on creating a false narrative against Pakistan.
India is also actively involved in terrorist and separatist activities, sabotaging CPEC, targeted killings of prominent important Pakistani citizens, and subverts Pakistan’s economic progress. There is mounting evidence that networks in #India are using social media platforms on a daily basis to manipulate public discourse and harass and intimidate independent voices. Web Desk
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