Resources for all concerned with culture of authoritarianism in society, banalisation of communalism, (also chauvinism, parochialism and identity politics) rise of the far right in India (and with occasional information on other countries of South Asia and beyond)
Matheus Dominguez, who said YouTube was crucial to shifting his political views to the far right, recording a YouTube video in Niterói, Brazil.CreditCreditDado Galdieri for The New York Times
NITERÓI, Brazil — When Matheus Dominguez was 16, YouTube recommended a video that changed his life.
He was in a band in Niterói, a beach-ringed city in Brazil, and practiced guitar by watching tutorials online.
YouTube had recently installed a powerful new artificial intelligence system that learned from user behavior and paired videos with recommendations for others. One day, it directed him to an amateur guitar teacher named Nando Moura, who had gained a wide following by posting videos about heavy metal, video games and, most of all, politics.
In colorful and paranoid far-right rants, Mr. Moura accused feminists, teachers and mainstream politicians of waging vast conspiracies. Mr. Dominguez was hooked.
As his time on the site grew, YouTube recommended videos from other far-right figures. One was a lawmaker named Jair Bolsonaro, then a marginal figure in national politics — but a star in YouTube’s far-right community in Brazil, where the platform has become more widely watched than all but one TV channel.
Last year, he became President Bolsonaro.
“YouTube became the social media platform of the Brazilian right,” said Mr. Dominguez, now a lanky 17-year-old who says he, too, plans to seek political office.
Members of the nation’s newly empowered far right — from grass-roots organizers to federal lawmakers — say their movement would not have risen so far, so fast, without YouTube’s recommendation engine.
New research has found they may be correct. YouTube’s search and recommendation system appears to have systematically diverted users to far-right and conspiracy channels in Brazil.
A New York Times investigation in Brazil found that, time and again, videos promoted by the site have upended central elements of daily life.
Teachers describe classrooms made unruly by students who quote from YouTube conspiracy videos or who, encouraged by right-wing YouTube stars, secretly record their instructors.
Some parents look to “Dr. YouTube” for health advice but get dangerous misinformation instead, hampering the nation’s efforts to fight diseases like Zika. Viral videos have incited death threats against public health advocates.
And in politics, a wave of right-wing YouTube stars ran for office alongside Mr. Bolsonaro, some winning by historic margins. Most still use the platform, governing the world’s fourth-largest democracy through internet-honed trolling and provocation.
YouTube’s recommendation system is engineered to maximize watchtime, among other factors, the company says, but not to favor any political ideology. The system suggests what to watch next, often playing the videos automatically, in a never-ending quest to keep us glued to our screens.
But the emotions that draw people in — like fear, doubt and anger — are often central features of conspiracy theories, and in particular, experts say, of right-wing extremism.
As the system suggests more provocative videos to keep users watching, it can direct them toward extreme content they might otherwise never find. And it is designed to lead users to new topics to pique new interest — a boon for channels like Mr. Moura’s that use pop culture as a gateway to far-right ideas.
The system now drives 70 percent of total time on the platform, the company says. As viewership skyrockets globally, YouTube is bringing in over $1 billion a month, some analysts believe.
Zeynep Tufekci, a social media scholar, has called it “one of the most powerful radicalizing instruments of the 21st century.”
Company representatives disputed the studies’ methodology and said that the platform’s systems do not privilege any one viewpoint or direct users toward extremism. However, company representatives conceded some of the findings and promised to make changes.
Farshad Shadloo, a spokesman, said that YouTube has “invested heavily in the policies, resources and products” to reduce the spread of harmful misinformation, adding, “we’ve seen that authoritative content is thriving in Brazil and is some of the most recommended content on the site.”
Danah Boyd, founder of the think tank Data & Society, attributed the disruption in Brazil to YouTube’s unrelenting push for viewer engagement, and the revenues it generates.
Though corruption scandals and a deep recession had already devastated Brazil’s political establishment and left many Brazilians ready for a break with the status quo, Ms. Boyd called YouTube’s impact a worrying indication of the platform’s growing impact on democracies worldwide.
“This is happening everywhere,” she said.
Mr. Bolsonaro was a star in YouTube’s far-right community in Brazil, where the platform has become more widely watched than all but one TV channel.CreditAdriano Machado/Reuters
The Party of YouTube
Maurício Martins, the local vice president of Mr. Bolsonaro’s party in Niterói, credited “most” of the party’s recruitment to YouTube — including his own.
He was killing time on the site one day, he recalled, when the platform showed him a video by a right-wing blogger. He watched out of curiosity. It showed him another, and then another.
“Before that, I didn’t have an ideological political background,” Mr. Martins said. YouTube’s auto-playing recommendations, he declared, were “my political education.”
“It was like that with everyone,” he said.
The platform’s political influence is increasingly felt in Brazilian schools.
“Sometimes I’m watching videos about a game, and all of a sudden it’s a Bolsonaro video,” said Inzaghi D., a 17-year-old high schooler in Niterói.
More and more, his fellow students are making extremist claims, often citing as evidence YouTube stars like Mr. Moura, the guitarist-turned-conspiracist.
“It’s the main source that kids have to get information,” he said.
Few illustrate YouTube’s influence better than Carlos Jordy.
Musclebound and heavily tattooed — his left hand bears a flaming skull with diamond eyes — he joined the City Council in 2017 with few prospects of rising through traditional politics. So Mr. Jordy took inspiration from bloggers like Mr. Moura and his political mentor, Mr. Bolsonaro, turning his focus to YouTube.
He posted videos accusing local teachers of conspiring to indoctrinate students into communism. The videos won him a “national audience,” he said, and propelled his stunning rise, only two years later, to the federal legislature.
“If social media didn’t exist, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “Jair Bolsonaro wouldn’t be president.”
Mr. Dominguez with the equipment he used to produce YouTube content: his phones and camera.CreditDado Galdieri for The New York Times
Down The Rabbit Hole
A few hundred miles away from Niterói, a team of researchers led by Virgilio Almeida at the Federal University of Minas Gerais hunched over computers, trying understand how YouTube shapes its users’ reality.
The team analyzed transcripts from thousands of videos, as well as the comments beneath them. Right-wing channels in Brazil, they found, had seen their audiences expand far faster than others did, and seemed to be tilting the site’s overall political content.
In the months after YouTube changed its algorithm, positive mentions of Mr. Bolsonaro ballooned. So did mentions of conspiracy theories that he had floated. This began as polls still showed him to be deeply unpopular, suggesting that the platform was doing more than merely reflecting political trends.
A team at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center set out to test whether the Brazilian far right’s meteoric rise on the platform had been boosted by YouTube’s recommendation engine.
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Jonas Kaiser and Yasodara Córdova, with Adrian Rauchfleisch of National Taiwan University, programmed a Brazil-based server to enter a popular channel or search term, then open YouTube’s top recommendations, then follow the recommendations on each of those, and so on.
By repeating this thousands of times, the researchers tracked how the platform moved users from one video to the next. They found that after users watched a video about politics or even entertainment, YouTube’s recommendations often favored right-wing, conspiracy-filled channels like Mr. Moura’s.
Crucially, users who watched one far-right channel would often be shown many more.
The algorithm had united once-marginal channels — and then built an audience for them, the researchers concluded.
One of those channels belonged to Mr. Bolsonaro, who had long used the platform to post hoaxes and conspiracies. Though a YouTube early adopter, his online following had done little to expand his political base, which barely existed on a national level.
Then Brazil’s political system collapsed just as YouTube’s popularity there soared. Mr. Bolsonaro’s views had not changed. But YouTube’s far-right, where he was a major figure, saw its audience explode, helping to prime large numbers of Brazilians for his message at a time when the country was ripe for a political shift.
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YouTube challenged the researchers’ methodology and said its internal data contradicted their findings. But the company declined the Times’ requests for that data, as well as requests for certain statistics that would reveal whether or not the researchers’ findings were accurate.
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Gisleangela Oliveira dos Santos leaving her home with her daughter, who suffers from microcephaly. Ms. Oliveira dos Santos watched YouTube videos attributing Zika to vaccines and international conspiracies.CreditDado Galdieri for The New York Times
‘Dr. YouTube’
The conspiracies were not limited to politics. Many Brazilians searching YouTube for health care information found videos that terrified them: some said Zika was being spread by vaccines, or by the insecticides meant to curb the spread of the mosquito-borne disease that has ravaged northeastern Brazil.
The videos appeared to rise on the platform in much the same way as extremist political content: by making alarming claims and promising forbidden truths that kept users glued to their screens.
Doctors, social workers and former government officials said the videos had created the foundation of a public health crisis as frightened patients refused vaccines and even anti-Zika insecticides.
The consequences have been pronounced in poorer communities like Maceió, a city in Brazil’s northeast that was among the hardest hit by Zika.
“Fake news is a virtual war,” said Flávio Santana, a pediatric neurologist based in Maceió. “We have it coming from every direction.”
When Zika first spread in 2015, health workers distributed larvicides that killed the mosquitoes that spread the disease.
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Not long after YouTube installed its new recommendation engine, Dr. Santana’s patients began telling him that they’d seen videos blaming Zika on vaccines — and, later, on larvicides. Many refused both.
Dr. Auriene Oliviera, an infectious disease specialist at the same hospital, said patients increasingly defied her advice, including on procedures crucial to their child’s survival.
“They say, ‘No, I’ve researched it on Google, I’ve seen it on YouTube,” she said.
Medical providers, she said, were competing “every single day” against “Dr. Google and Dr. YouTube” — and they were losing.
Mardjane Nunes, a Zika expert who recently left a senior role in the health ministry, said that health workers across Brazil have been reporting similar experiences. As more communities refuse the anti-Zika larvicide, she added, the disease is seeing a small resurgence.
“Social media is winning,” she said.
Brazil’s medical community had reason to feel outmatched. The Harvard researchers found that YouTube’s systems frequently directed users who searched for information on Zika, or even those who watched a reputable video on health issues, toward conspiracy channels.
A spokesman for YouTube confirmed the Times’ findings, calling them unintended, and said the company would change how its search tool surfaced videos related to Zika.
Debora Diniz, a women’s rights activist, was forced to flee Brazil after online attacks by right-wing trolls who threatened her life.CreditJaron Berman for The New York Times
An ‘Ecosystem of Hate’
As the far right rose, many of its leading voices had learned to weaponize the conspiracy videos, offering their vast audiences a target: people to blame. Eventually, the YouTube conspiracists turned their spotlight on Debora Diniz, a women’s rights activist whose abortion advocacy had long made her a target of the far right.
Bernardo Küster, a YouTube star whose homemade rants had won him 750,000 subscribers and an endorsement from Mr. Bolsonaro, accused her of involvement in the supposed Zika plots.
The very people working to help families affected by Zika, their videos implied, were behind the disease. Backed by shadowy foreigners, their goal was to abolish Brazil’s abortion ban — or even make abortions mandatory.
As far-right and conspiracy channels began citing one another, YouTube’s recommendation system learned to string their videos together. However implausible any individual rumor might be on its own, joined together, they created the impression that dozens of disparate sources were revealing the same terrifying truth.
“It feels like the connection is made by the viewer, but the connection is made by the system,” Ms. Diniz said.
Threats of rape and torture filled Ms. Diniz’s phone and email. Some cited her daily routines. Many echoed claims from Mr. Küster’s videos, she said.
Mr. Küster gleefully mentioned, though never explicitly endorsed, the threats. That kept him just within YouTube’s rules.
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When the university where Ms. Diniz taught received a warning that a gunman would shoot her and her students, and the police said they could no longer guarantee her safety, she left Brazil.
“The YouTube system of recommending the next video and the next video,” she said, had created “an ecosystem of hate.”
“‘I heard here that she’s an enemy of Brazil. I hear in the next one that feminists are changing family values. And the next one I hear that they receive money from abroad” she said. “That loop is what leads someone to say ‘I will do what has to be done.’”
“We need the companies to face their role,” Ms. Diniz said. “Ethically, they are responsible.”
As conspiracies spread on YouTube, video makers targeted aid groups whose work touches on controversial issues like abortion. Even some families that had long relied on such groups came to wonder if the videos might be true, and began to avoid them.
In Brazil, this is a growing online practice known as “linchamento” — lynching. Mr. Bolsonaro was an early pioneer, spreading videos in 2012 that falsely accused left-wing academics of plotting to force schools to distribute “gay kits” to convert children to homosexuality.
Mr. Jordy, his tattooed Niterói protégé, was untroubled to learn that his own YouTube campaign, accusing teachers of spreading communism, had turned their lives upside down.
One of those teachers, Valeria Borges, said she and her colleagues had been overwhelmed with messages of hate, creating a climate of fear.
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Mr. Jordy, far from disputing this, said it had been his goal. “I wanted her to feel fear,” he said.
“It’s a culture war we’re fighting,” he explained. “This is what I came into office to do.”
Right-wing activists at the São Paulo headquarters of Movimento Brasil Livre, where they create YouTube videos.CreditThe Weekly/The New York Times/FX/Hulu
‘The Dictatorship of the Like’
Ground zero for politics by YouTube may be the São Paulo headquarters of Movimento Brasil Livre, which formed to agitate for the 2016 impeachment of the left-wing President Dilma Rousseff. Its members trend young, middle-class, right-wing and extremely online.
Renan Santos, the group’s national coordinator, gestured to a door marked “the YouTube Division” and said, “This is the heart of things.”
Inside, eight young men poked at editing software. One was stylizing an image of Benito Mussolini for a video arguing that fascism had been wrongly blamed on the right.
But even some people here fear the platform’s impact on democracy. Mr. Santos, for example, called social media a “weapon,” adding that some people around Mr. Bolsonaro “want to use this weapon to pressure institutions in a way that I don’t see as responsible.”
The group’s co-founder, a man-bunned former rock guitarist name Pedro D’Eyrot, said “we have something here that we call the dictatorship of the like.”
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Reality, he said, is shaped by whatever message goes most viral.
Even as he spoke, a two-hour YouTube video was captivating the nation. Titled “1964” for the year of Brazil’s military coup, it argued that the takeover had been necessary to save Brazil from communism.
Mr. Dominguez, the teenager learning to play guitar, said the video persuaded him that his teachers had fabricated the horrors of military rule.
Ms. Borges, the history teacher vilified on YouTube, said it brought back memories of military curfews, disappeared activists and police beatings.
“I don’t think I’ve had my last beating,” she said.
The Interpreter is a column by Max Fisher and Amanda Taub exploring the ideas and context behind major world events. Follow them on Twitter @Max_Fisher and @amandataub.
Mariana Simões contributed reporting from Niterói and Maceió, Brazil. Kate Steiker-Ginzberg contributed reporting from Niterói, Maceió and São Paulo, Brazil. Renata Matarazzo contributed research.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: With YouTube as Guide, Brazil Moves Far Right.
We might enter an ‘RSS meets Jio’ ideological world
What is of interest is that in the new techno-nationalist
imagination, the issue is not protecting small producers or indigenous
technology etc. The focus is on creating what people believe to be the
carriers of national power in the form of large companies.
Hate Hatao tracks, documents, and takes action against acts of hate of all kinds, and now, anyone with a smartphone can get involved in the process of ensuring justice is delivered. Download the app now
Murderous
attacks on helpless victims have now become routine in India, with
numerous and varied grounds for killing the victims. In recent times,
two men were murdered in Assam after being suspected as child kidnappers. However, in the last three years, the grounds for murdering innocent people have mainly been cow slaughter and cattle smuggling. The religious and ethnic identities of victims too have varied. Attacks
on suspected childlifters have been usually by local villagers against
‘strangers-outsiders’. Ideologically driven cow vigilantes have targeted
Muslims, terming them outsiders and dangerous ‘others’.
The antipathy towards ‘outsiders’ and ‘others’ is not the only
pattern. In all these instances, rumours fuelled by Facebook and
WhatsApp have been the immediate triggers. But what is far more ominous
and important to recognise is that these triggers rest on an ecosystem
of fear and hate, which has been nurtured with care and clear intent.
There has been a careful dissemination of such messages (text message
forwards) in the works. Hate has been the central motif. Much of this
hate is not new. It is not new knowledge that mobs have a propensity to
violently attack the defenceless in situations where the administration
has either been slack or complicit.
Old grievances, prejudices and fear of ‘other’ people have been
invigorated in a time where media ensures instant access and
amplification. It is this hydra-headed messaging that demands attention.
Mobs have bayed for blood and left only after the victim was beaten to
death with a ferocity that hate alone can propel. Bystanders watched on,
unmoved. Or perhaps they videotaped the spectacle of unbelievable
cruelty and humiliation so those absent could vicariously participate in
this moment of ‘triumph’. For, the broader message that has taken over
our country is that ‘hate’ is for the brave; ‘love’ the hallmark of the
chicken-hearted. We live in muscular and mean times.
The BJP, which learned early on that the media is a communication
tool for PR, uses it deftly and ruthlessly. As the reigning ideology
states, it is all about perceptions. People find distinguishing fake
news from facts redundant in such climes. Has not the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology sent a letter
to the WhatsApp senior management, urging action against misinformation
circulating on its platform in India? Has not WhatsApp said it is
working towards new safety measures? Did not the government warn Facebook over data leak?
And what connection do these killings have with the myriad
hate-filled posts on social media? How does it matter that the prime
minister follows trolls
who spread hate? How worried should we be given the number of rape
threats made to women who speak out? We need to think about precisely
this larger atmosphere of hate that has taken over us. For these are
times where an ordinary upper middle class man may casually forward
hate-filled messages as he settles down for dinner with his family and
bemoan the unfortunate rise of lynching at the same time. Getting away with it
Political leaders understand these matters better. Recently, a BJP MP
from Jharkhand announced that he would bear the legal expenses of four
men in Jharkhand accused of killing two others on suspicion of cattle theft
in the state’s Godda district. The party spokespersons called it a
“personal decision”. (Just as they did with the comment by Ram Sene
chief, comparing Gauri Lankesh’s murder to a dog’s death). A group of lawyers, not too long ago, attempted to prevent
the police in Kathua from presenting before the local court a
chargesheet in the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakarwal
girl. In each such instances, there is a customised messaging at work.
The larger message is that it is okay to hate because it is a badge of
honour and pride.
Recently,
a BJP MP from Jharkhand announced that he would bear the legal expenses
of four men in Jharkhand accused of killing two others on suspicion of
cattle theft. Credit: PTI
But as advertisers would know, sensibilities of groups differ.
Messages have to cater to these groups. On one primetime television
show, the ruling party spokesperson may hysterically shriek “throw shoes”
at a political opponent. On other channels the same spokesperson may
loftily talk of the rule of law and unequivocally condemn all such
heinous crimes for they do not discriminate on the grounds of caste,
creed and religion like ‘others’ do. (It is perhaps in that ‘noble’
spirit that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has asked for students in madrasas not to wear kurta pyjamas). After the magnanimous condemnation, they warn of the dangers of jumping to conclusions.
There are two interpretations that one can have of this well-crafted
messaging. The storyline gets murky. The tragedy of the victim retreats
from vision. It becomes one more instance of a ‘fair game’ of hurling
cheerful accusations and counter accusations. Simply put, this dispels
any lurking idea that there is a pattern – The killings are random.
There is no perpetrator. Rumours just happen. Maybe the onus rests on
WhatsApp. Why blame any one media channel? Are they not all biased? Did
killings not happen before?
Let us be reasonable. In this apparent reasonableness lies the moot point that when everybody is to blame, nobody is to blame.
The media, once upon a time, was meant to initiate informed
discussions that were understood as a key to a vibrant public sphere.
What happens to the public sphere when the media becomes a giant
messaging app? And messaging in these digital times have to address
fragmented audiences. They are therefore customised to suit personal
likings. The world comes to us designed specially just for us. Data
mining ensures that the state, the market and political actors know what
kind of coffee I like, the films I watch, how much I love my mother and
whom I am predisposed to hate.
The messages I receive on WhatsApp have no resemblance to the
messages that people received in villages in Manipur or Maharashtra.
There can be no conversation across these groups. We are divided and
closed in as ‘communities’ – real or virtual. Even murder does not
register unless the victim is one of ‘us’. Our ‘imagined community’ has
shrunk. How do we converse in these instant and smart times? Living in a
world where communication is abundant, we encounter the potent
paradoxes of instant access and unequal knowledge; a global Internet
whose use is often confined within groups; a blurring of distinctions
between views and news.
The recent spate of WhatsApp-triggered lynching has to address all
these issues seriously. There is a pattern to the killings. And there is
a deliberate attempt to fudge this fact and shrug the responsibility
off by the government that has steered the country to a point where hate
messaging has pried open every faultline in our society. The two young
men killed in Assam according to the video clips that went viral on
social media were heard pleading with the crowd to spare them, saying
they were Assamese. This helpless plea is perhaps the key to
understanding our collective tragedy. Maitrayee Chaudhuri teaches sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her recent book is Refashioning India: Gender, Media and a Transformed Public Discourse.
UP BJP to set up 'cyber sena' of 200,000 social media experts to tap voters
Social media will be used for
implementing various programmes pertaining to organisation, social
integration and dissemination of information related to various schemes
of the Centre and state govt
The Kerala police are now investigating an unusual incident of a public hartal [shutdown strike] called by unnamed forces, that triggered huge violence in many parts of
the state a few days ago over the rape and murder of the eight year girl
from the Bakharwal community in Jammu. The hartal took place on April
16, Monday, immediately after the auspicious occasion of Vishu, the
Hindu new year’s day, April 14.
Hartals are quite common here [in Kerala]. The latest count suggests that more
than 200 hartals have taken place in recent years. They are generally
organised by political parties, communal organisations, professional and
trade bodies, and other groups. On such occasions, people normally keep
indoors to avoid moving around. Outbreaks of violence are stray and
generally kept under control by the authorities.
But the April 16 hartal was unusual: it was planned and executed by a
few individuals using WhatsApp and it caused a serious eruption of
violence and damage to public and private property. It also provoked a
clamp down of prohibitory orders for a few days by the police in a
number of towns and cities in the northern parts of Kerala, such as the
municipal towns of Tanur, Tirur and Parappanangadi in Malappuram
district and the city of Calicut in Kozhikode district.
Violence was reported from almost all the northern districts and,
according to local media reports, more than 2,000 cases have been
registered by the police and around 1,000 youngsters rounded up and put
in jails in districts like Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kannur.
The incidents are unusual in many ways and call for a serious study
of the impact of social media platforms in a communally volatile region
like Malabar where a major flare-up of violence erupted. The police
have now established a pattern to the incidents of violence and it
appears they were engineered with a view to triggering a communal
conflagration in a state known for good relations among Hindus and
minority Muslims and Christians.
"It was not surprising that the
mischief-mongers could play havoc in the brief intermission of 48 hours
when the daily newspapers were away from the scene"
The second aspect that emerges from the way things played out is the
significance of traditional mainstream newspapers in upholding and
maintaining the values of social unity, based on the principles of
secularism and communal peace. It was not surprising that the
mischief-mongers could play havoc in the brief intermission of 48 hours
when the daily newspapers were away from the scene.
A third aspect is the failure of the visual media, despite the
presence of more than half a dozen news outlets (focused largely on
sensation and trivia) in identifying the rumblings in the aftermath of
the sensitive developments over the Kathua crime at the national level
earlier in the week and countering the communal propaganda on social
media in order to protect people from scandal mongers and their divisive
tactics.
April 14th being Vishu holiday, no morning newspaper printed in
Kerala had come out the next day and hence there were no reports on the
plans already afoot for the next day’s hartal. The police intelligence
department and the round-the-clock news channels in the region also
failed to take note of it on Sunday.
In fact on Monday, the day started rather normal despite rumours of
violence in some places, but soon unruly crowds took over the streets,
stoning shops and buses and in a short while it was a complete shut-down
in many northern towns. It was only then the police swung into action,
chasing away the trouble-makers and persuading shoppers and bus
operators to remain in business, that calm returned.
The WhatsApp messages came from a few groups such as Justice for
Sisters and Voice of Youth, purportedly demanding justice for the Kathua
vicitm. Originally, the social media group set up on April 14 was named
after the Bakharwal Muslim girl, but was changed later when the Delhi
High Court’s notice to some news organisations against naming the victim
became known.
The messages called for a hartal in protest and once the public
response became prolific, separate groups were set up for various
districts, managed by a team of super admins who issued instructions as
voice messages. The police have found a series of voice messages that
called for a second round of violence all over the state, issued after
the hartal on April 16 evoked a response mainly in the northern Malabar
districts.
The voice messages called for direct attacks against the police and
seem to have been intent upon a serious breakdown of law and order as
well as damage to amiable social relations among the various
communities.
It is still not clear what really prompted the five young men now
under arrest to set up the social media groups and call for a hartal and
violence. Was it just a prank or a deliberate attempt on the part of
some evil forces to divide people and foment violence?
An answer might be available only after the inquiries are over. It is officially acknowledged that of the five youths under arrest,
the leader, Amarnath Baiju, 21, of Kollam district, has been associated
with the RSS until a few months ago, while the others, all from
Thiruvananthapuram district, were also linked to various Sangh Parivar
outfits. But so far there is no evidence that this was part of a larger
conspiracy, as is being alleged by certain sections in the media.
Hence, the real question is how far social media platforms are in a
position to dictate public affairs in a state like Kerala, known for its
high levels of political activity, deep penetration of mainstream media
including the highly influential morning newspapers, and a vigilant
civil society alert to the need to raise its voice against the forces of
bigotry and violence.
"The leader, Amarnath Baiju, 21, of Kollam
district, has been associated with the RSS until a few months ago, while
the others, all from Thiruvananthapuram district, were also linked to
various Sangh Parivar outfits"
Looking at the political affiliations of the hundreds of people
arrested, it is clear they belonged to various political parties. Most
of them are Muslim youths, affiliated to, among others, the Muslim
League, the CPM, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the
Congress party, etc. Some are with no known political affiliations.
It is likely that they came out into the streets genuinely infuriated
by the terrible violence perpetrated on the little girl. Going by the
pattern of violence that copied the style of street protests in West
Asia, such as tyre bonfires, they seem to have been influenced by the
political protests based on identity/ethnic politics.
Asked about the irony of Muslim youths being drawn into the streets
by anonymous calls made by shadowy forces with ulterior motives, a
Muslim community leader said the media images of the Kathua violence
evidently had a deep and emotional impact on the youngsters who had
taken it not only as a rape of a child, but as a deliberate assault on a
community.
This incident shows the extreme levels of social disturbances the
social media can play in societies with complex communal patterns.
Recently, a New York Times report (Where Countries Are Tinderboxes and Facebook a Match, NYT, April 21, 2018)
on the havoc played by Facebook in South Asian countries had referred
to instances of communal riots and attacks on minorities in countries
like Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The report pointed out that in countries where institutions are weak
or undeveloped and where there is a history of communal tensions, such
societies are especially vulnerable. The authors pointed out that social
media posts that tap into primal emotions like anger or fear seem to
produce the highest engagement with social networks where such content
proliferates.
Kerala, however, cannot be dubbed a place with weak institutions or a
fragile history of communal peace. It has a strong history of social
cohesion, a vibrant civil society, a vigilant media and a strong
political establishment. And yet a few youngsters with a smart phone
were able to play havoc with its social fabric.
This calls for serious introspection by society and for appropriate
action to strengthen a responsible approach to the dissemination of
ideas and information on the part of the mass media.
N P Chekkutty is a senior journalist and political commentator based in Calicut.
Its
encryption protects the privacy of users but prevents action against
those using it to spread fake news, rumours and communal tension
Written by Asad Rehman
|
Published: February 5, 2018 12:48 am
The problem of fake news and misinformation being spread via WhatsApp
is not exclusive to India. It has become a trend across the globe.
The
recent violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Kasganj displayed, once again, the
threat WhatsApp can pose in such fragile times. After the death of a
youth, Chandan Gupta, in the violence, rumours were spread claiming the
death of another person — Rahul Upadhyay. These rumours were circulated
on Twitter, Facebook
and WhatsApp groups, among other social media platforms. Some
publications even carried the “news” of Upadhyay’s death, which added to
the the communal tension. Upadhyay later clarified to the media that
the rumours of his death were greatly exaggerated, and were being used
by people spreading hate and paranoia on social media.
The situation is distressing because there is no apparent solution or
even a proper diagnosis of the problem WhatsApp poses for law
enforcement agencies, and society at large. The issue of checking “fake
news” and misinformation on WhatsApp has never become part of popular
discourse. Unlike Facebook or Google,
the messaging service did not play a role in allegedly “influencing”
the US elections and is not as popular in the West. The challenge it
poses, however, is far more complex.
WhatsApp works in a way that is fundamentally different from Facebook
and Twitter. In the latter, it is comparatively easier to check fake
news and prevent the spread of misinformation.
Posts on Facebook can be viewed by the friends of a user, whereas
WhatsApp (the app is owned by Facebook) messages are encrypted
end-to-end — a feature that is great from the perspective of privacy of
users. Facebook newsfeeds are regulated by algorithms, which can be
tweaked by the social media platform. WhatsApp’s rationale for its
security is a viable one: The encryption helps messages, photos, videos,
voice messages, documents, status updates etc from falling into the
wrong hands and can be controlled by users. There is no way to turn off
the end-to-end encryption.
I don’t think anyone would disagree with WhatsApp’s claims. And
privacy, of course, is an increasingly salient concern for many of us.
But for those who care about what’s happening beyond their private
lives, the encryption presents a conundrum.
WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption ensures only you and the person or
group you’re communicating with can read and see what is sent, and
nobody in between — interestingly even WhatsApp does not have access to
the media and messages. When a message leaves a person’s phone, it is
assigned a cryptographic lock, and only the person receiving the message
has the key to this lock. These keys change with every single message
that is sent.
In India, however, WhatsApp’s reach is what makes it dangerous at
times. According to Satista, a leading statistics company, the number of
monthly active WhatsApp users in India in February 2017 was 200 million
— exponentially greater from August 2013, when it was just 20 million.
The messaging application is being used more and more by rural and older
populations, who are often new to the internet and less tech-savvy.
With the prices of smartphones and mobile data falling rapidly, the
number of WhatsApp users in the country will only grow.
The problem of fake news and misinformation being spread via WhatsApp
is not exclusive to India. It has become a trend across the globe.
Media organisations and fact-checkers face a problem every time they get
a message on WhatsApp with something that is potential news. As
passionate journalists, we always get excited by information that can
make a news story. The problem with what we receive on WhatsApp is that
often we cannot confirm the source of the message. Many messages are
shared on groups, where you you might not have the contact of the person
who has shared the the message saved on your phone.
A colleague recently received a message which said that the recent
stoning on a school bus ferrying children was carried out by five Muslim
men at a time when the anti-Padmaavat
protests were in full swing. The message on WhatsApp had named all the
five “accused” and was spread widely on WhatsApp and later on Facebook
and Twitter. It was used to spread anti-Muslim hysteria and several
people shared that message to make political gains.
What can be done? The spread of fake news through WhasApp is
something we might not be able to control directly, and its encryption
does protect the privacy of its users. This puts the responsibility of
stopping this spread of misinformation on citizens and the media. People
need to be told that messages on WhatsApp can be dangerous and false
information can be spread by people looking to create trouble.
Most users do not understand the intricacies of technology. For them,
the message needs to be repeated to drive the point home. Public
figures and authorities need to stop sharing messages they receive on
WhatsApp and the messaging app should issue disclaimers stating that
messages can be false.
“3D technology is a fantastic medium to connect with
lakhs & lakhs of people, particularly in places I will not be able
to visit personally”, said Modi. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
On the eve of the Indian elections,
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra
Modi has decided to up his game by using 3D holographic technology to
address an election rally on April 7, 2014. According to a statement issued
on Modi’s official Facebook account, he will be addressing millions of
people over 100 towns and cities across India simultaneously.
Modi’s officials say that they had previously used 3D technology to
connect with people during the 2012 Gujarat polls and since the response
was positive they will now be using it on a larger scale.
“3D technology is a fantastic medium to connect with lakhs &
lakhs of people, particularly in places I will not be able to visit
personally,” said Modi on his Facebook page.
The 3D rallies are being promoted on Modi’s official social media accounts and locations for the rallies can be found here.
AS militant groups increasingly use social networking platforms to reach out to bigger audiences and shape media coverage of their actions, their drive to create sympathisers remains as relevant to them as their traditional objective to kill or destroy the enemy.
Hardly media shy, the late Pakistan Taliban leader Hakeemullah Mehsud had met journalists in the tribal areas to broadcast his messages, give pressers and offer a reporter a stolen Humvee. In October, in the backdrop of hovering drones, he told a nervous BBC correspondent, “Don’t be afraid. We’ll have to die someday.”
After Mehsud was killed in a drone strike, the Pakistani Taliban’s media arm, Umar Media, released an online image confirming his death. Meanwhile, in a Newsweek interview, a senior Taliban commander pledged revenge for Mehsud’s death.
Turning their cause into a global brand is something the Taliban are learning to master alongside regional militant outfits.
Video clips of battlefield victories in Urdu with Pashto subtitles shot by Umar Media in Afghanistan’s Logar province, explain not only the ideological and logistical links between jihadi organisations, but joint media dissemination and cross-promotion.
According to a report by the SITE intelligence group, that monitors militant websites, when Badruddin Haqqani, the son of Haqqani network leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed, the network’s media unit Manba al-Jihad released a video with key commanders paying tribute, including a statement from Mullah Omar. An integrated jihadi media network in the tribal areas and beyond point to operational collaboration.
When the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the December 2009 attack on a CIA base in Khost, Afghanistan, Manba al-Jihad videos were released showing Mehsud with the Jordanian suicide bomber, al-Balawi — formerly a contributor on militant forums — although Al Qaeda first acknowledged the attack.
Militant leaders have featured in videos produced by their organisations and by other groups: Mullah Dadullah (Afghan Taliban), Hafiz Gul Bahadur (Pakistani Taliban) and Hakeemullah Mehsud have played cameos in Al Sahab videos, Al Qaeda’s media wing.
The multifaceted face of global jihad demonstrates Al Qaeda enables violence by militant groups from a similar ideological spectrum, facilitated by a collaborative use of digital media. In September, Nairobi’s Westgate mall attack by the Al Shabab demonstrated an emerging trend in Al Qaeda’s online media strategies, with communication from Al Qaeda’s Somalia affiliate routed through social media sites.
The official Al Shabab press office account provided Twitter updates to supporters covering the four-day siege. Jihadi spokespersons for groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have been using Twitter since 2010 to broaden their reach.
Senior Al Qaeda leaders have referred to varied media activity to promote their strategic narrative. With the Afghan war, regional and local militant organisations provided fighters for Afghan Taliban groups and Al Qaeda units, offering training and media collaboration.
Fighters create local battlefield footage, for example, a film by Al Qaeda is shot in Paktia (Haqqani’s home turf) in Afghanistan and sent to Pakistan for editing and distribution. According to an International Crisis Group report in 2008, ‘branded’ video footage is common — for instance, in an earlier attack on a US base in Khost, the Haqqani network used the same footage as the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU). But the Haqqani DVD was branded by its own Manba al-Jihad, whereas the IJU’s ‘production’ company, Badr al-Tawheed/Elif Media used their own logo.
Al Qaeda realised that battleground spectacles not only drew new recruits but further enraged those aligned with their worldview when it initially released videos in 2005 by the Labayk media. The latter integrated with Al Sahab, based in Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden’s earlier videos in 2004/2007 bear the hallmarks of Al Sahab. A 30-minute video on an Islamist website in September 2007 featured Bin Laden on the sixth anniversary of 9/11; it is now known that he was living in the Abbottabad compound at that time.
In the post 9/11 period with the loss of training bases, operational locales and dispersing of fighters, there was need to expand communications using global mass media and the internet for survival. Counterterrorism experts say it’s challenging to control a decentralised and amorphous organisation on the internet which remains virtually uncensored.
The terror infrastructure launches and closes websites frequently or the authorities ban them. Individuals also act as decentralised militant freelancers. The Labayk Media Foundation collates material from global jihadi sources forming an interlinked media nexus with a shared ideology, and in most cases a shared enemy.
Documents discovered in Bin Laden’s compound and others found during operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and statements by militant commanders show that Al Qaeda’s media strategy focuses on propagation, legitimisation and intimidation of opponents.
This further explains that terrorists aim at the psychological effect of their acts more than physical consequences. The presence of Western troops during the war years in Iraq and Afghanistan lent purpose to militant organisations and their media strategies, especially when civilians were killed, and images were used against the West in propaganda messages.
But this could be one way of looking at the reasoning behind how militant groups strategise their media communications. It is challenging to monitor and remove militant messages especially as militant networks find that spreading information using newer media platforms is critical to their global war.
Bitter Twitter truth for Narendra Modi
Ankur Jain, TNN | Oct 27, 2012, 05.40AM IST
According to an internet tool, Status People, launched by a group of engineers in London, Modi's account has 46 per cent fake and 41 per cent inactive users.
AHMEDABAD: Everyone likes followers. On Wednesday, when chief minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account touched one million followers, he tweeted, "A million followers! These are not mere numbers but it signifies your love and affection. Heartfelt thanks to you all".
However, all the love and affection Modi is overwhelmed with might not be all genuine. Modi, who is often accused by Congress leaders of misleading people with numbers, has around 50 per cent of his Twitter followers as fake.
According to an internet tool, Status People, launched by a group of engineers in London, Modi's account has 46 per cent fake and 41 per cent inactive users.
The website through an algorithm measures false and inactive followers of a Twitter user.
Modi started using Twitter in 2009 and in 2010, had one lakh followers. About a year ago, in November 2011, he had four lakh followers. But his following on Twitter increased exponentially in the last few months.
Creators of the internet tool, launched to expose fake users of personalities on Twitter, say that almost all Twitter accounts have a small percentage of false followers, partly because, unlike Facebook, any user can follow another. However, they say that worldwide personalities and brands get fake following to increase their importance among peers.
Congress leaders Arjun Modhwadia and Shaktisinh Gohil too have 5 per cent and 14 per cent fake followers, respectively.
"A celebrity's or politician's popularity is measured with their followers on social networking sites which might lure many to get fake followers. Like other forms of corruption, activists should also expose such fake followers because this misleads public," said communication expert Alyque Padamsee.
While these politicians may not have paid for getting fake followers, there are companies on web who can offer services to get fake followers.
Abhijit Sonagara, director of a city-based cyber solutions company, says, "Getting fake followers has become common. Several companies offer such service for 10 paise to 50 paise per fake follower. Many times it's the celebrities themselves or their PR managers who indulge in such activities."
A BJP spokesperson, however, said that it's Modi's development agenda which is being endorsed across the world and that has got the large following.
New way of creating social strife
People need to verify before reacting
This paper's investigative report, “Devil's Design” on the recent burning of the Buddhists temples brings into focus a whole new method of creating conflict and causing social unrest and bringing about inter-communal strife. As our investigation clearly proves that the whole insult to the Holy Quran episode was completely faked and created solely for the purpose of instigating the majority Muslim community to feel outraged and retaliate. Not only was the Face book picture contrived so was the subsequent reaction. First news of the fake insult was spread through mobile phones and word of mouth, then people were ferried to designated spots, encouraged to work up a furious mood through processions and offensive slogans, supplied implements to attack the peace loving Buddhists community and finally goaded to set alight centuries old temples. As the temples burnt to the ground so did the confidence of the Buddhist people that such events would never occur in free and independent Bangladesh.
We, in Bangladesh, have had our share of riots, most often instigated by communal elements because of some events occurring in some other parts of the country, or even of the sub-continent. But never have these been created by using the social media and the digital space. What is of serious concern for us is the prospect that such attempt may recur and that more vicious steps may be taken to create social strife.
What we need to do now, without in any way harming this fantastic opportunity for social inter-action, is to carry out a massive campaign of the way social media functions and the vulnerabilities it has. We must make our people aware of the benefits of technology and at the same time show how these can be manipulated to serve nefarious political and communal agenda.
Most importantly we must warn our people not to react to provocative messages or illustrations on social media and the internet without verifying the veracity of the content. Police and other law enforcers must also be trained to react more professionally on such occasions. Most of all we must teach ourselves the fundamental lesson of history that harming another person's religion has never been a successful response for gaining other's respect for our own religion.
Cricket, schools, Facebook: the Taliban's new PR drive
Former Taliban fighters display their weapons as they join Afghan government forces during a ceremony in Herat province on April 26, 2012. The Taliban are becoming increasingly savvy in using the internet to gain supporters
From civilian casualties, to girls' schools, to cricket, the Taliban website's new question and answer section provides answers to a wide range of readers' questions. The BBC World Service's Dawood Azami examines the Taliban's latest propaganda offensive.
The Taliban's newly-launched question and answer section on their website is not only attracting more traffic, but is also becoming a new tool for the insurgents' concerted PR drive.
They launched their Q&A section in mid-February 2012 and the questions have been pouring in since then, covering issues ranging from peace talks to sport.
The aim of the facility on the Voice of Jihad (the official website of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the Taliban's own name for their movement) is to win over Afghans by directly addressing individuals who ask them questions - and hence those who may have similar concerns.
The page, entitled, "Your questions and Zabihullah Mujahid's answers", invites readers from all over the world to leave questions.
So far, more than 120 questions have been answered online by the main Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, who regularly sends journalists statements via email and SMS.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
How would the Taliban see the National Cricket Team?”
Question posted on the Taliban Q&A website
Zabihullah Mujahid is widely assumed to be more than one person operating behind a fake name.
But the answers on the Q&A forum have a consistent linguistic style and appear to be written by one person.
In an answer to one question, he reveals himself to be married and middle-aged, but he refrains from revealing his home province ''for security reasons''.
Another person wishes to see him. He says that if he is alive when Afghanistan is secure, he will show his face to the whole nation.
Most questions appear to be asked by readers from different places inside Afghanistan and Pakistan. While most are in Pashto, some are in Dari, with a few asked in English from the Afghan diaspora in Europe and elsewhere.
Taliban hacked
The launch of the Q&A section demonstrates how sophisticated the Taliban has become in using modern technology to win hearts and minds.
Young girl pupils during a class lesson at a school in Kabul, Afghanistan 24/06/2008 Posters have asked about the Taliban's policy on female education
The Taliban have made extensive use of the internet to spread their message. Their website has been live for several years, and now offers tri-media materials such as video, audio and text content.
But the interactivity provided by the Q&A section is part of the Taliban's latest propaganda approach. They have also embraced social media, and even have Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Zabihullah Mujahid tells another questioner that the group keeps a close eye on Facebook and YouTube, and scours the media for reports about them. "We react to them in the light of the Islamic Emirate's policies and our position," he wrote.
Many of the inquiries appear to come from Taliban supporters, some of whom praise their mission.
A number of their own fighters and supporters have criticised their policy of engaging in talks with the US, saying that this has created uncertainty about the goals of their mission.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Don't you think that killing all these people in suicide and bomb attacks every day is a big sin?”
Haseeb-ur-Rahman Poster on Taliban website
The Taliban spokesman urges his comrades to remain steadfast in their objectives, adding that the Taliban leadership will not forget the sacrifices they all have made and will not make a deal which will undermine their ideals.
But the website also has its opponents and it has been hacked several times, with hackers posting messages condemning Taliban acts of violence and publishing pictures, such as images of women being stoned.
In the most recent attack on Thursday hackers posted messages and photos in Pashto and English attacking the group. The Taliban says its website was also hacked in 2011.
Despite the online "charm offensive" being devised by the Taliban, there are many determined to highlight their darkest side.
Challenging questions
Some questions are critical, such as those about civilian casualties caused by the Taliban, their alleged closeness to elements in the Pakistani establishment, and Afghan children who have been prevented from getting an education.
Afghan security personnel gather at the site of a suicide attack and a clash at The British Council in Kabul on August 19, 2011. Readers have posted questions about civilian casualties from suicide attacks
One poster giving his name as Haseeb-ur-Rahman asked: "Don't you think that killing all these people in suicide and bomb attacks every day is a big sin?"
The spokesman replied that the Taliban's fighters have been issued with clear instructions to avoid civilian casualties at all costs. If there are any, ''they are not deliberate".
Many people reading this will find that claim hard to believe.
Civilians have borne the brunt of Afghanistan's conflict and, according to the UN and figures given by human rights groups, most of them have died at the hands of the militants in years of bombings and attacks. Many others have been killed in military operations by Afghan or Nato forces.
The Taliban always deny that civilian casualty figures in their attacks are higher than those inflicted by Afghan and Nato forces.
Someone questioned the legitimacy of carrying out suicide attacks in mosques, where copies of the Koran have also been damaged. The response is a claim that the Taliban ''have not carried out attacks in mosques'', and that the damage to the copies of the Koran was ''not deliberate''.
The Taliban banned girls from school during their rule between 1996 and 2001. Madiha Khalid from Germany asked ''would girls have the opportunity to get education if the Taliban came back to power?''
Zabihullah Mujahid blamed a lack of funds to ensure girls' schools were run according to Islamic tenets. "We want to prepare ground for our mothers and sisters to have Islamic education in an Islamic environment," he said.
These questions target some of the key concerns for Afghans about the Taliban's ideology - whether or not their answers are acceptable or even believed are an entirely different matter.
It appears as if only a select set of questions are answered on this new forum. In some cases, some parts of questions are left unanswered, such as a part of a question which asks the Taliban ''why don't they fight against Pakistan?''
Another questioner has challenged the Taliban spokesman, saying ''you publish only those questions that serve your interest".
''We naturally refrain from publishing those questions that are against the territorial integrity, unity and national interest, or create sensitivities, enhance differences, or are against our religious values," was the answer.
The new facility on the website has other practical uses for the Taliban. Some potential volunteers asked how to join their ranks.
A few asked how to contribute articles to the Taliban website.
''We need every committed and Muslim writer," said Zabihullah Mujahid.
''Please email us your scholarly and political writings while keeping in mind the Islamic principles, national unity and freedom of the country."
Cricket fans
This Q&A facility gives the Taliban a personality and helps them to become more visible to the public in a virtual world.
The ICC World Twenty20 qualifier final between Ireland and Afghanistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on March 24, 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates The Taliban says in its online Q&A section that it supports cricket
A couple of readers submitted questions about sport. One suggested that the Taliban should include sports news on their website, which mostly contains reports about violence.
Zabihullah Mujahid replied that ''they will consider this suggestion and will pass this message on to those who are responsible for the website".
While pointing to the successes made by the Afghan cricket team, another questioner asked: "How would the Taliban see the National Cricket Team?''
''We support all those sports that are good for health and have a noble purpose," the spokesman replied. ''You and other sports fans should be made aware of that fact that cricket was made official by the Taliban when they were in power.''
The Q&A section showcases their increasing confidence and the intensity of their media campaign.
But as Thursday's hacking attack reveals their growing online profile has also attracted the attention of its opponents - and this is unlikely to subside.
New Delhi (PTI): On the heels of corporates and telemarketers taking advantage of mobile messaging to communicate with consumers, even political parties are now waking up to this opportunity to keep in touch with their party members.
Taking the plunge is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which plans to become the most automated party.
It has selected ValueFirst, a provider of mobile data services to develop an extensive SMS-based communications network for registered members of the party across their district and state offices in the country.
The service would be launched this week.
It is also coming up with a party membership ID number to double up as members' unified communication number, ValueFirst Co-founder and Country Head (India) Vijay Shukla said.
As per the service, all party workers can be reached at a single go. Moreover, it would have a feedback option. The common man can also use this service to post their grievances, Shukla added.
Enterprise mobile messaging, though at a nascent stage in India, has shown exponential growth in this short span.
Features such as cost effectiveness, ease of use, wide reach, easy implementation and real-time messaging capabilities have driven enterprises to adopt mobile messaging services to improve their internal and external communication systems, he added.
With verticals like banking and finance already using such services, latest to adopt the technology is the it cell of BJP.
If implemented effectively, information technology can help improve governance for political parties besides extending the appeal of their election campaigns.
Through mobile communications it also plans to change the perceived image of being a North Indian party and reach out to masses in their own languages (localising content).
"Today the reach of mobile phone is huge. The country has almost 260 million mobile users. It can be used to communicate with the party workers faster and more effectively," Shukla said.
The political parties had earlier experimented by sending SMSs to voters to garner votes. Earlier, the messages were sent from individual numbers to their friends. After the implementation of the system, the messages would be sent from a single number, which would reach all party workers at the same time.
However, Shukla clarified that BJP would not use the service for garnering votes.
But as advertisers would know, sensibilities of groups differ.
Messages have to cater to these groups. On one primetime television
show, the ruling party spokesperson may hysterically shriek “throw shoes”
at a political opponent. On other channels the same spokesperson may
loftily talk of the rule of law and unequivocally condemn all such
heinous crimes for they do not discriminate on the grounds of caste,
creed and religion like ‘others’ do. (It is perhaps in that ‘noble’
spirit that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has asked for students in madrasas not to wear kurta pyjamas). After the magnanimous condemnation, they warn of the dangers of jumping to conclusions.
The problem of fake news and misinformation being spread via WhatsApp
is not exclusive to India. It has become a trend across the globe.
On the eve of the Indian elections,
Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra
Modi has decided to up his game by using 3D holographic technology to
address an election rally on April 7, 2014.
