India and Pakistan spew venom over tweets against each other
In the past many years, tensions between India and Pakistan have soared as both countries were using social media as a warfare arsenal against each other. Citizens in both countries used social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and messaging apps like Whatsapp to exacerbate the conflict.
The report was published by Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) under the title, ‘My Heart Belongs to Kashmir: An Analysis of a Pro-Indian Army Covert Influence Operation on Twitter’. According to one of its recent reports by SIO stated on 24th Aug, Twitter gave the Twitter Moderation Research Consortium 15 datasets of information operations it identified and removed from its platform with researchers for an independent analysis.
The networks mostly tweeted in English, Hindi, and Urdu. The accounts claimed to be of ‘proud Kashmiris’ belong to the relatives of Indian soldiers.
Recently, the Indian information and broadcasting Ministry banned 45 YouTube videos from 10 channels for spreading misinformation and communal disharmony against India. Agnipath scheme, Indian Armed Forces, India’s national security apparatus, and Kashmir are some of the videos blocked by the ministry.
Earlier also in 2021, the Brussels-based EuDisinfoLab uncovered 265 fake local media outlets in 65 countries serving Indian interests. This disinformation run by New-Delhi-based entity “Srivastava Group” had highlighted Pro-Indian and Anti-Pakistani approaches.
A few months back in June, another cyber attack come into the limelight that Indian hackers were involved in hacking “ARY YouTube channel”, a leading Pakistani entertainment channel. The hackers harassed followers and disrupted the channel’s programming throughout this period.
On June 2021, Facebook removed 40 Facebook profiles, 25 pages, six groups, and 28 Instagram accounts that are spreading a misinformation campaign against India run by Pakistan-based PR firm “AlphaPro”.
It has been observed that propaganda has been running for centuries but using social media platforms to run this propaganda is new. Using the internet is the latest means of communication that are used to spread lies and misinformation.
