How Is The Fake News Factory Structured?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi picks up a child, who leans towa­rds two microphones in front of her and appears to utter a dero­gatory phrase often used by the BJP to mock Congress president Rahul Gandhi. That바카라�s all there is in the 23-second video clip. But wait. There is another clip. The same clip, in fact. Only this time the child ridi­cules Modi himself, as she repeats what appears to be a Twitter campaign launched by the Congress. It later emerges that the original clip, dating back to 2016, was of a differently-abled child, Gauri Shardul, reciting a shloka from the Rama­yana during one of Modi바카라�s visits to his home state, Gujarat.

The two versions of the video clip, both doctored and widely circulated through social media and WhatsApp in India, is a classic case study of 바카라�fake news바카라�, that new global menace descri­bed by Collins dictionary last year as a 바카라�very real word바카라�. Over the past few years, fake news has moved beyond its conventional description of 바카라�false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting바카라�. It바카라�s now mostly a political tool, used to nail rival parties with doctored audios and videos and morphed photographs.

And with general elections in India scheduled for early next year, there are growing  indications that fake news will play a big role over the next few months as parties of all hues twist facts and figures to try and influence the voters. And India is one of 48 countries where political parties have 바카라�formally organised social media manipulation campaigns바카라�, an Oxford study said in July. Many experts believe the BJP harnessed the power of WhatsApp and social media in the run-up to the 2014 general elections that catapu­lted it to power with an overwhelming majority. Other parties, including the Congress, got into the high-stakes game very late; now all parties have separate social media groups but the BJP바카라�s team, known as the 바카라�IT Cell바카라�, is said to be far more organised and with greater reach than all others. It also allegedly dishes out more fake news than the others.

바카라�The right is more systematic and they have a better protocol in place,바카라� says Sagar Kaul, founding CEO of MetaFact, an AI-based fact-checker. 바카라�For example, if there is a post which has popped up for a right-wing influencer, chances of that being picked up is much higher,바카라� he adds, expl­aining that their distribution networks are much stronger. A highly-controversial recent survey by the BBC, titled 바카라�Beyond fake news바카라�, also says that 바카라�right-wing networks are much more organised than on the left, pushing nationalistic fake stories further. There was also an overlap of fake news sources on Twitter and support networks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi바카라�. Angry right-wing groups trashed the survey바카라�s findings, espec­ially on its sample size.

Shreya Rajagopalan, a researcher who worked for a fortnight in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, agrees that the 바카라�BJP has a stronger team, a larger support system, more spread out strategy, more FB pages and more followers바카라�. Rajagopalan, who researched fake news and the actors and audience involved, says that parties are pushing memes and videos and micro­targeting voters who are part-disillusioned and part-distanced from mainstream media due to the ease of swiping through apps on smartphones. 바카라�They (BJP) started much earlier and had more research to do this. I wouldn바카라�t say the Congress is not doing it though.바카라�

Some of the numbers are staggering. BJP insiders say the party has close to 15,000 WhatsApp groups in Uttar Pradesh, the most politically-important state for any party hoping to grab power at the Centre. During the asse­mbly polls in Karnataka earlier this year, the party had created 20,000 such groups. India바카라�s population and the number of social media users turn these platforms into happy hunting grounds for political parties. WhatsApp has over 200 million users in India and counting. The country is also home to over 30 million Twitter accounts and close to 294 million on Facebook.

This is precisely the reason the Congress is re-inventing itself on soci­­al media with Rahul Gandhi scaling up his visibility on Twitter and Facebook as he leads the party바카라�s campaign against Modi. The Congress바카라� social media team, led by former MP Divya Spandana, regularly posts memes and spoofs mocking the Modi government and its policies. And the cell is also accu­sed of its bit of mischief, by tinkering with photos and videos. 바카라�If you notice our stories, you바카라�ll see there is now more misinformation from the non right-wing side as well, especially pages and accounts that seem to support the Congress,바카라� says Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Alt News, an online platform which debunks fake news. He says the change in patterns has become more evident in the past six months. Sinha cites a recent example when photograph of a Sardar Patel statue erected in 2008 went viral with Congress supporters circulating it as that of the world바카라�s tallest statue unveiled in Gujarat recently. It was after Rahul Gandhi said Modi바카라�s pet project was 바카라�Made in China바카라�. 바카라�It is very political in nature. The same thing emanates from the right-wing as well, but the right-wing has this additional misinformation component, which is very significant, of a constant attack on minorities and the demonisation of the minority community using misinformation,바카라� Sinha, 36, adds.

The supply chain

But how does the well-oiled ecosystem work? It is a concoction of fake news, soc­ial media and data, says Shivam Shankar Singh, a political consultant formerly associated with election strategist Prashant Kishor바카라�s IPAC and the BJP until June this year. 바카라�What I handled was data analytics. The spread of fake news and (the work of) Whatsapp groups were based on the work that we did,바카라� he says, adding that 바카라�misinformation바카라� was fired with the ammunition of data. Singh says he quit the scene as he did not want to be a part of an upcoming campaign which will be 바카라�divisive바카라� and that every party is out to 바카라�push a narrative바카라� which thrives on confirmation bias and cherry-picking data to suit their agenda.

He cites an example of the right-wing assertion that the 바카라�growing Muslim population바카라� is leading to increase in crimes. Singh says there would be stories in mainstream social media backing the argu­ment. 바카라�So they pick up these news stories and mix it up with fake news. News does not intend to incite, the language is not hysterical, so they바카라�ll pick up a video from Syria and put it in the copy,바카라� he says.

Shivam says those who forward or share these messages do not realise, in most cases, that they are fake. 바카라�(But) those who make them, those who design the graphics know that they are fake. These messages are then sent to 500 WhatsApp groups, the people in those groups think these are real바카라�and they spread them as they want to spread the message, not because they want to spread fake news,바카라� he adds. Jency Jacob, managing editor of fake news-buster BOOMLive, says the misinformation campaign is not confined to the right-wing. 바카라�Parties on both sides of the divide are putting out images and videos with the wrong context and wrong narrative. A lot of these then starts circulating on WhatsApp groups,바카라� adds Jacob. BOOMLive was the first in India to work with Facebook to counter misinformation prior to elections.

There is big money involved too. Shivam Shankar Singh recounts his days on the rolls of a right-wing think-tank close to the BJP. He says that if the BJP had to pay someone Rs 20,000-30,000 for social media work it was an informal arrangement. 바카라�But if someone has to get a monthly salary of Rs 1.5-2 lakh, there바카라�s no other way for the party but to do it formally바카라�, which is done by recruiting the person into any of the alaied think-tanks.

Pratik Sinha cites the example of 바카라�about five-six FB pages바카라� which purportedly backs the BJP. These pages, he says, regularly posts 바카라�graphics which seem to be professionally done, all of which are sponsored posts which means somebody is pouring in the money바카라�. The page 바카라�Nation with Namo바카라�, for example, with nearly 8.70 lakh followers put out a post on November 1 looking to hire 바카라�content writers, graphic designers, and video editors바카라�. 바카라�You바카라�ll see the graphics are similar, this is not the work of an amateur,바카라� Sinha adds.

Currently, there are even Facebook pages up for sale. Some of these were formed by former BJP supporters who are charging anything between Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakh for a page, depending on the number of 바카라�likes바카라� it had garnered. As these pages already have millions of followers, the new owner can simply start pushing any content. Shivam says these pages thrive because people rarely 바카라�unfo­llow바카라� pages once they 바카라�like바카라� them on Facebook. 바카라�The thing is it바카라�s not a bad business model to create FB pages supporting the BJP. You create a website behind it and you keep posting links. So you make a decent amount of money just from advertisers바카라� revenue,바카라� he adds. To generate a decent number of likes, posts are often paid for in the initial days for greater visibility. He says that the promotion money is sometimes raised from supporters. In others, the party or administrators make the payment.

The latest country to have battled and, some believe, lost the battle with fake news is Brazil. Results on October 28 decla­red that the land of samba and soccer voted for PSL바카라�s right-wing candidate Jair Bolsonaro, a day when WhatsApp banned more than 1,00,000 accounts. The Brazilian president is infamous for the cringe-worthy comment, 바카라�I바카라�m not going to rape you, because you바카라�re very ugly바카라�, to Maria do Rosario, the former minister for human rights. Expectedly, the nature of the rhetoric during the campaign wasn바카라�t exactly civil. 바카라�We got a lot of dirty stuff and people believed the dirtiest things in the world,바카라� says Rio de Janeiro-based Cristina Tardáguila, director of Agencia Lupa, one of the largest fact-checkers in the country. 바카라�Since it was dirty it spread very fast and it바카라�s amazing that people decided to believe the dirtiest things just to sustain their position.바카라�

Barely six months later, an estimated 850 million people in India바카라�about six times the size of Brazil바카라�s electorate바카라�will vote across 29 states in the biggest democratic exercise in the world. How messy it will be with an avalanche of fake news is anybody바카라�s guess. Former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi says fake news spread through WhatsApp groups, with so many members, is 바카라�1000 thousand times more dangerous than rumours going out word-of-mouth바카라�. He feels that social media platforms need to take measures and EC should sit with them and monitor certain content during election time. 바카라�The law and order implications are great,바카라� he adds.  

Jency Jacob of BOOMLive says there is 바카라�much more action바카라� now in Facebook. 바카라�And coming closer to the elections, we will see more and more people (profiles) come in and share stuff which will go viral overnight,바카라� Jacob adds. One of the biggest challenges for fact-checkers are content in regional langu­ages. Last month, Union minister Smriti Irani waded into the raging debate over the entry of women into Sabarimala temple in Kerala. 바카라�Would you take sanitary napkins seeped in menstrual blood and walk into a friend바카라�s home? You would not. Would you think it is respectful to do the same thing and walk into house of God?바카라� Her comment was apparently in response to news reports about acti­vists바카라� plans on carrying sanitary napkins inside the temple. BoomLive traced the rumour back to right-wing news websites such as Postcard news and IndusScrolls. Jacob and Pratik Sinha agree that a lot of people will be requi­red regionally to do these fact checks in the future. Hindustan Times recently carried a report which showed that regi­onal social media ShareChat바카라�s story attri­buting a false quote to preacher Zakir Naik was their most read.

Social media platforms say they are aware of the rot. WhatsApp, for example, has limited the number of users a message can be forwarded in India to five. But for Twitter it is a much more challenging job. 바카라�It is not possible for us to distinguish whether every single tweet from every single person is truthful or not. We also believe that taking down content simply because it is incorrect would ultimately undermine the open democratic debate that our platform is intended to facilitate,바카라� a spokesperson of the mic­ro­blogging platform says.

A recent case underlines the fault lines and fallibility of social media. Ankit Lal, the head of Aam Aadmi Party바카라�s social media team, posted an image from a bridge in Rotterdam, tagging it as the recently-constructed Signature Bridge in Delhi, and was called out on Twitter. 바카라�That was a mistake on my part, it바카라�s human. I picked it up from a journalist and later I saw the journalist had himself deleted it,바카라� Lal tells Outlook.

While social media can be as ugly as it gets, WhatsApp forwards can be lethal. Last year, several people were lynched in separate incidents in India by mobs inci­ted by messages about child-lifters on the prowl. It takes just one word taken out of context, one morphed photograph to light the fire. And there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people working behind the scenes to create chaos and confusion for someone else to reap the benefits.

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The Numbers Game: Too Many To Ignore

• The BJP has over 15,000 WhatsApp groups in UP

• There were close to 20,000 in Karnataka during the assembly elections.

• The Congress and JD-S had 30,000 WhatsApp groups

• WhatsApp has over 200 million users in India and counting

• India has over 30 million Twitter accounts and close to 294 million people on Facebook

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• There are growing indications that fake news will play a big role in the run up to the 2019 general elections.

• Ex-CEC S.Y. Quraishi says fake news spread through WhatsApp is 바카라�1000 thousand times more dangerous바카라�.