Malice As #News

The theme: fake news. Which, of course, has a strong Indian edit­ion. The realisation is growing that, in the bruising online battles these days over politics, policies and personalities, with trench warriors raining poison arrows at each other, fake news has become a key weapon of the online arsenal. On March 8, Science published a paper by MIT rese­archers that proves fake news travels faster on Twitter, though many suspect it is more pervasive and travels fast enough on Facebook too.

News without authentication falls in a tantalising grey zone. Weeks before the Gurumurthy episode, right-wing academic Madhu Kishwar earned some infamy by putting out a whole series of 바카라�Is it true바카라�바카라� tweets바카라�some patently absurd WhatsApp forw­ards. In the episode involving Gurumurthy, a knowing participant in the legal drama that surrounds the former FM바카라�s son Karti Chidambaram, things become less jocular. Quite a few of his 2.59 lakh followers would have seen it on Twitter, and a figure like him speculating about the judge would suffice for it to be turned into a 바카라�news item바카라�. And before you could say Palaniappan Chidambaram, the 바카라�news바카라� would have become the delight of a new online creature: the troll.

Last Saturday, a video went viral. A common occurrence these days, you바카라�d say바카라�like the flu or dengue. It was not a collage of smart memes or bawdy stand-up jokes, and longer than the usual wink-바카라�n-nudge videos that achieve virality. It was an interview that ran over half-hour on YouTube, fairly epic by today바카라�s standards. Dhruv Rathee, a 23-year-old political activist, was questioning another young man, Mahavir, who said he comes from a family of farmers. His bio wasn바카라�t the interesting part, though. Rather, it was what he does for a living. Mahavir was a troll.

An Indian Rip Van Winkle, who had only known forms of life that existed a decade ago, would be surprised at this new Darwinian turn. What indeed is a troll? It바카라�s a class of secretive living beings, ordinarily resident in online spaces, and seldom seen by the light of day. Distinguishable from inanimate things like malware and bots only by the fact of them being human바카라�and, functionally, occupying the same disruptive space. Many of them are lone wolves.

For some of them, it바카라�s a day job. Mahavir, for instance, had been with the BJP바카라�s IT cell. He was being paid to troll, he said. Rathee tells Outlook he was apprehensive of revealing Maha­vir바카라�s identity initially, but didn바카라�t want critics to ask why his source was anonymous. Mahavir, who says he was given 10 mobile phones with 10 SIM cards, is also seen working on three laptops at a time in a picture Rathee shared with Outlook. 바카라�How did the guy get three laptops and why does he need them?바카라� asks Rathee.

In November 2017, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha shared a fake image of Home Minister Rajnath Singh after party supporter Aman Arora had posted it on Facebook. The image allegedly showing the Gujarat DGP at Singh바카라�s feet was actually the morphed version of a still from a Hindi movie, Kya Yahi Sach Hai. When Outlook contacted Arora, he said he would 바카라�get back shortly바카라�; Congress spokespersons hadn바카라�t res­ponded at the time of going to press. More recently, after Lenin바카라�s statue was demolished in Tripura, Organiser editor Prafulla Ketkar tweeted an image of Rajiv Gandhi바카라�s statue ­being brought down allegedly by 바카라�commies바카라� in 2008 in the state. The image turned out to be from Andhra Pradesh, and had been carried by a national daily in 2013.

Observers have warned of an increasing trend in fake news from the Left as well. When one party gains electoral dividends by misinformation, no one holds back. So there is also a lot of fake news targeting the BJP. Trolls, with their vicious verbal artillery, contribute to the constantly humming channel noise on social media. They spam debates such that they produce more heat than light. Create and copy dubious info-capsules and cluster-bomb online spaces with them. Fake news is a key ingredient here. For Mahavir, it brought in almost Rs 1,000 a day, which no cash-crop can fetch.

Mahavir바카라�s admission is not earth-shattering. It only confirms what many have been crying hoarse about all along. Trolling, often propelled by fake news, is organised, sharp and growing on Facebook, Twitter and other social media spaces in India, acquiring the proportions of a giant industry.

It바카라�s a phenomenon known since the nascent Usenet of the early 1990s. But it바카라�s the rise of social media that coaxed the evil genie fully out of the bottle. And the multiple email addresses for accounts, which allowed anonymity, ensured its epidemic growth. Right now, trolls are more dangerous than Professor Moriarty or, for the younger readers, Voldemort.

The Washington Post ran an opinion piece headlined 바카라�President Trump is now a troll바카라� soon after he took office. It may have sounded a bit over-the-top then, but his high-profile ascendancy allowed everyone at a dista­nce a closer look. And what did they see? That political dis­course in that country had dipped to levels we are familiar with, with trolls on a delirious high. Our netas now match that tweet for tweet. Outlook spoke with politicians and social ­media lurkers and managers to try and get an idea of their secret nuptial agreements.

It바카라�s been a lived reality for a while. Anonymous accounts, even people with real names, swarm in on a target and rain a torrent of abuse that can last from a few hours up to a week. Often, the malicious baiting has forced people to leave social media altogether. Even if canny in ways, the baiters are typically intellectual lowlife바카라� 바카라�abusive idiots who want to interrupt a thought process or a conversation,바카라� as Tathagata Satpathy, BJD MP from Dhenkanal, tells Outlook. 바카라�The poor guys are quite idiotic.바카라� Satpathy is not on Facebook, but he바카라�s seen plenty on Twitter. He says a few people tried to abuse him, but it didn바카라�t work. 바카라�Pro-Modi guys tried it a bit initia­lly, but I wasn바카라�t worried,바카라� he says.

All agree the BJP shone the torch for other parties on how to troll effectively. However, Vijay Chauthaiwale, in-charge of the party바카라�s foreign affairs department, says someone who counters the other바카라�s position with a reasonable argument is not a troll. 바카라�Fun is okay once in a while, but if someone does it only for the sake of insults or making a mockery, then he or she is a troll,바카라� he says. Ankit Lal, who heads a team of volunteers handling social media for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), chuckles while showing a tweet of his that he admits may be considered 바카라�trolling바카라�. 바카라�What I say, however, is based on fact, not fiction and it comes from questioning,바카라� he explains. 바카라�The ultimate purpose of a troll is to derail a conversation. When we talk about EVMs, they ask 바카라�What about Malda?바카라�바카라�

On February 27, actor and BJP MP Paresh Rawal accidenta­lly shared a tweet that was later quickly ­deleted. Why? He had witlessly tweeted a document meant for internal consumption, a small manual of war. Titled 바카라�Trend Alert: #Jhoothi­Congress바카라�, it detailed바카라�with pointers바카라�the arguments to be put forth when a party supporter tweets using the hashtag. It confirmed what people had been saying all along바카라�that political parties were spoon-feeding their supporters what was to be tweeted and when. Debates were not organic, but choreographed, stage-managed. And now the battle is, increasingly, between trolls바카라�except one side sees itself as virtuous.

Outlook got in touch with Fake Trend Hunter, who tweets @trollabhakt. Why an anonymous account? People in ­power can easily zero in on them, says the shadow warrior, 바카라�but I바카라�m more worried about minor thugs taking things into their own hands to teach me a lesson바카라�. FTH has been ­identifying manipulated Twitter trends since September. The account was started with the idea of 바카라�trolling right-wing trolls바카라�, but has moved on to mainly 바카라�identifying fake Twitter trends and posting them바카라�.

And what did it uncover? 바카라�When I started, I found hashtag after hashtag, most of them abusive, being taken to the top of Twitter trends. When I extracted the data from Twitter and examined it, it was clear the vast majority of those tweets had been copy-pasted from a script provided by someone, in many cases with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors intact. This goes against Twitter바카라�s intention behind 바카라�trends바카라�, which was to organically capture and display what a wider group of Twitterati were discussing,바카라� FTH explains.

The Congress has only recently upped its social media game. The BJP had been unchallenged until 2013, when the AAP community arrived바카라�tailoring its counter-narrative in equally organised, forceful, mediagenic and malicious ways. FTH shared close to 60 such trends in Excel sheets바카라�with details of accounts sharing the same text or slight variations on Twitter, with the URLs of their status updates in tow. The list reads like a competition for cheesy catchphrases and you may have come across some of them on Twitter recently:

• #AreHindusTargeted

• #ArrestMeSiddaramaiah

• #CongressKiGandiSoch

• #HinduMassMurder

• #IndiaRejectsRahul

• #KejriKaKachraHoGaya

• #RahulKabhiAmethiAao

• #CongressAgentHardik

Take #CongressKiGandiSoch. The hashtag started trending in India at the fifth spot on October 10 last year. FTH found 63 per cent of the tweets were merely copy-pasted. 바카라�#CongressKiGandiSoch as that바카라�s what the ideology of congress has been, women empowerment means short clothes & not emp­loyment or ministries,바카라� was (at 13 times) the most repeated tweet, and 92 per cent of all tweets came just from 48 users.

Social media industry insiders confirm parties are hiring influencer agencies that pay people to do the drone바카라�s work. 바카라�They get paid per tweet바카라�anywhere between Rs 10 and Rs 100바카라�it depends on how many followers they have and what it is they tweet about. Since it바카라�s influencer marketing, you바카라�re paid based on your social status,바카라� says Akshay Gaur, a social media manager who handles celebrity accounts and has also worked with a political party in the past. Gaur says that while celebrities get paid in lakhs to tweet, your average Joe troll would do it for Rs 100-200. But throw in 2,000 Joes, and the topic starts 바카라�trending바카라�바카라�till it attains enough critical mass for the mainstream media, especially TV, to pick up. 바카라�Mobile reporting has started, they pick on trending stories. Parties and brands have seen it as a shortcut to be on TV,바카라� Gaur adds.

Rathee says even coordinated troll attacks are often paid-for hit jobs. 바카라�If they target you, they come at you 24/7. They are paid to do it,바카라� he says. Rathee바카라�s video with Mahavir rev­ealed a modus operandi that included trolling and reporting people. Mahavir was fairly high up in the hierarchy and made close to Rs 1,000 per day바카라�it바카라�s Rs 300 at the lowest rung.

But that바카라�s method. What about content? Mahavir mentioned three websites that peddle fake news: InsistPost, ViralInIndia and Newstrend.news. Rathee also mentioned a 바카라�story바카라� floated by a website, hmpnews.in, which released an alleged audio clip of a conversation between himself and the 바카라�PA of Kejriwal바카라�. The article, which still exists, says: 바카라�Though the authenticity of the audio clip needs to be checked, party leaders바카라� reactions clearly show they have accepted their fault.바카라� While that line of reasoning is more than interesting, the clip is fake, so is the 바카라�story바카라�. The aim, it seems, is just to cloud the air-waves a bit and maybe provoke a reaction.

Misinformation used to incite a reaction is a key weapon in the troll바카라�s armoury, a menace due to which few know what to believe anymore. Think of the Science paper about fake news and get a load of Newstrend.news바카라�the Hindi-news website Mahavir mentioned to Rathee. Believe it or not, it바카라�s currently the 10th most visited website in India, beating every news website, including the top three, coming in just below Flipkart and above IRCTC! What brings it such a wide cachet? Take the headline for a bylined article published on March 11 by the website: 바카라�Sridevi ka naam sunte hi golibari bandh kar dete hain Afghani aatanki, vajah jaanke reh jaayenge dang.바카라� (The minute they hear Sridevi바카라�s name, Afghan terrorists stop shooting.)

It바카라�s stunning, to say the least. Numerous people Outlook spoke to mentioned websites and WordPress blogs created by youngsters who get Google Ad Sense revenue from the traffic they generate with juicy headlines and lurid copy. For the Science paper, one of the most extensive studies on the medium ever, researchers went through 1,20,000 news stories shared by close to 3 million people between 2006 and 2017. They found 바카라�falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information, and the effects were more pronounced for false political news than for false news about terrorism, natural disasters, science, urban legends, or financial information.바카라� Robots didn바카라�t distinguish between false and true news, and spread both effectively. The conclusion: 바카라�False news spreads more than the truth because humans, not robots, are more likely to spread it.바카라� A fact Trump바카라�s campaign manager seemed to have divined long before this study.

In 2016, The Guardian reported how there were dozens of pro-Trump websites hosted in tiny Veles, Macedonia. Teenagers in this town, with a population of about 50,000, bombarded Americans with pro-Trump fake news and helped contribute enough confusion to an election that also had Russian elements in its dizzying roulette. This is the model being replicated in India, Lal and Gaur believe, and it바카라�s been going on for close to two years now. 바카라�Professional companies are now doing hit jobs,바카라� says Lal. Gaur says these websites und­erstand what their Facebook audience wants and bombard users with information that gels with their confirmation bias.

바카라�Most Instagram meme pages that indulge in trolling are run by kids with millions of followers,바카라� says Gaur, 바카라�There are also young kids whose job is to make clickbait news. They know how to harness clickbait and begin a media startup with just 10-15 people.바카라� 바카라�Clickbait바카라� is stuff that gets people to click on things. Satpathy says, 바카라�I think a certain group has hired lots of different people through various departments and ministries. They are doing this mischief.바카라� In October 2016, the official Twitter handle @IndiaPostOffice posted a tweet critical of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for apparently pandering to the Pakistani press. The same year, the Digital India handle urged the Indian Army to fire on Kashmiris, while the Startup India handle warned the government agai­nst #presstitutes. This January, the MoEF handle trolled the Congress and Rahul Gandhi for not condemning the violence unleashed by the Karni Sena in Rajasthan.

One reason why Twitter started verifying accounts was to try restore the credibility of inf­ormation. On March 1, Twitter co-founder Jark Dorsey acknowledged the problem, posting a thread saying he hoped to quantify the 바카라�collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation바카라� on the platform. 바카라�We have witnessed abuse, harassment, troll armies, manipulation through bots and human-coordination, misinformation campaigns, and increasingly divisive echo chambers,바카라� he tweeted. 바카라�We aren바카라�t proud of how people have taken advantage of our service, or our inability to address it fast enough.바카라�

Most people Outlook spoke with were on Twitter, but also wary of the risks messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram pose. 바카라�In the end, responsibility does lie with the person who puts it out,바카라� says Chauthaiwale. 바카라�It바카라�s like a market economy. If you do it repeatedly, your credibility goes for a toss. It may bring short-term gains, but we should leave it to people바카라�s judgement at the end of the day.바카라� The two strands are intertwined: the ordinary troll is a misanthrope who fills social media with pathological hate and thrives on conflict바카라�for its own pure sake. And then there바카라�s the advanced edition, like Mahavir, who have turned that into method, into industry, who do it with preordained design.

Fake news has both qualities too. A 바카라�Sridevi and Afghans바카라� news is just clickbait. But real fake news, if you pardon the expression, emanates from vested interests and is meant to cause harm, to injure or destroy credibility. And therein lies the problem. In the fog of war, who is to judge who is a troll and what is fake? And how do you tell which Ashwathama died, man or elephant?