An analytical report of Stanford, a global internet observatory center, has exposed Indian government-backed social media accounts spreading plethora of fake news and propaganda against Pakistan on a popular social media platform.
The report published under title, ‘My Heart Belongs to Kashmir: An Analysis of a Pro-Indian Army Covert Influence Operation on Twitter’ is available on the Stanford’s official website. The report said on August 24, Twitter shared 15 datasets of information operations it identified and removed from the platform with researchers in the Twitter Moderation Research Consortium for independent analysis. One of these datasets included 1,198 accounts that tweeted about Pakistan. Twitter suspended the network for violating their platform manipulation and spam policy, and said that the presumptive country of origin was India. Stanford built its analysis on a report on the same network by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
The network tweeted primarily in English, but also in Hindi and Urdu. Accounts claimed to be proud Kashmiris and relatives of Indian soldiers. Tweets praised the Indian army’s so-called military successes and provision of services in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and spew venom against Pakistan and China. Two accounts existed to target specific individuals who were perceived as enemies of the Indian government, the report said. The Stanford Internet Observatory, founded in 2019, is a cross-disciplinary programme of research, teaching and policy engagement for the study of abuse in current information technologies, with a focus on social media.
The center also cited certain articles in the Indian press carrying Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts and the accounts which had been previously suspended including the official accounts for Chinar Corps, a branch of the Indian occupation army operating in the IIOJK.
“Twitter accounts, we note that official Chinar Corps Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts were temporarily suspended in the past, and Indian Army officials told reporters that the stated reason for the Facebook and Instagram suspensions was Meta’s policy on coordinated inauthentic behavior. The content of the Twitter network discussed in this report was consistent with the objectives of the Chinar Corps,” the report said.
The Asian News International, the Print, the India Express, English Jagram, and the New Indian Express had reported suspension of these accounts for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”. The report further said that the Chinar Corps Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts were all currently live, establishing that the content of the Twitter network was consistent with the Chinar Corps’ objectives of praising the Indian army in IIOJK. Many of the accounts in the network claimed to be Indians, often Kashmiris, and frequently said they were located in Kashmir. One bio said “Proud Indian and Proud Kashmiri. My Heart belongs to Kashmir, Soul to India and Life to Humanity.”
