BJP IT Cell

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Bharatiya Janata Party Information Technology Cell (commonly known as BJP IT Cell or BJP Social Media Cell) is a department of the Indian political party BJP that manages social media campaigns for the party and its members.[1][2][3][4] Amit Malviya has been in charge of BJP IT Cell from 2015.[5]

According to Washington Post, 150,000 social media workers spread posts aimed at exploiting the fears of India’s Hindu majority across a vast network of WhatsApp groups.[6]

History[edit]

Bharatiya Janata Party was the first political party in India to acknowledge and use the power of social media in mobilising public opinion. The X account for BJP leader Narendra Modi (then Chief Minister of Gujarat) was created in 2009. In contrast the X account of senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was made in 2015.[7]

Methods[edit]

BJP orchestrates online campaigns through its social media cell to intimidate perceived government critics. Sadhavi Khosla, a BJP cyber-volunteer in the BJP IT Cell said that the organisation disseminated misogyny, Islamophobia and hatred. The network of volunteers of BJP take instructions from BJP IT Cell and two affiliated organisations to troll users who are critical of BJP. Journalists and Indian film actors are also among their targets.[7]

In November 2015, a Muslim film actor from India, Aamir Khan expressed concern about rising intolerance in India[8] in response to political events in India that included violent attacks against Muslims and intellectuals, and the absence of swift or strong condemnation from the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Modi government.[9] Khosla said that BJP responded with an online campaigns through its social media cell to intimidate Khan.[7] Khan advertised for Snapdeal. Modi supporters bombarded the company with orders and later cancelled them. The campaign led to Snapdeal dropping Khan for its advertisement.[10]

Derek O'Brien, a member of Parliament had raised the topic of online hate in Rajya Sabha, India's upper house. He had questioned why Narendra Modi followed cyber-bullies on social media, and said "We are mainstreaming hate". He also asked if Modi administration would issue advisory asking government officials to stop following Twitter users that regularly send abusive messages and obscenities. The government did not respond to this request.[7]

In December 2020, Twitter took restrictive action against Amit Malviya, IT Cell in charge, and tagged his post as 'manipulated media'. This was the first time Twitter took restrictive action against an Indian political personality. Malviya had posted an edited video of an incident from 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest that violated Twitter policy towards fighting the spread of doctored media.[5]

According to Al Jazeera, during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the BJP IT Cell was partly responsible for spreading disinformation surrounding the conflict, and said to be a source of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian content.[11]

According to Washington Post, 150,000 social media workers spread posts aimed at exploiting the fears of India’s Hindu majority across a vast network of WhatsApp groups.[12]

An investigation by an independant news agency, Newslaundry, revealed the organisational structure of the IT Cell:

The state IT cell has 25 members in the core team with Rai as its head. Each regional centre had 20 members and a team of 15 handled IT at each of the 92 districts. Seven member teams worked at the block levels. At the regional, district and Assembly level, BJP had approximately 5,000 workers. A separate team of 20 professionals – including technicians,designers, and cartoonists – created the desired content for the party.

JPS Rathore, a member of the UP-BJP's IT Cell described the motives of the organisation as follows:

"Our aim was to capture the mind of the voter. To message them night and day. Whenever they look, they should see us, hear our message. (Humari rajniti thi ki chunav ke pehle voter ke dimag ko capture kar lo. Subeh–shaam message bhejo. Jab dekhe, humara chehra dekhe, humari baat sune)”[13]

The Indian Express reported that Amit Malviya, the head of the IT Cell, admitted that the NaMo TV channel was run by the IT Cell.[14]

Another 2021 article describes the "Hindu Ecosystem" (as described by Kapil Mishra whose group was infiltrated by Newslaundry journalists) and its methodology. Mishra tweeted a Google forms link (which is still active and can be accessed from the original article) asking for details such as the name, mobile number and email-ID of the respondents, calling them to join the Hindu Ecosystem. It also asked the respondents for 'Any Special area of interest (sic)' such as 'Gauraksha, Gauseva, Fight Love Jihad, Ghar Wapasi, Halal, Mandir Nirmal, Hindu Ekta, Sewa in general etc (sic).'[15]

A Telegram group of over 20,000 people who work 'in an organised fashion'. There was a 'Twitter Team' with 5000 members. Most of the volunteers joining these groups were male and had upper caste surnames. Topics were shared every week with documents full of 'sample tweets' -- hyperlinks to typed tweets with which all the sender had to do was send the completed tweet. Volunteers were instructed to send the tweets at a specific time in order to artificially brew a Twitter storm with the sheer number of tweets from the WhatsApp and Telegram groups. Common BJP talking points were thus propagated aggressively across social media.

Several 'toolkits' full of (inaccurate) information attacking China or Islam were shared, with instructions on how to present and disseminate the shared information. Sub groups were created where content was compiled and talking-points were generated about certain topics, and days were designated for the generation of content on specific days to propagate online. PDF files running into hundreds of pages full of posts were used as social media posts to drown out dissenting opinions.

State-wise PDF files full of lists of mosques built on temples were shared. An almost endless number of posts were shared to help propagate the popular narrative that the farmers protesting in the first farmers' protests were, in fact, Khalistani-separatists.

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ "BJP turns focus on UP IT cell, lays out strategy to boost social media presence for polls". ThePrint. 21 October 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  2. ^ "BJP's IT cell works behind doors for its candidates who are on the front". The Indian Express. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  3. ^ "BJP Departments". Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  4. ^ "I am a troll: Inside the secret world of the BJP's digital army- Review". Free Press Journal. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b "For the First Time in India, Twitter Flags BJP IT Cell's 'Manipulated Media'". The Wire. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India". Washington Post. 27 September 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d "'I Am a Troll' by Swati Chaturvedi". Financial Times. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
  8. ^ Sugden, Joanna (24 November 2015). "The Intolerant Response to Aamir Khan's Intolerance Comments". WSJ Blogs. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  9. ^ Iyengar, Rishi. "Bollywood Star Aamir Khan Faces Religious Backlash". time.com. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  10. ^ "Aamir Khan took on religious intolerance, and Snapdeal got caught in the crossfire". Quartz. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  11. ^ Owen Jones, Marc (16 October 2023). "Analysis: Why is so much anti-Palestinian disinformation coming from India?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  12. ^ "Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India". The Washington Post.
  13. ^ Bhardwaj, Amit (17 March 2017). "How BJP's IT Cell Waged War And Won In UP: With enormous stores of data and thousands of WhatsApp groups, the BJP cell waged a smartphone war in UP". Newslaundry.
  14. ^ "BJP owns up NaMo TV, Delhi poll officer says content is not 'advertisement'". The Indian Express. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  15. ^ Thakur, Shambhavi; S, Meghnad (15 February 2021). ""Hate factory: Inside Kapil Mishra's 'Hindu Ecosystem'"". Newslaundry. Retrieved 29 February 2024.

Further reading[edit]

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