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Verified By BOOM 97

BJP Hired Consultancy Is Running Troll Accounts Using YouTube Stars

May 10, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Browser View | May 11, 2024 | Subscribe

Hello,

Varahe Analytics, a political consultancy hired by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using YouTube stars from rural areas and turning them into trolls for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Read on!

In public interest: No, everything that is altered is not a deepfake! Confused by the world of fake videos and photos online? You're not alone! We break down the key terms: AI-generated, morphed visuals, and deepfakes.

Morphed: Altering a part or whole of any image/video with an intention to mislead.

Cropped: Cutting out a small portion out of a larger video and sharing without full context.

AI-generated: An image, video, audio or text created using artificial intelligence usually by entering a text prompt of the required output.

Deepfake (deep learning + fake): A video or recording that has been altered using artificial intelligence and machine learning to create synthetic media that appears to be real to create the likeness of an individual. (Synthetic content is on a spectrum and they don’t always fit in clear categories)

TL;DR: Every AI-generated visual is not a deepfake. Every deepfake is AI-generated.

How A BJP Hired Consultancy Is Running Troll Accounts Using YouTube Stars

🔖 Remember BJP’s 'Dulha Kaun' ad campaign? It was made by Varahe Analytics.

The Investigation: Nivedita Niranjankumar found out that the company runs multiple troll pages and uses young influencers to make reels.

The Influencer’s Voice: Speaking on condition of anonymity, an influencer with over four lakh followers on Instagram — who has made several appearances on the Bharat Todo Gang, Ek Akela Sabpe Bhaari, and a state proxy page — confirmed to Decode that he was approached by the social media team of Varahe Analytics to make such reels.

"I am paid to make videos about the elections and the opposition. But there is nothing wrong with this. I believe in the cause and have been talking about the same issue and topics on my accounts for over 3-4 years now."

Blind Spot Of cVIGIL: EC App Doesn't Allow Reporting Online Violations

🔖 Election Commission’s app cVIGIL wants you to report model code of conduct violations.

The Catch: Although designed to enable citizens in recording, reporting, and resolving violations of the model code of conduct, the app falls short to address breaches on social media platforms effectively. This is because one cannot upload pre-recorded videos or link to any social media content on the app.

Expert’s Take: Speaking to Decode’s Hera Rizwan, security researcher Karan Saini said that the restriction on uploading images and videos from the phone gallery may be a design choice on the part of the ECI to limit malicious or automated submissions. “However, this severely limits the app's usability and effectiveness for citizens. They can only file complaints if they've personally witnessed incidents, like hate speech at a rally. This overlooks a broad spectrum of potential MCC violations that citizens may wish to submit complaints about,” he added.

Political parties, especially BJP and Congress, are investing heavily in social media ads for the 18th Lok Sabha elections.

While BJP pages lead Meta's political advertisement with an overall expenditure of over Rs. 10 crore, Congress takes the lead on Google ads with a spending of Rs. 26.6 crore in April.
Islamophobic content and memes targeting BJP's opponents are being circulated on surrogate pages, with spending on such ads increasing to over Rs. 4.4 crore in April.
Surrogate pages continue to push a narrative of Congress favoring Muslims over other communities, with ads and content being linked to a network of pages managed by a political consultancy firm. Read Archis Chowdhury’s analysis.

Political Mis/Disinfo Fueled By Old & Unrelated Claims Dominated April

🔖 In April, BOOM published 147 fact-checks across English, Hindi, and Bangla. The 2024 Lok Sabha general elections was the core topic of mis/disinformation accounting for 75.5% or 111 fact-checks.

The BJP was also the target of old claims which were unrelated to the current elections, accounting for 9 fact-checks in total. The next targets were Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, each with 8 and 7 fact-checks, respectively.

Read the detailed analysis by Nidhi Jacob.

🚫 Fake News You Almost Fell For

🔍 An old video of group of people recording and accusing a few Indian Army personnel of forcing people to vote for the BJP in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, was shared as a recent incident from the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Read 🔗 Anmol Alphonso’s ↗️ fact-check.

🔍 A fake notice claiming to show Dubai-based Association of Sunni Muslims offering financial support to Muslims travelling to Karnataka to oust the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi went viral online. 🔗 Hazel Gandhi ↗️ debunked the claim.

🔍 A photo of President Droupadi Murmu and PM Modi was shared on social media falsely claiming that she accompanied Modi while he was filing his nomination for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Find out the truth in 🔗 Jagriti Trisha’s ↗️ fact-check.

🅱️ Recommends

📖 This week's recommendation is: How people view AI, disinformation and elections — in charts

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