China’s AI-powered influence operations at India’s doorstep
8 months ago

China’s AI-powered influence operations at India’s doorstep

Hindustan Times  

Modes of warfare have undergone several changes since the end of World War II. A recent report by the United States -based social media analytics firm Graphika revealed a pro-Chinese political spam operation promoting a new and distinctive form of video content, which has been operating since 2019 on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. In November 2022 China released its ‘position paper’ on strengthening the ethical governance of AI, which emphasises that as the most representative disruptive technology, AI has brought uncertainty, giving rise to multiple global challenges and even fundamental ethical concerns, despite enormous potential benefits. In August last year, New Kite Data Labs—a US-based think tank, revealed that Beijing-based AI and data collection firm Speech Ocean, has collected voice samples from military sensitive regions of India, including Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab. But as Chinese agencies collect datasets like voice samples from Indian regions, Beijing introduced new rules in January this year, increasing the government’s grip over the Chinese tech sector to regulate the use of deepfakes inside China.

Social Media India China Media Social Political Disinformation Content App State Chinese Ai Speech Ocean  operations  doorstep  aipowered  world  ai  app  influence  chinas  content  china  social  disinformation  media  political  india  indias

History of this topic

Cybercriminals now targeting influencers using AI
2 weeks, 4 days ago

Cybercriminals now targeting influencers using AI

New Indian Express  

BENGALURU: In a new trend, cyber criminals are now targeting social media influencers, particularly women influencers, by posing as brands or agencies offering lucrative collaboration opportunities. City police Commissioner B Dayananda highlighted how cybercriminals exploit social media platforms by luring influencers with fake collaboration offers. They extort money by warning victims that the content will be shared with family members …

Celebrities hit back at social media trolls with defamation suits to safeguard their reputations
1 month ago

Celebrities hit back at social media trolls with defamation suits to safeguard their reputations

Live Mint  

Celebrities are increasingly considering filing suits against media platforms that carry defamatory content by trolls, having become more cognisant of the damage that can be caused as the dissemination and consumption of content on the Internet surges. “In India, celebrities increasingly resort to filing defamation suits against media outlets, including traditional media houses and social media platforms. This trend has …

Chandrababu says misuse of social media biggest challenge
1 month, 3 weeks ago

Chandrababu says misuse of social media biggest challenge

Deccan Chronicle  

Vijayawada:Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday emphasised the need for effective measures to control harassment of people over social media. Calling this the biggest challenge, he wanted a debate on how such misuse of social media could be controlled and who should be given the responsibility for controlling social media. Chandrababu Naidu stressed the need for proper …

Social Media's Polarizing Impact on Politics: Negative Interactions Surge in Run-Up to Lok Sabha Polls
2 months, 2 weeks ago

Social Media's Polarizing Impact on Politics: Negative Interactions Surge in Run-Up to Lok Sabha Polls

Live Mint  

The 12th round of the biannual YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey found that politics was the fifth most popular topic among urban Indians, with 47% saying they follow such content. However, 37% of respondents who follow politics on social media reported having faced negative interactions online due to their political engagement in the six months before the survey. The survey also found …

NSA Calls for Countering Lies on Social Media to Protect Army Morale
2 months, 2 weeks ago

NSA Calls for Countering Lies on Social Media to Protect Army Morale

ABP News  

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has called for robust counter-narrative measures on social media to safeguard the morale of the Indian Army. He emphasized the credibility of social media and the need to expose and search stories that contain inaccuracies or misleading information. Doval encouraged immediate responses to incidents and emphasized establishing a correct perspective early in the public discourse.

Anti-India narrative on social media: Why it’s time for government to counter online negativity
4 months ago

Anti-India narrative on social media: Why it’s time for government to counter online negativity

Firstpost  

A wave of anti-India sentiment is flooding social media, distorting our global image. India can no longer afford silence and has to reclaim its narrative on the world stage Lately, social media has evolved into a platform where global narratives are created, shaped, and spread at turbo speed. A recent example is the “What’s wrong with India?” campaign on social …

U.P. Digital Media Policy: Plan to reward digital influencers draws flak
4 months, 1 week ago

U.P. Digital Media Policy: Plan to reward digital influencers draws flak

The Hindu  

The Uttar Pradesh government has come up with a new social media policy encouraging influencers to promote the State government’s initiatives, schemes, and achievements with prize payments. government’s move, describing it shows nervousness amid truth coming out through social media platforms in the era of digital literacy. Digital influencers running social media platforms argue it signals government’s attempt to get …

US State Dept sets aside budget of ₹1.6 crores for hiring 'fact-checker' in India
5 months, 3 weeks ago

US State Dept sets aside budget of ₹1.6 crores for hiring 'fact-checker' in India

Op India  

The Public Diplomacy Section of the US State Department has set aside a whopping $2,00,000 to recruit fact-checkers in India as part of its ‘Empowering Media Savvy Youth.’ Through this project, the Executive Department of the US federal government claims to confront ‘online manipulation’, combat ‘external influences’, secure digital landscape and reinforce regional security. It must be mentioned that US …

As the US Embassy promotes Leftist elements in India, read how the Biden administration and CIA have been using social media, paying influencers to manipulate public opinion
5 months, 3 weeks ago

As the US Embassy promotes Leftist elements in India, read how the Biden administration and CIA have been using social media, paying influencers to manipulate public opinion

Op India  

On the 17th of July, the US Embassy in India informed about its event for Indian social media influences and content creators to learn about boosting social media engagement on social issues and learn about “active citizenship”. Is the US trying to use social media and Indian content creators, particularly those opposed to the ruling dispensation to meddle in India’s …

Study says Indians are now concerned about online content, feel AI is being used to spread misinformation
7 months, 1 week ago

Study says Indians are now concerned about online content, feel AI is being used to spread misinformation

India Today  

Adobe has released the latest findings of its Future of Trust Study for India, revealing the growing concerns of Indians around misinformation and the impact of generative AI, especially during the ongoing elections. The study found that 86 per cent of Indians believe that misinformation and harmful deep fakes-videos or images altered to deceive-will affect future elections. Seeing the growing …

Politics served with concise social media content
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Politics served with concise social media content

The Hindu  

The nature of information dissemination is changing rapidly and India is not immune to these sweeping changes. In India, growing social media use in the vernacular languages, combined with a largely unregulated digital space and a highly competitive, polarised political environment, necessitates vigilance to manage disruptive misinformation. This decline is mirrored in the popularity of concise social media content, i.e., …

As India votes, misinformation surges on social media: ‘The whole country is paying the price’
8 months, 1 week ago

As India votes, misinformation surges on social media: ‘The whole country is paying the price’

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — Bollywood stars seldom weigh in on politics, so videos showing two celebrities criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — and endorsing his main opposition, the Congress party — were bound to go viral. But the clips of A-list actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh were fake, AI-generated videos that were yet another example of the false or …

Meta now has an AI chatbot. Experts say get ready for more AI-powered social media
8 months, 1 week ago

Meta now has an AI chatbot. Experts say get ready for more AI-powered social media

LA Times  

“AI is increasingly driving lots of communication online,” a University of Pennsylvania professor says. “Our goal is to build the world’s leading AI and make it available to everyone,” said Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer at Meta, as he announced the chatbot’s launch two weeks ago. “We believe that meta AI is now the most intelligent AI assistant that …

Will hackers, trolls and AI deepfakes upset the 2024 election?
8 months, 1 week ago

Will hackers, trolls and AI deepfakes upset the 2024 election?

LA Times  

More than 100 bills have been introduced in at least 39 states to limit and regulate AI-generated materials, according to the Voting Rights Lab, a nonpartisan organization that tracks election-related legislation. A recent threat analysis by Microsoft said a network of Chinese- One Chinese disinformation ploy, according to the Microsoft report, claimed that the U.S. government deliberately set the wildfires …

Political content turns out to be deepfake: 1 in 4 Indians reported
8 months, 2 weeks ago

Political content turns out to be deepfake: 1 in 4 Indians reported

India TV News  

It was recently reported that one in four Indians have said that they have recently come across political content which was later discovered to be deepfake. As per the cyber security company McAfee, about 75 per cent of Indians have encountered deepfake content, with most concerned about the potential use of Artificial Intelligence -powered deepfakes for impersonating public figures, undermining …

No, Aamir, Ranveer weren’t endorsing any party: How to fact-check, identify deepfakes during elections – Firstpost
8 months, 3 weeks ago

No, Aamir, Ranveer weren’t endorsing any party: How to fact-check, identify deepfakes during elections – Firstpost

Firstpost  

Videos of Bollywood stars Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh endorsing a political party went viral on social media just ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. As the threat of disinformation looms large, we explain how to identify misinformation and inauthentic content As the Lok Sabha elections kick off, the digital landscape becomes a battleground for truth …

Digital Revolution in Indian Politics: How BJP Harnessed Social Media
8 months, 4 weeks ago

Digital Revolution in Indian Politics: How BJP Harnessed Social Media

News 18  

The emergence of digital media—social media, mobile journalism, YouTube, etc—has transformed the political contour in India, with social media platforms becoming the new battleground for electoral campaigns. Among these parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party has proven to be the most successful in harnessing the power of social media to connect with voters and shape public opinion, while the Congress-led Opposition—if …

How AI-Generated Deepfakes Are Playing A Role In 2024 Indian Elections. What Users Can Do To Avoid Pitfalls
9 months, 4 weeks ago

How AI-Generated Deepfakes Are Playing A Role In 2024 Indian Elections. What Users Can Do To Avoid Pitfalls

ABP News  

Artificial intelligence and simulated content have spurned discussions on robot takeovers, ethics, job losses, and financial fraud. But in a year of “super elections,” AI is playing a major role in campaigning — and in India, cheap and easy tools are being used to create content ranging from memes to deepfakes and simulated audio. AI's Use During Campaigning We’ve usually …

Deepfake democracy: Behind the AI trickery shaping India’s 2024 election
10 months, 3 weeks ago

Deepfake democracy: Behind the AI trickery shaping India’s 2024 election

Al Jazeera  

Want an opponent to campaign for you? “Politics is about creating perception; with AI tools and a click, you can turn the perception on its head in a minute,” said Arun Reddy, the national coordinator for social media at the Congress, who oversaw the party’s tech-savvy Telangana election. “But I know many people who are doing it for very low …

The New Digital Dark Age
1 year ago

The New Digital Dark Age

Wired  

For researchers, social media has always represented greater access to data, more democratic involvement in knowledge production, and great transparency about social behavior. In 2024, we will face a grim digital dark age, as social media platforms transition away from the logic of Web 2.0 and toward one dictated by AI-generated content. However, changes in data access by social media …

Facebook crackdown against fake Chinese accounts that tried to spread fake news about India | Deets Here
1 year, 1 month ago

Facebook crackdown against fake Chinese accounts that tried to spread fake news about India | Deets Here

India TV News  

In its recent quarterly threat report, social media giant Meta has underlined a mounting concern involving fake Facebook accounts emanating from China, spreading fabricated news about India. These accounts, masquerading as Indian users, were extensively engaged in propagating deceptive information related to Indian politics and various national security matters. Notably, the Tibet-focused accounts posed as pro-independence activists who also accused …

Artificial Intelligence, Disinformation, and the 2024 Indonesian Elections
1 year, 1 month ago

Artificial Intelligence, Disinformation, and the 2024 Indonesian Elections

The Diplomat  

The 2024 Indonesian elections will take place at a technological watershed, with artificial intelligence and machine learning poised to play an influential role. There is clear evidence of Indonesians harnessing AI technology to craft engaging social media content on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X. Plus, with the clear evidence of buzzers or cybertroopers that have operated on social …

In India’s strife-torn Manipur, narrative battle is fought on social media
1 year, 2 months ago

In India’s strife-torn Manipur, narrative battle is fought on social media

Al Jazeera  

Social media warriors have sprung up to share their community’s views and put down the others’ in this ethnic conflict. “Before we got hackers, we had given access to our social media accounts to people outside the state … Social media has become important to tell people what is happening here,” the leader said. He told me, “I opened this …

PIB conducts workshop for journalists in Tiruppur
1 year, 4 months ago

PIB conducts workshop for journalists in Tiruppur

The Hindu  

A ‘rural media orientation-cum-workshop’ was conducted under the aegis of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in Tiruppur on Friday to orient mediapersons on the approach towards disseminating information about government schemes and initiatives, against the backdrop of the spread of unverified content through social media. M. Annadurai, Additional Director General, Press Information Bureau and Central Bureau of Communication, said the …

Newsclick and beyond: Unveiling China's information warfare tactics in India
1 year, 5 months ago

Newsclick and beyond: Unveiling China's information warfare tactics in India

Firstpost  

The disinformation machinery of China might be impeccably efficient but it would not be able to create discord within the Indian society if the subversive actors on the Indian soil are not functioning as its arms In today’s rapidly evolving world, information has emerged as a potent weapon, leading nations to grapple with the intricacies of modern conflict. The revelations …

Understanding the ideological divide online
1 year, 5 months ago

Understanding the ideological divide online

Hindustan Times  

Algorithms used by social media companies in drawing in and retaining users have been the subject of scrutiny for several years now. Spanning multiple election cycles and a once-in-a-century pandemic, the debates centre around a simple question: Is social media dividing people? Starting from 2008, when Barack Obama first used social media for a political campaign to the divisive 2016 …

AI-generated text is hard to spot. It could play a big role in the 2024 campaign
1 year, 6 months ago

AI-generated text is hard to spot. It could play a big role in the 2024 campaign

NPR  

AI-generated text is hard to spot. While there are still some ways to tell AI-generated images, software aimed at detecting machine-generated text — like Open AI's classifier and GPTZero — often fail. It can also be used to maintain automated accounts by writing human-like content for them to post before they become part of a concerted campaign to push one …

Thousands chatted with this AI ‘virtual girlfriend.’ Then things got even weirder
1 year, 6 months ago

Thousands chatted with this AI ‘virtual girlfriend.’ Then things got even weirder

LA Times  

Social media influencer Caryn Marjorie recently launched an AI chatbot “clone” of herself — and not everyone is happy about it. “I have seen my fans spend thousands of dollars in a matter of days chatting with CarynAI,” Marjorie said; one fan, at the bot’s encouragement, built a shrine-like photo wall of her. She added: “I see AI as a …

World Press Freedom Day | How free speech in India is compromised by government control over platforms: Book excerpt from ‘Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government is Holding Indians Back’ by Subhashish B
1 year, 8 months ago

World Press Freedom Day | How free speech in India is compromised by government control over platforms: Book excerpt from ‘Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government is Holding Indians Back’ by Subhashish B

The Hindu  

Published : May 03, 2023 07:00 IST - 6 MINS READ In December 2004, the Delhi Police arrested Avnish Bajaj, the CEO of Baazee.com, because someone in Kharagpur, West Bengal, tried to sell through the website video copies of two Delhi-based students having sex. Social media companies, a term left vague and expansive, need to take down content within 36 …

New IT Rules provide an evidence-based-fact-checking system for fake news, says Centre
1 year, 8 months ago

New IT Rules provide an evidence-based-fact-checking system for fake news, says Centre

The Hindu  

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology termed as “premature” political satirist Kunal Kamra’s plea challenging the constitutional validity of the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023 and said the Rules are in “public interest” and provide an evidence-based-fact-checking system for a mechanism to deal with fake or false or misleading information resulting in riots, mob lynching and other heinous crimes. …

‘Not much change in communication barring speed of circulation’
2 years ago

‘Not much change in communication barring speed of circulation’

The Hindu  

Teacher of journalism, B.K. Ravi has said that according to researchers of communication, not much change had been witnessed in the medium of mass communication barring the speed with which information was being circulated. Presiding over the session on ‘Innovations in Media’ on the second day of 86th Akhila Bharat Kannada Sahitya Sammelana on Saturday, Prof. Ravi said that there …

Why the woes of Indian journalism affect all Indians
2 years, 1 month ago

Why the woes of Indian journalism affect all Indians

The Hindu  

The first week of November includes a day selected by the United Nations as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Though the Indian Constitution is liberal, its interpretation through legislation has been anything but; harsh omnibus laws infringe and limit liberties, violate human rights and lead to degeneracy among administration and law enforcement agents. Now, from …

Sonia Gandhi says social media being abused to hack democracy
2 years, 9 months ago

Sonia Gandhi says social media being abused to hack democracy

The Hindu  

The danger of social media being abused to hack democracy was rising and the government should put an end to the “systematic interference” of Facebook and other social media giants in electoral politics of the world’s largest democracy, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said on Wednesday. Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Ms. Gandhi stated that …

In Perspective | The only answer to India vs Big Tech on moderation
2 years, 11 months ago

In Perspective | The only answer to India vs Big Tech on moderation

Hindustan Times  

Last week, news agency Reuters reported what it described as a “heated meeting” between Indian government officials and big technology companies Google, Facebook, and Twitter on fake news and content moderation. Quoting unnamed sources, the news agency said India’s information and broadcasting ministry criticised the companies for dragging their feet on fake news, which forced India to point out content …

OPINION | Why IT Act needs to be changed?
3 years, 1 month ago

OPINION | Why IT Act needs to be changed?

India TV News  

Today I want to talk about an issue which most of us face in our daily life. Millions of Indians are active on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp, and almost every day one finds trolls abusing, defaming and threatening others, using fake information, images and videos. Since common people, public figures and celebrities face abuses, threats …

Big Tech Is Bending to the Indian Government’s Will
3 years, 4 months ago

Big Tech Is Bending to the Indian Government’s Will

Wired  

As Indian democracy crumbles day upon day under the grasp of Narendra Modi, social media platforms have functioned in lieu of a free press. As Reporters Without Borders recently noted, journalists in India “risk dismissal if they criticize the government.” Since Modi took control in 2014, India’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has fallen every year, plateauing at …

India internet law adds to fears over online speech, privacy
3 years, 5 months ago

India internet law adds to fears over online speech, privacy

Associated Press  

NEW DELHI — It began in February with a tweet by pop star Rihanna that sparked widespread condemnation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of massive farmer protests near the capital, souring an already troubled relationship between the government and Twitter. “India’s plans for the internet appear to be like that of a closed ecosystem like China,” said Raheel …

India’s internet law adds to fears over online speech, privacy
3 years, 5 months ago

India’s internet law adds to fears over online speech, privacy

Al Jazeera  

Law puts digital platforms such as Twitter and Facebook under direct government oversight, but critics worry it may lead to outright censorship. ‘Closed ecosystem like China’ “India’s plans for the internet appear to be like that of a closed ecosystem like China,” said Raheel Khursheed, co-founder of Laminar Global and Twitter India’s former head of politics, policy and government. “Twitter’s …

Election & Voting Processes Stand Threatened By Social Media Manipulation, Says Supreme Court
3 years, 6 months ago

Election & Voting Processes Stand Threatened By Social Media Manipulation, Says Supreme Court

Live Law  

Election and voting processes stand threatened by social media manipulation, the Supreme Court remarked in the judgment delivered on Thursday in Facebook vs. Delhi Assembly case.Entities like Facebook have to remain accountable to those who entrust them with such power. Election and voting processes stand threatened by social media manipulation, the Supreme Court remarked in the judgment delivered on Thursday …

New IT rules necessitated by social media abuse: India to UN Special Rapporteurs
3 years, 6 months ago

New IT rules necessitated by social media abuse: India to UN Special Rapporteurs

India Today  

The Indian government has told the United Nations Human Rights Council that the formulation of new IT rules for social media companies was necessitated by the concerns over increased instances of abuse of new media platforms including inducement for recruitment of terrorists, obscene content, financial frauds and incitement of violence. In a letter to the secretariat of the council, the …

India accuses Twitter of not complying with new IT rules
3 years, 6 months ago

India accuses Twitter of not complying with new IT rules

Al Jazeera  

Standoff between government and Twitter escalates after technology minister accuses social media giant of deliberately not complying with local laws. India’s technology minister says Twitter Inc deliberately defied and failed to comply with the country’s new IT rules, which became effective in late May. Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said Twitter has chosen “the path of deliberate defiance” …

Silicon Valley Thought India Was Its Future. Now Everything Has Changed.
55 years ago

Silicon Valley Thought India Was Its Future. Now Everything Has Changed.

Slate  

This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech. Later that month, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology implemented new guidelines for social and digital media companies, forcing …

Twitter vs Govt of India: Importance of SM and what is the road ahead
3 years, 6 months ago

Twitter vs Govt of India: Importance of SM and what is the road ahead

Op India  

Today, when the whole world is confronted with an unprecedented crisis due to the COVID19 pandemic, another crisis has emerged over the ‘penetrative’ role of social media platforms in India. Considering the kind of enormous outreach of social media, platforms such as Twitter have started to act arbitrarily to become a state within a state Twitter decided to defy an …

India And Tech Companies Clash Over Censorship, Privacy And 'Digital Colonialism'
3 years, 7 months ago

India And Tech Companies Clash Over Censorship, Privacy And 'Digital Colonialism'

NPR  

India And Tech Companies Clash Over Censorship, Privacy And 'Digital Colonialism' Enlarge this image toggle caption Bikas Das/AP Bikas Das/AP MUMBAI AND SAN FRANCISCO — One night last month, police crowded into the lobby of Twitter's offices in India's capital New Delhi. Sponsor Message The May 24 police raid — which Twitter later called an "intimidation tactic" — was one …

Facebook, Twitter: A lifeline for Indians in the Covid crisis and a threat for Narendra Modi
3 years, 8 months ago

Facebook, Twitter: A lifeline for Indians in the Covid crisis and a threat for Narendra Modi

CNN  

On most days, Network Capital, a business networking group with over 67,000 members on Facebook, focuses on providing its community with information on job vacancies, higher education, and careers. Sonali Pal Chaudhury/NurPhoto/Getty Images In a statement last week, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said it had asked Twitter, Facebook and others to remove around 100 posts by users …

Govt announces new social media rules to curb its misuse
3 years, 10 months ago

Govt announces new social media rules to curb its misuse

The Hindu  

The Centre on Thursday notified new, stricter guidelines for social media intermediaries that will make it mandatory for platforms such as WhatsApp to aid in identifying the “originator” of “unlawful” messages. The rules, which categorise intermediaries as social media intermediary and significant social media intermediary based on number of users, said significant social media intermediaries providing messaging services would “enable …

India plans new social media controls after Twitter face-off
3 years, 10 months ago

India plans new social media controls after Twitter face-off

India Today  

Chafing from a dispute with Twitter, India plans to oblige social media companies to erase contentious content fast and assist investigations, according to a draft regulation. In India, Twitter ignored orders to remove content over farmers’ protests, fuelling the zeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government since 2018 to tighten regulation for content it deems disinformation or unlawful. Racial, Religious …

India plans new social media controls after face-off with Twitter
3 years, 10 months ago

India plans new social media controls after face-off with Twitter

Al Jazeera  

New Delhi, angry with Twitter for ignoring request to erase accounts, wants content down within 36 hours when asked. Chafing from a dispute with Twitter, India plans to oblige social media companies to erase contentious content fast and assist investigations, according to a draft regulation. In India, Twitter ignored orders to remove content over farmers’ protests, heightening the zeal of …

Twitter is stuck between a rock and a hard place in India
3 years, 11 months ago

Twitter is stuck between a rock and a hard place in India

CNN  

CNN Business — India’s efforts to crack down on dissent have left Twitter with an impossible balancing act: protecting free speech, or risking its employees and business in one of the company’s most vital markets. The company said in a blog post Wednesday that it was “served with several separate blocking orders” by the Indian government against hundreds of Twitter …

Discover Related