Cyber army 'disinformation': India among seven countries rated as top global influencers

By Rajiv Shah
An Oxford University study, “The Global Disinformation Order 2019”, has found that India is one of the seven top countries around the world where “a handful of sophisticated state actors use computational propaganda for foreign influence operations”. It adds, Facebook and Twitter has identified India, along with China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, which use the two social media platforms “to influence global audiences.”
Authored by Samantha Bradshaw and Philip N Howard, the study examines “cyber troop activity” in 70 countries, pointing out, the “foreign influence operations” in the seven countries are carried out as “highly secretive phenomenon”, adding, it acquires the form or “social media manipulation” by “politicians, political parties, private contractors, civil society organizations (CSOs), citizens and influencers.”
Tracking the prevalence of fake accounts, the study states, in India bots and humans are used for this by cyber armies in India. While bots are called “are highly automated accounts designed to mimic human behaviour online”, and are used for amplifying narratives to “drown out political dissent”, the study believes, “Even more common than bots are human-run accounts, which do not make use of automation. Instead they engage in conversations by posting comments or tweets, or by private messaging individuals via social media platforms.”

Countries allegedly engaged in foreign influence operations

According to the study, cyber troops in India seek to engage in conversations with users online in order to spreading pro-government or pro-party propaganda, attacking the opposition, even as mounting smear campaigns; seek to drive divisions and polarization, and suppressing participation “through personal attacks or harassment.”
The study identifies India among the “medium-capacity” countries for such operations, the study says, the country has “multiple teams” doing this having the size ranging from 50 to 300 people, which is done through “multiple contracts” and advertising, whose expenditure values a whopping 1.4M USD.

Tibetan activist’s self-immolation sparks fresh concerns over cultural rights

By Kumar Krishnan* The question of Tibet has once again entered international discourse, raising difficult questions about human rights, religious freedom, cultural identity, language, and the relationship between political power and the rights of indigenous communities. On 20 August 2026, the Kashag and the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile jointly organised a solidarity prayer service and peace march to mark the 49th day since the death of Lobga Rangzen, a Tibetan activist who died after self-immolating on 2 July in front of the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The “Dr” debate masks a larger crisis in allied-health education

By Dr P K Gupta* India’s allied-health professions have long operated in a fragmented landscape of universities, hospitals, State authorities and private institutions, each with its own nomenclature, curriculum and standards. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021 was meant to correct this by creating a unified national framework for education, professional regulation and institutional recognition. Few dispute the need for such oversight. The real question is whether standardisation is quietly becoming synonymous with longer courses, additional internships and new professional titles—changes that risk masking deeper gaps in clinical training, institutional capacity and affordability.

IMF's policies 'stabilise' external creditors' balance sheets, 'generate' crisis in Africa

By Grieve Chelwa, Vijay Prashad Across Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) presents itself as the custodian of macroeconomic stability. Its latest Article IV staff reports on Ethiopia . Malawi , Nigeria , South Africa , and Zambia are written for economies with very different histories and institutions. Yet they converge on a familiar prescription: fiscal consolidation, tighter monetary policy, market-determined exchange rates, subsidy reform, deregulation and ‘private-sector-led growth’. No serious economist can dismiss macroeconomic stability.

Counterview

Search This Blog