A group of fake account handles based in Pakistan have been posting fake news on Twitter, feeding users with twisted lies that spew geopolitical tensions in South Asia, as figured out by a fake news watchdog portal.
The anti-India agenda also surfaced when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh.
To earn credibility and create the maximum impact, the fake account holders adopted a gamut of strategies on the social media platform such as impersonating celebrities and dignitaries, changing ID names, juxtaposing real pictures with fake captions, as per the digital investigation carried out by thedisinfolab.org
“Spreading disinformation has become an easy task due to Twitter’s facility/loophole which allows the users to change their profile (name and username). This tool has been deployed by various Pakistani social media accounts in propagating Anti-India fake narratives. Easter bombings of Sri Lanka, Islamophobia in India, Galwan valley clash, Farmers’ Protest of India are few of the many incidents where Pakistan has falsely accused India as the architect of these incidents,” said the portal in its report titled ‘The Anatomy of Pakistan’s 5th generation warfare: How Twitter's loophole is being weaponized to create conflict in South Asia’.
They fanned the false narrative of Indian involvement in the 2019-Easter Sunday attack by Islamist attack in Sri Lanka that left nearly 300 innocent people dead.
One account holder changed his name to impersonate a top-notch armed-forces official and posted, “India is directly involved in Easter attacks. The intelligence agencies have collected the reports.”
The portal broke down the steps of how they hatch and churn out the fabricated news.
First, they create an ID under the name of a Pakistani national. Then they write some posts on a regular basis to gain popularity and gear up the number of followers. When an issue arises, they change their ID name and profile picture to impersonate a celebrity, a high-official, or an analyst and delete all previous posts. When the issue is over, they get back to their previous name and profile picture.
In another post, a fake ID with the profile picture displaying a former Sri Lankan president posted, “I belief (believe) Kashmir will be free very soon, and will become a part of Pakistan. We, Sri Lankans, stand with the Pakistan army.”
The post seemed so plausible that even a famous geopolitical analyst named Jan Achakzai used it as a reference.
Another post displayed the picture of a man (with his face covered) being detained by the Sri Lankan army with a fake caption that the army captured an Indian detective though the man in the photo was actually the security guard of a Sri Lankan minister.
“By July 2020, the Pakistani establishment decided to create a full-scale fake news industry by way of SAUSMF. SAUSMF website was hosted by Pak Cabinet Minister and close aid of PM Imran Khan – Jahangir Tareen on his server. The main members of this nexus included Aftab Afridi, Awas Javed Satti, Asim Khan who share direct links with the Pak army, team Imran Khan and Pak businessman Jahangir Khan Tareen, the man who ensured Imran Khan’s electoral victory,” it added.
A fake account named Zeba Gul posted a picture of Afghan women army cadets training in Chennai, copied from a news website.
Then the account holder accompanied it with a false caption saying, “We did a training in India where Indian officers tried to brainwash us by saying Pakistan is our enemy. Once a brave Afghan slapped an Indian for speaking rubbish against Muslims. Then they got scared that I can’t forget.”
The anti-India agenda also surfaced when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh. SAUSMF posted an anti-Modi post before his visit.
“Fake news travels six times faster than the real news on social media,” added the portal quoting a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
