Pak’s Twitter Warfare

Several reports have come in in April that show a potential Pakistan concerted effort of inciting Indian Muslims. It is being carried out by spreading disinformation about Islamophobia in India through social media especially twitter of Pakistan and Gulf countries. There was even an effort to cause a rift in relations of India with MidEast nations through such disinformation.

Crux of the Matter

Disinformation Campaign to Stir India? Report by Indian securities agencies handed to the government on Wednesday claim that there is a coordinated effort by Pakistani intelligence of spreading social media messages which are anti-India and against PM Modi. The report said that the effort was to exacerbate the anti-India sentiment, especially in the Gulf nations by disseminating false information about Islamophobia persisting in the Indian fabric. A top government official stated to Hindustan Times that the case of spreading propaganda is unique this time because accounts of prominent personalities of Gulf countries are being impersonated to scale up the propaganda and that “there are clear imprints of involvement of Pakistan ISI.” The report stated that this time the spreaders attacked not only from Pakistan but also from Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Case of Masquerading Oman’s Princess’ Twitter A tweet on 22 April 2020 by an account impersonating Oman’s Princess H.H. Mona bint Fahd al Said‘s Twitter account said, “Oman stands with its Muslim brothers and sisters in India. If the Indian government doesn’t stop the persecution of Muslims, then one million (Indian) workers working in Oman may be expelled. I will definitely take up this issue with the Sultan of Oman.” and tagged PM Modi. It became viral instantly and even senior Pakistani journalists began retweeting it targetting PM Modi. The tweet was also shared by many Pakistani government officials.

Indian PM @narendramodi creating problems for his countrymen working in other countries statement from Princess @SayyidaMona is reflection of growing anger against Modi policies his hatred against Muslims may force friends of India in Middle East to reconsider their policies https://t.co/pJkujm1Akz — Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) April 22, 2020

Princess of Oman later clarified in a statement that she thanked everyone for showing the concern to verify the offensive post that was posted by a masquerader and added that her presence on social media was restricted to only two accounts. IB Times report revealed that the impersonated twitter account was formerly called “@pak_Fauj” and was linked to the Pakistani army. If one searched on twitter with the older username, tweets with newer accounts popped up and when scrolled undeleted tweets from the account could be seen.

Princess of Oman has given clarification that her twitter handle was impersonated. We see a design to create discord in India & also in our relations with the Gulf countries. Our missions have appealed to these nations to not fall for such malicious propaganda: Government Sources — ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2020

Turns out, it was a Pakistani handle @pak_fauj that changed its name to impersonate the Omani princess. Type @pak_fauj in you’ll see “Princess Mona” come up as the first suggestion https://t.co/vjarIvCBPd pic.twitter.com/AYqSJSr0he — Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) April 22, 2020

Old Habits Don’t Die Easy In early April, a Delhi police report also stated that a Pakistan-orchestrated disinformation campaign was being run in India to provoke Indian Muslims to violate lockdown. The report had found Pakistani social media handles that circulated videos shot in Pakistan and the Middle East but dubbed in Hindi to accentuate the religious divide in India. Pakistan is infamous for conducting proxy war through terrorism in India, especially in Jammu & Kashmir since the 1990s. A social media disinformation campaign such as this was also launched while the government imposed a communication blackout in the valley before abrogating Article 370. Is the religious divide in India deepening because of Pakistan’s cyber warfare?

Curiopedia

1. Doxxing is the Internet-based practice of researching and publicly broadcasting private or identifying information about an individual or organization. It is closely related to Internet vigilantism and hacktivism. Doxxing comes from a spelling alteration of the abbreviation “docs” (for “documents”) and refers to “compiling and releasing a dossier of personal information on someone”.

2. In November 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Twitter that his firm would ban political ads. Although revenue from “Political Ads” in 2018 only constituted 0.1% of twitter’s revenue in 2018, the step was more of a PR announcement as Facebook’s controversy of its policies that allowed politicians to lie in ads was in news that week.

3. After growing criticism of its insufficient measures to combat the spread of fake news in India, Whatsapp came up with the campaign of “Share Joy, Not Rumors” in 2018. They also introduced the feature of identifying messages as “Forwarded” to aware receivers of such rumors.

Curated Coverage

1. Hindustan Times – After proxy war in Kashmir, Pak launches cyber war against India and PM Modi

2. News 18 – Fact Check: Omani Princess’ Viral Tweet about Expelling Indian Workers is Fake

3. The Print – Pakistan trying to ‘influence’ Indian Muslims to violate the Covid-19 lockdown: Delhi Police