Beware ‘evil’ Muslims, India’s Hindus told as viral pro-BJP misinformation surges before elections
- Many messages latch onto global and local incidents to warn that Hindus’ safety could be at risk if Modi’s BJP loses power in next year’s election
- Fact-checkers and tech experts say disinformation and hate speech targeting Muslims are on the rise ahead of state elections and the 2024 polls
In the following weeks, hundreds of messages referencing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group spread rapidly on Indian social media accounts, said fact-checkers and researchers documenting online disinformation about India’s Muslim minority.
Many of those messages warned Hindus that their safety could be at risk from Muslims if the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) loses power in next year’s election.
“Every local and global incident is used to convey the message that Muslims are evil, that Hindus need to be afraid,” said Bharat Nayak, an independent fact-checker in the east Indian state of Jharkhand.
“When there isn’t a current incident, past incidents are recycled with doctored images and videos, to say: if Hindus are to stay safe, vote for BJP,” said Nayak, who tracks disinformation and hate speech on viral WhatsApp messages.
In India, Muslims make up about 14 per cent of the nation’s 1.4 billion Hindu-majority population. With a general election due by May 2024, and several state elections this month, disinformation and hate speech targeting them are on the rise, fact-checkers and tech experts said.
