Digital Platforms and Social Conflict: Examining the case of EU Dis-infolab and the role of Indian-based Fake Media in Pakistan-India Relations

Abstract

Recently, digital platforms have increasingly become associated with the spread of fake news and disinformation. In doing so, not only are these platforms complicit in the exacerbation and participation in conflict, but are also channelled to create conflict. This research examines the use of digital platforms by fake newsmongers and their role in exacerbating/creating conflict by exploring the case of India Chronicles, an India-based digital platform. Recently, an Investigation carried out by EU disinfoLab, exposed Indian Chronicles, an operation launched by Srivastava group with the aim of discrediting Pakistan internationally through the spread of disinformation by creating fake media outlets. Despite a substantive literature available on the use of digital platforms to peddle state-based narratives, there is a dearth of research on how these platforms are used to spread fake news and disinformation and more so in the case of India and Pakistan. Being exploratory in nature, this research examines the relationship between digital platforms, fake news and social conflict and will further how fake news and disinformation are used as tools in inter-state conflicts Focusing on the construction and the circulation of narratives by state-patroned digital platforms, the research will use tools such as interview to argue that India has effectively used digital platforms by spreading fake news and disinformation about Pakistan, in order to dominate the war of narratives between them.