Perception is built by a narrative and narrative is built by intent. This intent can be either noble or ignoble, and so will be the consequent perception. So, how do we build a narrative? We do so by hacking the minds of the vulnerable. Let us start with a simple example from our recent history – facing a very bleak future in the 2024 Parliamentary elections, the opposition built a narrative that the constitution of India was in danger of being abrogated and Dalits will lose their reserved status. The narrative worked and the opposition did much better than expected in the polls.
Another
example - we were told from our childhood that our freedom struggle was non
violent. We were told them our Father of the nation, Gandhi ji was an apostle
of peace and we won our freedom by his satyagraha
and penance. Our dramas, films and poetries and text books created this
narrative by erasing the glorious history of the siege of Lucknow in 1857, of the glory of Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army (INA)and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The battles of
Kohima and Imphal, the Burma campaign, the mutiny in the Naval docks in Mumbai in 1946 and in the police barracks were all glossed over
to create this narrative, which suited our British occupiers and the left
liberals whom they handed over the residual country after a bloody partition.
Even today, after more than seven decades, we still believe the concept of
'Dedi hame aazadi bina khadag bina dhal
Sabarmati ke sant tune kar diya kamal!'
Social Media and local politics
In the
era of social media however, creating a false narrative has become far more
easy. The social media platforms are a very potent weapon in both national and
international politics. Inside the country we have seen riots and protests
being orchestrated in Shaheen Bagh, Farmer's march to Delhi, protests and riots
against CAA, NRC all on the basis of false but we'll crafted narratives. A
communal narrative on social media can flare up riots in no time and the Waqf
bill will soon become the subject of such false narratives in days to come.
Social Media and International politics
Internationally however, these false narratives are far more dangerous. Remember the invasion of Iraq by allied forces on the narrative of Saddam having weapons of mass destruction? Sadly, they were never found, and those forces who created this narrative knew all along that they were nonexistent, but weapons had to be purchased from the arms lobby and kickbacks had to be earned to fight forthcoming elections, so it was fair game.
No
country fights the narrative war as good as China does. It's TikTok app is both
addictive and a very subtle but effective tool to build a narrative in favour
of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). So much so that according to a report in
Financial Times public opinion among Taiwanese youth has dramatically changed
in favour of submission to the mainland and the CCP. So now, among the youth of
Taiwan, the fire of Independence is almost extinguished. Taiwanese social
scientists blame TikTok for this. But, what could be possibly wrong if the CCP
is peacefully persuading the young Taiwanese people the merits of
reunification? Is it not better than mounting a combined sea and air invasion?
Russia
does it in its own style and one of the most well-known instances of state
interference in democratic processes in recent years is the Russian
interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favour of the Republican
candidate, Donald J. Trump. The
details of Russian activities in the 2016 U.S. presidential election were
documented in the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) conducted a
complex social media campaign with a so-called “information warfare” approach
to manipulate (online) public discourse to benefit the campaign of Trump. It
also coordinated cyber intrusions into the computer infrastructure of Hillary
Clinton’s campaign as well as other institutions of the Democratic Party
related to the campaign, stealing and the leaking internal campaign information.
Other
notable examples of the interference in democratic decision-making processes
with disinformation include the “Brexit” referendum in the United Kingdom (UK)
in 2016, the French presidential and Kenyan general elections of 2017, the
Brazilian general elections in 2018 and 2022. Publications like Sputnik and
Russia Today legitimize the Kremlin’s agenda and defend the Russian state by
manipulating discourses about Russia in foreign media landscapes. Span does the
same for the U.S. Disinformation and its effects continuously threaten liberal
democratic systems worldwide. Disinformation is a pivotal tactic within
cognitive warfare
What
havoc social media can bring can be clearly seen in Bangladesh. The American
deep state orchestrated a bloody power struggle and the minorities have become
cannon fodder. Similar attempts have been made in many Latin American
countries. In the Eastern European countries a game of competing
narratives, one American and one Russian is in full display. Their freedom to
think is being threatened by big tech. Their cognitive security is being
seriously challenged and their national security is in jeopardy. The affluent Western
European countries are not immune either. American big platform owners like Elon
Musk and Jeff Bezos are openly interfering in their elections and building
opinion in favour of right wing politicians in U.K, Germany and France, who are
synchronous with Trump.
India is an old target
Information
warfare is a two prong attack - cyber warfare or hacking machines and software
and cognitive warfare or hacking minds. India was smart to pick up this hidden
agenda of TikTok and banning it in 2020 was a small price to pay to protect the
sovereignty of the impressionable minds of our youth. The smart use of
information to influence decisions in order to achieve a political objective
without using physical force is both effective and relatively covert. This is
routinely happening in India. Who do you think is financing the farmer’s unrest
in Delhi border? What is the source of funding of Shaheen Bagh and PFI? Why
does CCP fund Rajiv Gandhi Foundation? Who funds that Naxal movement for so many
decades? These are the job of sleeper cells of our enemies across the borders. They
have been created by hacking the minds of vulnerable young men and women, who
have been made to believe, by a false narrative, that they are victims of
atrocity and they are being exploited and crushed by the Indian state. Pakistan
has for last seven decades told the Kashmiris that they are victims of
fictitious miseries inflicted upon them by the India and by killing those who
don’t subscribe to their faith they are executing God’s justice!. This is the
strength of a false narrative, and fighting it has not been easy.
Cognitive
security, protecting our thinking from being influenced, without our consent,
is surely related to national security and acting against it is the duty of
every responsible government. Our media companies have to think independently,
keeping our national interest their top most priority. If they fall prey to
this cognitive attack of rich media barons they will end up selling out our
autonomy. The platform owners of X, Facebook, Telegram are very powerful opinion
makers and narrative creators. They have a monopoly over timeliness algorithms
and their opacity is already a cause of concern. With Chinese companies like
TikTok and DeepSeek it is even worse as China mandates its private companies by
law to serve as instruments of its politics and the CCP ideology. So, it is the
responsibility of every patriotic Indian to call out false narratives and expel
them from our electoral politics.
