advertisement
The controversial visit by several Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to Kashmir and their meeting with PM Modi is linked to a network of 265 fake local media sites run by an Indian influence group, uncovered a European NGO that researches disinformation campaigns.
The report states that the fake media outlets have ties to a large network of think tanks, NGOs and companies from the Srivastava Group, the same group that had come under scrutiny over the Modi-MEPs meet.
The IP address of the Srivastava Group is also home to the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (IINS), the organisation that reportedly sponsored the visits of the MEPs to India to meet Modi. That the IINS was going to sponsor the MEPs trip was mentioned by meet organiser Madi Sharma in her invitation emails to the MEPs.
The same IP address is also home to the obscure online media house, ‘New Delhi Times’.
The report by EU Disinfo Lab states that through the content on the sites, it is evident that this network was “designed to influence the EU and the UN by repeatedly criticising Pakistan.”
According to the Lab, the network of fake media outlets serve lobbying interests directed at the European Union and the United Nations – all achieved while providing extensive visibility to certain former MEPs and MPs.
Speaking to The Quint, Alexandre Alaphilippe of EU Disinfo Lab explains how they ascertained that the media outlets are fake.
“They have no editors, no original content and are not quoted outside this network. They also present themselves as legitimate newspapers (which they are not). And they are coordinately pushing all the same content at the same time.”
The sites run by the Indian influence group posed as local news sites in places across the world, with site names such as newyorkmorningtelegraph.com, thedublingazette.com and timesofportugal.com.
However, the main focus of these sites was to post content critical of Pakistan, with a concentration of content on Pakistan’s role in the Kashmir conflict, their treatment of minorities within the country, as well as other India-related matters.
EU Disinfo Lab classified the list of over 250 fake media outlets in three different categories. Speaking to The Quint, a representative of the Lab explained the differences between the ‘New’, ‘’Misleading’ and ‘Zombie’ categories as follows:
The EU Disinfo Lab is an NGO “focused on researching and tackling sophisticated disinformation campaigns targeting the EU, its member states, core institutions and core values.”
The Lab used Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques to trace the links between the various news outlets on the network. It started with digging into a site by the name of eptoday.com.
EU DisinfoLab discovered that EP Today is managed by Indian stakeholders, with ties to a large network of think tanks, NGOs and companies from the Srivastava Group.
That, in turn, led them to come across timesofgeneva.com – an online “newspaper” that is “approaching 35 years in business”. This ‘publication’ also “publishes the same type of content as EP Today and produces videos covering events and demonstrations criticising Pakistan’s role in the Kashmir conflict.”
Next, the Lab “found hard evidence that both EP Today and Times of Geneva have extremely strong ties with a network of NGOs and think tanks.” There were links between website registration addresses, email addresses and domain names.
Digging further into the links led the team at EU Disinfo Lab to 4newsagency.com, another site which brands itself as a “synergy between 4 news agencies from Switzerland, Belgium, Thailand, and Abu Dhabi (UAE)”, with “teams located in 100 countries”.
Responding to the question on why an influence group would want to create such a vast network of fake media outlets, EU Disinfo Lab writes that through an analysis of the network’s content, the following are the objectives that the network could likely be attempting to achieve:
(Note: The Quint has emailed a detailed list of questions to the Srivastava Group. This article will be updated if and when they respond.)
(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on Whatsapp at 9643651818, or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)
Published: 14 Nov 2019,01:05 PM IST