Observer Report
Beijing
A report released by a Brussels-based NGO has uncovered an ongoing Indian disinformation campaign launched to discredit nations in conflict with them. The targets in particular are Pakistan but also China to a lesser extent.
The report released in early December said it uncovered two Indian organizations creating and spreading disinformation against China to reinforce anti-China sentiment in India, China Global Television (CGTN) reported.
Titled Indian Chronicles, the report was released on December 9 by EU DisinfoLab, an independent non-profit organization focused on tracking sophisticated disinformation campaigns.
The report named Srivastava Group (SG), an Indian holding company, and Asian News International (ANI), India’s largest video news agency, as the operation’s main players.
Since 2005, SG has published fake news on hundreds of fake media outlets to reinforce pro-Indian and anti-Chinese feelings in India, according to the report.
Last year, EU DisinfoLab researchers reportedly uncovered 265 pro-Indian sites operating across 65 countries, and traced them back to the New Delhi-based SG.
The report described how fake media websites and NGOs run by SG lobbied members of the European Parliament to write op-eds taking pro-India stances, often against China, which were then published on the SG’s news websites.
ANI then disseminated and repackaged the fake news or op-eds to multiply the repetition of online negative content about China, according to the report. The disinformation is ongoing, according to the report, which adds that the operation’s mission is to discred.
