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New Delhi: Within hours of the tragic helicopter crash on 8 December killed Social media accounts linked to Chief of Defense Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 12 others, Pakistan, began spreading conspiracy theories, a UK-based tech company has said with a counter-disinformation analyst.
The purpose of the propaganda campaign – which blamed the Tamil rebels on Nagaland militia groups and even China – was to claim that the crash was not an accident and a conspiracy to kill India’s top-ranking military officer.
Tech firm Logicaly said that as a result of domestic incidents in India, the practice of promoting misinformation in accounts linked to Pakistan is becoming more common. report good,
Its investigation reveals that several Twitter accounts, apparently from Pakistan, have amplified versions of these conspiracy theories.
a tri-service inquiry The incident is under investigation, and is headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Training Command.
The most popular conspiracy theory was that the helicopter was shot down by “Tamil insurgents”, a term used to refer to the Tamil Eelam or LTTE’s Liberation Tigers, a group that after being defeated by the Sri Lankan army. has been inactive since. in 2009.
“The narrative has been driven primarily by Pakistan-based accounts, apparently to take advantage of the existence of Tamil Eelam supporters in the state of Tamil Nadu”, the report said.
top retweets from pakistan
Gephi network analysis by the company reveals that a bot network of over 480 accounts is attempting to amplify the narratives about Tamil rebels being responsible for the crash.
logically stated in the report. An analysis of AI’s top accounts found that they were all from Pakistan.
“One of the main retweeters, an account named @guldassta, is known to tweet at least 244 times a day at roughly the same time each day, a sign of automated activity,” it said. It said that Pakistan is known to use social media to target its opponents and further its political agenda.
logically. AI was East In July this year exposed a propaganda network based in Pakistan spreading polarizing narratives about the Mizoram-Assam border conflict.
In June of this year, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced that it has lowered down 40 Facebook accounts, 25 pages, six groups and 28 Instagram accounts are based in Pakistan.
a report good by Graphica, a research firm that studies misinformation and analyzes the manipulation of social networks, said: “Key narratives advanced by the network include: praise for Pakistan and its armed forces; denigration of India and Efforts to highlight attacks by Hindu nationalists targeting religious minorities; support for Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan; and boosting the government-backed China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) investment project.
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
Read also: General Rawat Was Not Just A Reformer But A Transformer – A Tribute From An Outspoken Critic
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