The report by civil rights groups identifies at least 87 accounts linked to shadow advertisers likely associated with the BJP running ads containing communal, divisive, hate and fear-mongering content
Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — social media giant Meta allowed pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pages to run advertisements on its platforms Facebook and Instagram branding Muslims as “rapists”, “criminals” and “Love Jihadis” ahead of elections in the eastern state of Jharkhand, a report has revealed.
The report titled ‘Jharkhand’s Shadow Politics: How Meta Permits, Profits From, and Promotes Shadow Political Advertisements’ was released by the civil rights groups Dalit Solidarity Forum, Hindus for Human Rights, India Civil Watch International, Indian American Muslim Council and Tech Justice Law Project on Wednesday.
The report identified at least 87 accounts linked to shadow advertisers likely associated with the BJP running ads containing communal, divisive, hate, fear-mongering content in the run-up to assembly elections in Jharkhand. Shadow political advertising, which is undisclosed spending on behalf of a political candidate or party is disallowed by Indian law.
“Badlega Jharkhand (Facebook Page) with only 28.8K followers on Instagram and 37.2K followers on Facebook spent 1.4 lakhs in the last one month reaching a minimum of 1 crore people (as defined by impressions) through 340 posts. This shadow account has been showing communally divisive content often showcasing Muslim men as rapists and perpetrators of crimes against women. These ads try to instigate hatred against the Muslim community by repeatedly attacking them as “Love Jihadis”, “criminals”, or carrying out sexual violence towards women,” noted the report.
According to the report, short-form animated videos were found containing communally divisive and fear-mongering content where Hindus wearing orange are shown as running away from a group of men wearing green clothes and caps, employing stereotypes of Muslim attire. Ads with dehumanising images of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, depicted with horns, in clear violation of Meta’s policies, were identified across different pages and used in communal ads around the recent Hindu festival of Diwali.
“Our research identified at least 87 such pages actively purchasing ads on Meta linked to BJP narratives. Taken together, these shadow accounts have spent at least 81.03 lakhs in the last three months, almost the same as the BJP Jharkhand account. Shadow pages have been spending for several months prior, pushing out almost five times the number of ads and receiving almost quadruple the number of impressions as the official BJP Jharkhand page. In other words, one rupee spent by the shadow network is seen by four times as many people as one rupee spent by the BJP Jharkhand page,” it noted.
As per Supreme Court orders, all political advertisements have to be pre-certified by the Election Commission of India. Further, there are strict limits on candidate spending, and content of political ads and quiet periods wherein no political campaigning is allowed. “This is being circumvented by shadow advertisers that are directly or indirectly linked to political parties,” it revealed.
The report found that shadow advertisers on Meta are giving BJP a huge boost — in spending, timing, content and reach. While the official page of BJP Jharkhand is using political ads to highlight issues related to government programmes and electoral promises, the network of shadow accounts is engaged in posting communally divisive content and attack ads.
As per the report, Meta claims to have strict verification for political advertisers. However, the verification information provided in the disclaimer for these shadow pages appears to be junk. Researchers tried the mobile number on different days at different times and found it always switched off. Other necessary transparency requirements such as the website address is missing and the address mentioned in the profiles are generic and cannot be pinpointed on a map.
“Despite repeated evidence brought to Meta on the presence of shadow political advertisers in violation of India’s electoral laws and Meta’s own community guidelines, these pages are allowed to operate in plain sight,” it pointed out.
Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren took note of the report and questioned the Election Commission for allowing the BJP to destroy democracy.
“@ECISVEEP Does BJP have a special exemption to destroy democracy? How come you are not taking any action against those who spread hatred? BJP is now spending crores of rupees on social media in its continuous efforts to tarnish my image – let us do that and make them happy,” said Soren on X.
“To mislead the youth, they have spent crores of rupees and created coaching mafias – whose only job is to spread lies, delay exams and mislead people. Now they are bringing people from other states and creating a negative environment against us in Jharkhand,” he added.
