Disinfo Lab has published reports alleging misinformation conspiracies by global Islamic groups and billionaire George Soros. It denies ties to the government, says run by those “who had met in an anti-corruption political movement” and were concerned about “the massive disinformation targeted at India to sow divisions”.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — An organisation targeting US-based critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was set up and is being run by an officer of India’s top spy agency, the Washington Post has claimed.
Disinfo Lab has published lengthy reports and social media posts, claiming to reveal the personal relationships and funding sources behind Prime Minister Modi’s US-based critics.
The organisation was created in mid-2020 by Lt. Col. Dibya Satpathy, a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence officer, the report said.
Satapthy has “worked to shape international perceptions of India” and met with Western journalists and under aliases to seek “favourable coverage of India or critical coverage of its adversaries, Pakistan and China,” the Post reported.
The report quoted three people familiar with the operation as saying that Satapathy has “worked to shape international perceptions of India, said the report. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence activities, it added.
The Washington Post, after reviewing “100,000 reposts of Disinfo Lab content on X” wrote that Disinfo Lab “combined fact-based research with unsubstantiated claims to paint US government figures, researchers, humanitarian groups and Indian American rights activists as part of a conspiracy, purportedly led by global Islamic groups and billionaire George Soros, to undermine India.”
The news report records how these allegations went viral on Indian social media “after they were amplified by pro-Modi influencers, who at times used the group’s findings to validate their own positions. Its reports have been cited by Indian officials on television and presented on Capitol Hill.”
The Disinfo Lab “does not disclose its affiliation, describing itself on its website as a ‘separate legal entity’ that seeks to offer ‘completely unbiased research.’”
Over the past five years, the newspaper records how “social media researchers have uncovered large Indian online networks that promote the BJP’s foreign policy positions to domestic and foreign audiences.” Coordinated social media accounts have been found to play a role, for instance, in spreading identical posts in support of Russia, an important supplier of weapons and energy to India, and of Israel, an increasingly close partner.
Satpathy is said to have met “Western journalists and commentators under fake identities — including his preferred alias, Shakti, meaning “power” in Hindi — and sought favourable coverage of India or critical coverage of its adversaries, Pakistan and China, according to five additional people who have had contact with Satpathy.”
The Disinfo Lab though, denies any connection with the government,
“We are in no form associated with any govt agency, nor with any of its personnel. Nor are we associated with any other organisation — Indian or international”, they told the Post. It said it was created by individuals “who had met in an anti-corruption political movement” and were concerned about “the massive disinformation targeted at India to sow divisions in society.”
On X, the Disinfo Lab called the Washington Post article a “barely disguised revenge piece”.
“The Indian right-wing is a new player that has arrived on the world stage and wants to shape global discussion,” Joyojeet Pal, a professor of information at the University of Michigan who studies disinformation in India is quoted by Washington Post as saying. “So far, much of it is done in the same way it’s done within India — through crude, blunt force. But it’s getting smarter.”
The Disinfo Lab has emerged as “one of the more sophisticated players,” it avers as in “28 reports it has published so far, the organisation has often painted a picture of an India under attack by a sprawling “nexus” of conspirators funded by Pakistani intelligence, the Muslim Brotherhood and Soros.”
The Washington Post reports of the influential retweeters, end up giving “the Disinfo Lab a stamp of authority and, some of its targets say, boost its ability to intimidate individuals overseas”, when in effect it is allegedly connected with “India’s intelligence operation.”
Sumit Ganguly, an expert on Indian diplomacy and national security at Indiana University at Bloomington in the US, told the newspaper that undermining foreign governments and their officials is “routine” work for all intelligence agencies. But, he is quoted as saying, if Indian intelligence is “besmirching American critics and civil society organisations, it would be crossing a line reminiscent of KGB tactics during the Cold War,” he said. “It would be part and parcel of the Modi government’s attitude toward dissent, whether at home or abroad.”
