Thread by @TroyCitizen

This thread is about detecting propaganda (thefreedictionary.com/propaganda), especially on Twitter. How it is formulated, how it is spread and how is it pushed. Let's start with what's trending right now - #DoNotArrestAnand

1/

Twitter says that #DoNotArrestAnand is trending. And when you click on the hash tag, you get to see all the tweets that one is making about it. In this particular case you can see a lot of Tweets which basically repeat in unison "It is wrong to arrest Mr. Anand"

2/

Point to be noted: No one knows who this guy is (well, the normal people on Twitter, at least) but it pretty well looks like everyone is angry that he is arrested on Ambedkar Jayanti. Look at the popular tweets about him in the pic attached:

3/

Look at the united voice. Look at the same kind of narrative - that it is a national shame to arrest Mr. Anand on Ambedkar Jayanti.

Two questions arise:

1. Who is Mr. Anand?
2. Why is he being arrested?

Hint 1: No tweet tries to answer any of that!

4/

If you look for more details, you get to know that he is someone who has apparently helped Dalits and people from other backward classes. Well and fine. Still, not much details about why he was arrested. So let's run a web search about it, shall we?

5/

The first link that comes up about him is: indianexpress.com/article/india/…

Indian Express reporting that his anticipatory bail was denied by SC (Supreme Court). Whoa. Must be serious, no?

The article indicates that he had already applied for Bail in High Court. So it IS serious!

6/

But what is the crime?

Read a little more and you find that he has been "charged under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)". ookkkkaaaayyyy!!!

Hint 2: Why is no one talking about this on Twitter's trending tweets list?

7/

Let's come back to the date and time. This tweet is trending on April 13th. The Ambedkar Jayanti is on April 14th. So one thing is clear so far - he is not arrested yet!

Hint 3: Why is it trending all of a sudden before his arrest when not many people know about him?

8/

Also notice the time - It is about 7 PM here in India. Which means that it is about 7 AM in USA (+- 3 Hours depending on the coast). This timing is important.

The people in US have got a negative view of India and they think that Indian government is a fascist one.

9/

The larger view that most of the people in west get is that the media in India is driven by the ruling party and they control everything. Twitter trends like these help shape that narrative. How? Because when they (western ppl) wake up and check twitter, what do they see?

10/

They see a view of India which is fascist, lacks spine, lacks democracy and @narendramodi
looks like a dictator. We all know how far it is from truth!

So all of this (at least the #DoNotArrestAnand trend) misaligns India's image to the rest of the world.

11/

Remember - it is for supporting someone who is accused of doing unlawful activities, has not yet been arrested and is not known in general by most people. Does that look like a desperate move to make this news trend?

12/

So let's sum up what propaganda is:

1. Twitter trend with a singular voice/opinion.
2. All of a sudden, out of timeline and context!!
3. Incomplete details in tweets.
4. Timed for skewing the image in front of someone.

13/

What can we do about it? For a retaliation, probably nothing - not at least unless we can also post 18K tweets in 3 hours which is difficult.

What we can do though is to

1. Keep our minds open
2. Search and fill in the missing parts to make a complete picture.

14/

3. Tell others (on the same platform, e.g. Twitter) about the full information that we have on the subject
4. Teach others about doing basic research and not believe in trends blindly.

That's all for now.

Will come with more info on other things later.

Over and out.

15/15

Here is the image (which I forgot to attach)