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| Information Technology Cell overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Information Technology Cell |
| Jurisdiction | India |
| Employees | 5000/5500–6000 approximately |
| National IT Cell Head responsible |
|
| State IT Cell Head responsible |
|
| Parent of the Information Technology Cell | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Child agencies |
|
The Bharatiya Janata Party Information Technology Cell (commonly known as BJP IT Cell or BJP Social Media Cell) is a department of the Indian political party BJP that manages social media campaigns for the party and its members.[1][2][3][4] Amit Malviya has been in charge of the IT Cell since 2015.[5]
According to The Washington Post, 150,000 social media workers spread posts aimed at exploiting the fears of India’s Hindu majority across a vast network of WhatsApp groups.[6]
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the first political party in India to acknowledge and use the power of social media in mobilising public opinion. The Twitter account for senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (then Chief Minister of Gujarat) was created in 2009, while senior Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi waited until 2015 to come to that platform.[7]
The BJP orchestrates online campaigns through its social media cell to intimidate perceived government critics. Sadhavi Khosla, a BJP cyber-volunteer in the BJP IT Cell said that the organisation disseminated misogyny, Islamophobia and hatred. The network of volunteers of BJP take instructions from the BJP IT Cell and two affiliated organisations to troll users who are critical of the BJP. Journalists and Indian film actors are also among their targets.[7]
In November 2015 Aamir Khan, an Indian Muslim actor, expressed concern about rising intolerance in India[8] in response to political events in India that included violent attacks against Muslims and intellectuals, and the absence of swift or strong condemnation from the country's ruling BJP Modi government.[9] Khosla said that BJP responded with an online campaign through its social media cell to intimidate Khan.[7] Khan at the time was a spokesperson for Snapdeal. Modi supporters bombarded the company with orders and later cancelled them, resulting in the company distancing itself from Khan, though a planned boycott of his film at the time, Dangal, by BJP supporters proved unsuccessful.[10]
Derek O'Brien, a member of Parliament had raised the topic of online hate in the Rajya Sabha, India's upper house. He had questioned why Narendra Modi followed cyber-bullies on social media, and said "We are mainstreaming hate". He also asked if the Modi administration would issue an advisory asking government officials to stop following Twitter users that regularly send abusive messages and obscenities. The government did not respond to this request.[7]
In December 2020, Twitter took restrictive action against Amit Malviya, IT Cell in charge, and tagged his posts as 'manipulated media'. This was the first time Twitter took restrictive action against an Indian political personality. Malviya had posted an edited video of an incident from 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest that violated Twitter policy towards fighting the spread of doctored media.[5]
According to the Washington Post, 150,000 social media workers spread posts aimed at exploiting the fears of India’s Hindu majority across a vast network of WhatsApp groups.[11]
An investigation by a publicly funded news agency, Newslaundry, revealed the organisational structure of the IT Cell:
The state IT cell has 25 members in the core team with Rai as its head. Each regional centre had 20 members and a team of 15 handled IT at each of the 92 districts. Seven member teams worked at the block levels. At the regional, district and Assembly level, BJP had approximately 5,000 workers. A separate team of 20 professionals – including technicians, designers, and cartoonists – created the desired content for the party.
JPS Rathore, a member of the UP-BJP's IT Cell described the motives of the organisation as follows:
"Our aim was to capture the mind of the voter. To message them night and day. Whenever they look, they should see us, hear our message. (Humari rajniti thi ki chunav ke pehle voter ke dimag ko capture kar lo. Subeh–shaam message bhejo. Jab dekhe, humara chehra dekhe, humari baat sune)”[12]
The Indian Express reported that Amit Malviya, the head of the IT Cell, admitted that the NaMo TV channel was run by the IT Cell.[13]
Another 2021 article describes the "Hindu Ecosystem" (as described by Kapil Mishra whose group was infiltrated by Newslaundry journalists) and its methodology. Mishra tweeted a Google forms link (which is still active and can be accessed from the original article) asking for details such as the name, mobile number and email-ID of the respondents, calling them to join the Hindu Ecosystem. It also asked the respondents for 'Any Special area of interest (sic)' such as 'Gauraksha, Gauseva, Fight Love Jihad, Ghar Wapasi, Halal, Mandir Nirmal, Hindu Ekta, Sewa in general etc (sic).'[14]
A Telegram group of over 20,000 people was created who work 'in an organised fashion'. There was a 'Twitter Team' with 5000 members. Most of the volunteers joining these groups were male and had upper caste surnames. Topics were shared every week with documents full of 'sample tweets' -- hyperlinks to typed tweets with which all the sender had to do was send the completed tweet. Volunteers were instructed to send the tweets at a specific time in order to artificially brew a Twitter storm with the sheer number of tweets from the WhatsApp and Telegram groups. Common BJP talking points were thus propagated aggressively across social media.
Several 'toolkits' full of (inaccurate) information attacking China or Islam were shared, with instructions on how to present and disseminate the shared information. Sub groups were created where content was compiled and talking-points were generated about certain topics, and days were designated for the generation of content on specific days to propagate online. PDF files running into hundreds of pages full of posts were used as social media posts to drown out dissenting opinions.