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India’s Growing Battle Against Disinformation
Context:
The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Risks Report 2025 has identified misinformation and disinformation as the most significant short-term global threat.
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- According to the WEF, a global risk is any event that can negatively impact a significant portion of the population, global GDP, or natural resources.
- The rapid evolution of AI-generated content, algorithmic biases, and deepening societal divisions are making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction.
Information Disorder in India
- Huge Base of Users: As India approaches 900 million internet users, the country faces heightened vulnerability to misinformation, particularly in the absence of robust policies to counteract disinformation.
- India’s diverse political and social landscape creates a fertile ground for the spread of manipulated narratives, voter influence tactics, and economic disruptions.
- The crisis extends beyond politics, fueling consumer boycotts, economic disputes, and international tensions.
- Public Trust: Public trust in traditional media is waning, allowing political entities and non-state actors to exploit this gap by propagating misleading information.
- With mainstream media credibility declining, citizens increasingly rely on social media for news, often forwarding unverified content shared by family and friends.
- This unchecked circulation of false information has profound implications for national discourse and governance.
- Tech Oligarchy: Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s warning about an emerging “tech oligarchy” underscores the urgency for India to implement policy changes similar to the European Union’s Digital Services Act, aimed at countering disinformation and foreign information manipulation.
Deepening Crisis
- Prominent Uses: Prominent politicians and national political parties in India have been found sharing deepfake content and unverified information, exacerbating the country’s disinformation crisis.
- Disinformation Target: India, as an emerging global power, has long been a target of Chinese disinformation campaigns, particularly since the 2017 Doklam standoff.
- In response, the Indian government banned over 300 Chinese apps, including TikTok, to curb foreign interference.
- Severity of Disinformation: A study conducted by the Indian School of Business and the CyberPeace Foundation highlights the alarming prevalence of political disinformation, which accounts for 46% of misleading content, followed by general misinformation (33.6%) and religious content (16.8%).
- Chinese platforms such as Weibo have actively sought to distort India’s global image, exacerbating geopolitical tensions.
- The potential discontinuation of Meta’s fact-checking partnerships, as seen in the U.S., could further intensify these risks.
- Consequences for Democracy: With India’s youth increasingly exposed to misinformation, the consequences for its democratic and social fabric could be severe.
- The Global Risks Report 2025 also notes that people in high-income nations are generally more concerned about misinformation risks than those in lower-income countries, with some exceptions.
World Economic Forum (WEF)
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international organisation based in Cologny, Switzerland, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab. It serves as a platform for public-private cooperation, bringing together leaders from business, politics, academia, and civil society to address global challenges and shape agendas on economic, social, and environmental issues. The WEF is best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which gathers thousands of influential figures to discuss pressing global issues. The major reports published by WEF are Global Competitiveness Report, Global Gender Gap Report, Global Risks Report, Energy Transition Index (ETI), Global Travel and Tourism Report, Global Cooperation Barometer.
Proposed Measures to Counter Disinformation
- Holistic Measures: To combat the growing crisis, the Global Risks Report 2025 outlines several key recommendations, including upskilling developers working with algorithms, enhancing public awareness and digital literacy, and ensuring accountability through supervisory boards and AI councils to oversee generative AI practices.
- Initiatives such as Shakti – India Election Fact-Checking Collective and the Deepfake Analysis Unit played an instrumental role in tackling misinformation during the 2024 general elections.
- Leveraging the Market: India, with nearly 400 million Facebook users and over 500 million WhatsApp users, represents the largest market for social media platforms.
- This market power can be leveraged to push major tech firms toward implementing stronger policies against disinformation.
- Measures such as risk assessments for Very Large Online Platforms (those with over 45 million users), inspired by the EU’s Digital Services Act, could enhance digital accountability.
- Balanced Approach: However, a balanced approach is necessary to avoid unintended consequences such as increased surveillance, which could undermine democratic freedoms.
- The WEF report highlights censorship and surveillance as additional global risks that must be addressed alongside misinformation.
- Risk Assessments: Regulatory bodies should mandate periodic risk assessments for social media platforms and allocate funding to advance cybersecurity research and innovation.
- Transparent content moderation policies must be implemented to mitigate the spread of misleading content that threatens public health, safety, or democracy, while ensuring non-discriminatory enforcement.
- Funding: Online advertisements must disclose funding sources and targeted audiences to prevent malicious actors from manipulating public perception.
- Awareness: Public awareness initiatives, such as the Reserve Bank of India’s Financial Literacy Campaign featuring Amitabh Bachchan, should be expanded to promote critical thinking and societal resilience against misinformation.
- Civil Society: Collaboration among civil society groups, fact-checkers, and regulators is essential to create evidence-based policies for maintaining information integrity.
- Independent Research: Additionally, independent research on disinformation and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) should be supported through dedicated funding and legislative safeguards for journalists.
