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I Am a Troll
Social media in India is awash with right-wing trolls who incite online communal tension and abuse, and sexually harass journalists, opposition politicians and anyone who questions them. But who are they? Why do they do what they do? And how are they organized? In this explosive investigation conducted over two years and including interviews with top politicians, bureaucrats, marketeers and trolls, Swati Chaturvedi finally lifts the veil over this murky subject. Riveting, urgent and deeply shocking, I Am a Troll is an essential read.]
139 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
February 6, 2017
The quality of writing may not be that great. But the presentation of the shocking reality is alarming.
India is for the first time witnessing a right wing government with full majority. This government came to power riding on the right wing fancies and incessant chants of promises (of development). Now, that it is in power, it wants to prove that it is true to is promises. But the facts and the quality of administration are far from it. Subsequently when someone points them out, in stead of taking them as constructive criticisms, the government is keen on silencing the crier. Among many other ways, the social network goondaism is the preferred mode. The criticism usually comes from journalists and opposition party members. And most of them are in social media. So as soon as a person voices out, there are hordes of trolls who use abusive, threatening messages and sex filled images. So a female journalist is threatened with rape threat with lecherous images. The shocking fact is that these trolls are employed 24 X 7 by the ruling party. The Prime minister of India and other Government ministers follow most of these trolls. By the way, I forgot to add in the beginning that India is a democracy. Sad time ahead for the country.
India is for the first time witnessing a right wing government with full majority. This government came to power riding on the right wing fancies and incessant chants of promises (of development). Now, that it is in power, it wants to prove that it is true to is promises. But the facts and the quality of administration are far from it. Subsequently when someone points them out, in stead of taking them as constructive criticisms, the government is keen on silencing the crier. Among many other ways, the social network goondaism is the preferred mode. The criticism usually comes from journalists and opposition party members. And most of them are in social media. So as soon as a person voices out, there are hordes of trolls who use abusive, threatening messages and sex filled images. So a female journalist is threatened with rape threat with lecherous images. The shocking fact is that these trolls are employed 24 X 7 by the ruling party. The Prime minister of India and other Government ministers follow most of these trolls. By the way, I forgot to add in the beginning that India is a democracy. Sad time ahead for the country.
February 10, 2017
Earlier, when I used to hear the term "Troll", I used to think about this guy ->
Now, I think about this guy ->
The second category Trolls are more dangerous than the first category. Cause, in a fight, you might have a chance to win against the first one, but, by any chance you encounter the second type, my advice is to RUN. None of the weapons you are proud of - your wit, your logical reasons, your sarcasms, your retorts would work. Better you run away.
And now coming to this book by Swati Chaturvedi, "I am Troll", I would say it falls short in many counts.
First, it is very poorly written.
Second, the author calls it as the biggest investigation in her journalistic career. But after "two years of research and countless interviews," the content sadly is probably not even worth the cover story of a popular weekly.
Third, it doesn't try to go deep in details of the subject - the motivation, the psyche, the impact and repercussions etc. Its treatment of the subject appeared very superficial, and I got little irritated by the repetition of the point that many of the popular trolls are followed by PM.
Finally, though the author makes it clear in the cover of the book that it is going to only "expose the secret world of the BJP's digital army", but I expected at least the author to discuss a little bit about the generic issues associated with trolling.
As much as I hate abusive trolls, this book didn't add much to that hatred, nor it gave me much insights to the dark world of Trolling.
I was going through the reactions of some of the "trolls" mentioned in the book in twitter and they have all said the same thing - "We are not paid, we do it because we 'believe'."
I would suggest - take the advice from this guy ->
Else what is the point?
Now, I think about this guy ->
The second category Trolls are more dangerous than the first category. Cause, in a fight, you might have a chance to win against the first one, but, by any chance you encounter the second type, my advice is to RUN. None of the weapons you are proud of - your wit, your logical reasons, your sarcasms, your retorts would work. Better you run away.
And now coming to this book by Swati Chaturvedi, "I am Troll", I would say it falls short in many counts.
First, it is very poorly written.
Second, the author calls it as the biggest investigation in her journalistic career. But after "two years of research and countless interviews," the content sadly is probably not even worth the cover story of a popular weekly.
Third, it doesn't try to go deep in details of the subject - the motivation, the psyche, the impact and repercussions etc. Its treatment of the subject appeared very superficial, and I got little irritated by the repetition of the point that many of the popular trolls are followed by PM.
Finally, though the author makes it clear in the cover of the book that it is going to only "expose the secret world of the BJP's digital army", but I expected at least the author to discuss a little bit about the generic issues associated with trolling.
As much as I hate abusive trolls, this book didn't add much to that hatred, nor it gave me much insights to the dark world of Trolling.
I was going through the reactions of some of the "trolls" mentioned in the book in twitter and they have all said the same thing - "We are not paid, we do it because we 'believe'."
I would suggest - take the advice from this guy ->
Else what is the point?
December 28, 2016
Some books aren't a work of art or literature and still deserve credit for the bravery it required to write them. This is one of those books, it's incredible and scary at the same time.
Story of a new era, an abusive era, an era of trolls and their masters controlling them.
Story of a new era, an abusive era, an era of trolls and their masters controlling them.
November 12, 2018
Nothing new here for anyone who's even remotely acquainted with Twitter and its vicious trolls. I was expecting insightful character studies on what makes these trolls tick but the book fails on that count. Also, this hardly qualifies as an investigation since most of the material was already available in the public domain.
December 13, 2019
When you cant able to answer questions of public in social media. They become "troll" for congress(now for every party). Congress need to start owning their shit. You cant just run away by calling them trolls or Bhakts. After all congress have ruled India for almost 60 years.
January 4, 2017
Bizarre! Swati is psycho personified. Her absolute insanity reflects in her tweets, imagine her book! She should seek some help! No one this insane should be out without medical attention.
December 28, 2016
This was answer to all my political queries (social media ) . To the point no bullshit . Actual social media of India has been described . If too much of politics on Facebook whatsapp twitter is bothering you , find all your answers . Tried searching for all the facts used , found all of them to be correct . Much application.
November 10, 2017
BJP, the party which rules India now, was active in the country’s political arena for a long time under different guises. However, its rise to power was nothing less than meteoric. From just two seats in the 545-member Lower House of the Parliament in 1984, it briefly assumed power just twelve years later. The renaissance of the party was facilitated by two major events that upped the heat in the nation’s political discourse – the Shah Bano controversy and the Ram Temple issue at Ayodhya. In the former, the Congress party’s government amended the laws of the land to overrule a Supreme Court judgment which directed a Muslim husband to pay alimony to his divorced and aged wife. The bigotry and intolerance sparked by the Muslim intelligentsia opened the eyes of the country towards the perils of unbridled minority appeasement to garner a few votes of the community who mostly voted en masse as instructed by the clerics. As a response to this, demands to build a Ram Temple at Ayodhya came to the fore. The temple was to be built at a site where a mosque stood, which was thought to have been erected after pulling down a temple that graced the location prior to it. Riding on a wave of popularity and disgust at the policy of appeasement, the BJP rose to power in a spectacular way. Social media also helped the party to achieve its goals. BJP was the first party to understand the power of social media and the Internet. They set up the party website way back in 1995, whereas the Congress came up with one only in 2005, a decade later. Modi was active in Twitter from 2009 onwards, but Rahul Gandhi followed suit only in 2015. The party was compelled to rely on the social media as it was mostly excluded by the mainstream media. Swati Chaturvedi is a journalist and attempts to focus attention on the highhanded ways in which BJP’s digital brigade is faring on Twitter. With a string of interviews and screenshots of tweets, she tries to expose some of the unsavoury details of the digital battles the party wages against its opponents.
The Internet is a chaotic place where even otherwise gentle folk turn aggressive, capitalizing on the supposed anonymity of the medium. This leads to immoderate replies and comments which are sometimes highly offensive. The mandatory rules that regulate decent behavior allow a victim to alert the authorities against stalking or foul language. But still, there are trolls and abusive messages which narrowly stay clear of the threshold, but upset the victim to no end. Journalists are always at the receiving end of this digital tirade. Nonetheless, the author misrepresents hard criticism as abuse. There is no doubt that genuine abusers must be punished and some samples presented in the text do deserve it. But, her accusation on the entire BJP social media team is a case of ridiculous over-reaction. We should also keep in mind that Chaturvedi herself is also in the accused dock on a defamation suit filed by Tajinder Bagga, who was a spokesman of the BJP, for using slanderous language. She takes up arms against trolls who are persons who saw discord on the Internet by starting arguments (by the author’s definition) or upsetting people by posting inflammatory comments and images. They are declared to be the goons of the online world. The author admits that members of the Aam Admi Party also do their share of trash talk by regularly making topics like ‘Modi and Madhuri’, and ‘Modi’s Snoopgate’ (p.38). An instance of Arvind Kejriwal himself attacking Shekhar Gupta, a former editor of the Indian Express, by calling him a ‘dalal’ (broker) of the Congress is described in the book. The truth of the matter is that all parties indulge in such underhand deals, but the author singles out the BJP to take all the blame.
Chaturvedi’s criticism of her opponents is severe and often stoops to the level of mocking the physical features of people the authors imagine being BJP supporters. She haughtily declares that these people have poor or negligible English speaking skills, are extremely frustrated that they are unable to communicate their views about Muslims and their plan to destroy the country. These people are usually clad in standard issue Allen Solly trousers with a potbelly (Oh! That was a punch below the belt!) and a checked shirt toting a black plastic laptop bag. She arrogantly blurts out that you’d never take a second look at these guys! The interviews presented in the book with people who have worked for the BJP must be fictitious accounts meeting all the prejudices of the liberal media about such people such as right-wing fanaticism and lack of education – like the ubiquitous snake charmers you often come across in western accounts of India. Even the practice of teaching English and Hindi in a few of the organized rural shakhas are also arraigned as brainwashing.
The Left Liberal elite in India are a pampered lot. They sit at the top of the social pyramid on all parameters of affluence – financial, casteist and educational. They scoff at people who cross them or don’t follow their dogma, but none should return or reply to their assault. Even the mildest censure or reprimand would drive them to maniacal rage who’d then accuse their rivals of harbouring intolerance. The author looks askance at the derogatory term ‘sickular presstitutes’ coined to poke the leftist media. The book somehow treats the Dalits as a separate community like the Muslims, in a case of historical déjà vu of the 1930s as a prelude to the demands to partition the country which claimed that both were being dominated by other Hindus. Some of the reports cited in the book are verbatim copies of paid online news channels. She even quotes a tweet by the dreaded Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed made against the BJP to buttress her argument.
The book is a failed attempt that is entirely lopsided and shamelessly partisan. It has no relation at all to popular opinion and the author preposterously assume that a few tweets engineered by the BJP’s social media cell tweaked the results of the 2014 general elections that put Modi in power. Chaturvedi includes reproductions of obscene messages she and other journalists have received in the book. This is highly objectionable. Her naivety in convincing herself that popular sentiment in India can be so easily swayed by Twitter reveals the fragile make-believe world these left liberal elite inhabit. This book is claimed to be the biggest investigation she has done in her career spanning two years after countless interviews. However, the narrative is too shallow and biased that we can conclude it to be a wasted opportunity.
The book is recommended though you can finish it in just under an hour.
The Internet is a chaotic place where even otherwise gentle folk turn aggressive, capitalizing on the supposed anonymity of the medium. This leads to immoderate replies and comments which are sometimes highly offensive. The mandatory rules that regulate decent behavior allow a victim to alert the authorities against stalking or foul language. But still, there are trolls and abusive messages which narrowly stay clear of the threshold, but upset the victim to no end. Journalists are always at the receiving end of this digital tirade. Nonetheless, the author misrepresents hard criticism as abuse. There is no doubt that genuine abusers must be punished and some samples presented in the text do deserve it. But, her accusation on the entire BJP social media team is a case of ridiculous over-reaction. We should also keep in mind that Chaturvedi herself is also in the accused dock on a defamation suit filed by Tajinder Bagga, who was a spokesman of the BJP, for using slanderous language. She takes up arms against trolls who are persons who saw discord on the Internet by starting arguments (by the author’s definition) or upsetting people by posting inflammatory comments and images. They are declared to be the goons of the online world. The author admits that members of the Aam Admi Party also do their share of trash talk by regularly making topics like ‘Modi and Madhuri’, and ‘Modi’s Snoopgate’ (p.38). An instance of Arvind Kejriwal himself attacking Shekhar Gupta, a former editor of the Indian Express, by calling him a ‘dalal’ (broker) of the Congress is described in the book. The truth of the matter is that all parties indulge in such underhand deals, but the author singles out the BJP to take all the blame.
Chaturvedi’s criticism of her opponents is severe and often stoops to the level of mocking the physical features of people the authors imagine being BJP supporters. She haughtily declares that these people have poor or negligible English speaking skills, are extremely frustrated that they are unable to communicate their views about Muslims and their plan to destroy the country. These people are usually clad in standard issue Allen Solly trousers with a potbelly (Oh! That was a punch below the belt!) and a checked shirt toting a black plastic laptop bag. She arrogantly blurts out that you’d never take a second look at these guys! The interviews presented in the book with people who have worked for the BJP must be fictitious accounts meeting all the prejudices of the liberal media about such people such as right-wing fanaticism and lack of education – like the ubiquitous snake charmers you often come across in western accounts of India. Even the practice of teaching English and Hindi in a few of the organized rural shakhas are also arraigned as brainwashing.
The Left Liberal elite in India are a pampered lot. They sit at the top of the social pyramid on all parameters of affluence – financial, casteist and educational. They scoff at people who cross them or don’t follow their dogma, but none should return or reply to their assault. Even the mildest censure or reprimand would drive them to maniacal rage who’d then accuse their rivals of harbouring intolerance. The author looks askance at the derogatory term ‘sickular presstitutes’ coined to poke the leftist media. The book somehow treats the Dalits as a separate community like the Muslims, in a case of historical déjà vu of the 1930s as a prelude to the demands to partition the country which claimed that both were being dominated by other Hindus. Some of the reports cited in the book are verbatim copies of paid online news channels. She even quotes a tweet by the dreaded Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed made against the BJP to buttress her argument.
The book is a failed attempt that is entirely lopsided and shamelessly partisan. It has no relation at all to popular opinion and the author preposterously assume that a few tweets engineered by the BJP’s social media cell tweaked the results of the 2014 general elections that put Modi in power. Chaturvedi includes reproductions of obscene messages she and other journalists have received in the book. This is highly objectionable. Her naivety in convincing herself that popular sentiment in India can be so easily swayed by Twitter reveals the fragile make-believe world these left liberal elite inhabit. This book is claimed to be the biggest investigation she has done in her career spanning two years after countless interviews. However, the narrative is too shallow and biased that we can conclude it to be a wasted opportunity.
The book is recommended though you can finish it in just under an hour.
Read
December 31, 2016The focus of the book is on a topic that is relevant - interactions and conversations on social media (viz. Twitter, Facebook etc) is often fraught with the danger of requiring to deal with waves of vile and unceasing abuse. There has often been a notion that political parties and their organisations are attempting to derive benefit from incessant waves of commentary - often boilerplate, ill-informed and abusive, in order to shape the narrative of a conversation. The "spin" on topics is somewhat easily acquired given that "social media popularity" is gauged by re-tweets, likes and such measures of clout. The problem I have with the book is that it seems "rushed-into-print". It doesn't help that the publishers et al have also used the same structural principles of social media to position this book (it isn't really a "book" sized write-up) as the answer to the questions. The upside is that conversations as recorded in the book helps provide a number of lines of thought - and enables one to look at the "social media championship" in a more critical manner than before.
April 27, 2019
Surprising things I learnt from this book :-
A) BJP has an IT cell that trends social media with messages.
B) The trolls are abusive.
C) Some of the “trolls” are followed by the PM.
And above all that this book is the result of a 2-year long investigation :P Khoda pahad nikla chooha !
I hope that this terrible abusing and targetting by trolls will soon knock some sense into social-media companies and they will disallow anonymous accounts. Similarly, Whatsapp forwards should carry the name of the person who created that message originally.
Having said that, as far as mainstream media is concerned, I share the frustrations of the “trolls”. Just as any1 who questions the establishment today is “anti-national”, any1 who questions left-liberals is “communal” and “anti-Muslim/Dalit”. So, I do hope that the mainstream media realises that the greater responsibility of being truthful, plural and tolerant of opinions is on it and not the trolls.
A) BJP has an IT cell that trends social media with messages.
B) The trolls are abusive.
C) Some of the “trolls” are followed by the PM.
And above all that this book is the result of a 2-year long investigation :P Khoda pahad nikla chooha !
I hope that this terrible abusing and targetting by trolls will soon knock some sense into social-media companies and they will disallow anonymous accounts. Similarly, Whatsapp forwards should carry the name of the person who created that message originally.
Having said that, as far as mainstream media is concerned, I share the frustrations of the “trolls”. Just as any1 who questions the establishment today is “anti-national”, any1 who questions left-liberals is “communal” and “anti-Muslim/Dalit”. So, I do hope that the mainstream media realises that the greater responsibility of being truthful, plural and tolerant of opinions is on it and not the trolls.
February 25, 2017
"With great powers comes great responsibilities"
Probably this must be the popular opinion amongst the recipients of the trolls around the world. And why not since larger the number of people involved towards a common goal, greater is the expectation of responsible behaviour from the clique.
I didn't know who actually a troll is or what does it means to be trolled. A troll is a person who sows discord on the internet by stating arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory comments and images. In general parlance, they can be referred to as the goons of the virtual world. Now just imagine that if someone organises these individual goons under a single umbrella and uses their emotions to fulfil their own means? According to the author, this is what our beloved BJP has been pursuing relentlessly since 2001. One should note that this was much much before the downfall of UPA 2 let alone UPA 1. Ram Madhav, the general secretary of RSS was the first one in the RSS family to raise this issue that social media appears to be the fashion of today but he drew an analogy between social media and refrigerator to elucidate the point to his seniors that whatever is fashion today is gonna be a necessity tomorrow. This head start has given huge political dividends to BJP as we can already see.
In 2014 elections, frustration is an apt word to encapsulate the public opinion regarding the government at that time. People were ready to believe on any promise offered by the opposite party. It was a well known fact after the elections consummated, the landslide was more because of anti-congress sentiments rather than pro-BJP. But what if that this amplifying of the frustrations was the very DNA of the strategy formulated by BJP to come to power? Well this is what actually has happened as it has been revealed lucidly by Sadhvi khosla who was a voluntary SM volunteer who worked day and night to promote the incumbent political party which, in the end, only resulted in her realisation of the sins committed in the process.
Anonymous interviews conducted by the author of the trolls reveals the horrific mentality of people who have been introduced to the social media which, at-least to me, seems nothing short of introducing an AK 47 to a person who is extremely frustrated and finally feels empowered that now he can make a difference now and his voice will be heard. Sad truth is that in their overwhelming will of making a difference in the society doesn't always means to create a positive influence.
I sincerely hope that world won't cascade into the war of throwing scandalous rumours, hate speeches and obscene speeches. But I cannot deny the reality that we will be able to stay immune to it only when we are aware of it. That's why I just won't ask everyone to read this just because it's an exceptional read but the relevance and need of reading it now, is more than ever.
Probably this must be the popular opinion amongst the recipients of the trolls around the world. And why not since larger the number of people involved towards a common goal, greater is the expectation of responsible behaviour from the clique.
I didn't know who actually a troll is or what does it means to be trolled. A troll is a person who sows discord on the internet by stating arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory comments and images. In general parlance, they can be referred to as the goons of the virtual world. Now just imagine that if someone organises these individual goons under a single umbrella and uses their emotions to fulfil their own means? According to the author, this is what our beloved BJP has been pursuing relentlessly since 2001. One should note that this was much much before the downfall of UPA 2 let alone UPA 1. Ram Madhav, the general secretary of RSS was the first one in the RSS family to raise this issue that social media appears to be the fashion of today but he drew an analogy between social media and refrigerator to elucidate the point to his seniors that whatever is fashion today is gonna be a necessity tomorrow. This head start has given huge political dividends to BJP as we can already see.
In 2014 elections, frustration is an apt word to encapsulate the public opinion regarding the government at that time. People were ready to believe on any promise offered by the opposite party. It was a well known fact after the elections consummated, the landslide was more because of anti-congress sentiments rather than pro-BJP. But what if that this amplifying of the frustrations was the very DNA of the strategy formulated by BJP to come to power? Well this is what actually has happened as it has been revealed lucidly by Sadhvi khosla who was a voluntary SM volunteer who worked day and night to promote the incumbent political party which, in the end, only resulted in her realisation of the sins committed in the process.
Anonymous interviews conducted by the author of the trolls reveals the horrific mentality of people who have been introduced to the social media which, at-least to me, seems nothing short of introducing an AK 47 to a person who is extremely frustrated and finally feels empowered that now he can make a difference now and his voice will be heard. Sad truth is that in their overwhelming will of making a difference in the society doesn't always means to create a positive influence.
I sincerely hope that world won't cascade into the war of throwing scandalous rumours, hate speeches and obscene speeches. But I cannot deny the reality that we will be able to stay immune to it only when we are aware of it. That's why I just won't ask everyone to read this just because it's an exceptional read but the relevance and need of reading it now, is more than ever.
February 7, 2017
First book of 2017.
For someone who observes propaganda in social media, the books works more like a citation. Or in other words, it confirms the fact how badly these political parties are using social media to manipulate propaganda.
For someone who observes propaganda in social media, the books works more like a citation. Or in other words, it confirms the fact how badly these political parties are using social media to manipulate propaganda.
February 9, 2017
- 90 min read.
- All known public facts expressed (nothing new) and did not see any active "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM" the author claims.
- Spend 30 min on twitter instead of reading this book going through tweets from BJP/AAP/Congress supporters you will have more clear and better idea on political twitter trolling in India.
- All known public facts expressed (nothing new) and did not see any active "INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM" the author claims.
- Spend 30 min on twitter instead of reading this book going through tweets from BJP/AAP/Congress supporters you will have more clear and better idea on political twitter trolling in India.
April 17, 2021
Rumour campaigns are their forte. Shocking and scary!!
All of us know a few things about the dark side of Social media in politics. You will able to connect the dots and understand the upcoming big threat. Brave attempt by Shruti!!
This book will change the way you use and perceive social media; especially, Twitter.
All of us know a few things about the dark side of Social media in politics. You will able to connect the dots and understand the upcoming big threat. Brave attempt by Shruti!!
This book will change the way you use and perceive social media; especially, Twitter.
September 27, 2017
Totally one sided book. If you Spend some time on net you trolls from all political parties. There are mainly two types of trolls pro BJP and anti BJP (who are pro some other party). Then why blame BJP only? In fact language of anti Govt trolls in most cases is much more unparliamentary.
August 17, 2017
Story of mainstreaming hate in India.
January 6, 2021
This book was something which was hyped a lot and I somehow was putting off reading it. Finally, I decided to take the plunge.
If you are expecting a deep incisive research on the present and future trends of Technology in the electioneering, how the current ruling dispensation systematically executes and support its online campaigns, its economics etc. or a professional & erudite narration, you will be sorely disappointed. The language and tone is very tabloid like. There are no ground shattering revelations. Most of the facts are in the public domain perhaps because there is a lot of water that has flowed under the bridge after the book was released and there is very little systematic breakdown of data and facts there, beside what we see in the social media transactions. The book only takes couple of hours from cover to cover.
However, the book still is an important document for something which is prevalently seen, but rarely taken with the seriousness it deserves. On that context, the book makes certain important and valid points one has to seriously consider which not only corrects ones perception about the seriousness of the deliberate and systematic violation of the current ruling dispensation, but also points to the danger that this trend being replicated by other parties slowly (oh, they will - there is ample example) that will undermine the state of the democracy and basic constitutional values of our nation.
That is very evident, when not only the avowed supporters but even the casual passive approvers of current dispensation brush the issue every time such large scale & extreme abusive trolling surfaces, by saying that even the opposition is catching up or matching up (which rarely happened in the past but slowly and surely even the opposition is catching up, though nowhere in the scale of the ruling dispensation). Exactly the point.
So, to summarize, let me highlight the points I think one should seriously consider from the book as a response to usual, careless excuses which are thrown these days undermining the seriousness of the issue.
1) Trolling is bad, but these days that is the way of life in social media. Grow up. why complain?
Trolling is something when someone has disagreement with another’s open stand in social media and tries to bait and taunt to frustrate and insult the one who stated his/her views, to either force a give up or worst case, throttle the dissent. It is also not rare that there are some extreme inflammatory comments, pictures and Meme's are posted. Such things are bad but would still happen in public sphere irrespective of which side or what the subject of contention is. In other words, such habitual trolls are nothing but online Goons. Occasionally, even the well meaning and balanced individuals also stray into this territory. This is not about that.
Well then what is the problem, one might ask. The problem is of the impact, scale and systematic deployment of focused, cultivated army of such trolls when any voice of dissent is raised, particularly against the current ruling dispensation and its brotherhood of organizations.
"Mr Modi joined Twitter in 2009 and set up his personal website in February 2005. His party, the BJP, was the first Indian party to understand the power of social media and the Internet. They set up the party website in 1995 and were trained by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who went on to set up Internet shakhas in the early noughties (more on this unusual history later). Contrast this with the Indian National Congress (INC), which set up its official website ten years later in 2005. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi only joined Twitter in 2015. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has a strong presence on social media, came into existence in November 2012. It had registered its website a couple of months earlier, in September."
The following statement makes some important observation with regards to the question. For one RSS and the Party had systematically planned, nurtured and executed such large set of people to do its biding. The one thing that this book presents is the operational rigors of such setup as a permanent tool for its political machinations. This becomes intensified at the extreme level of abuse including concocted lies and blatantly sexual & abusive threats openly served against the dissenters with impunity.
Interestingly it also points to the fact that the engineered inception of AAP as result of this strategy. It is no accident that the whole tirade against corruption where both were hobnobbing, and then certain set of people decided to open their shop elsewhere. One can connect the dots easily.
Further the book also presents a deeper and more ominous evolving trend where this is supported by organized business entities who generate troll messages from fictional accounts.
2) Trolls are few uneducated, disgruntled and unemployed youths who are caught on the false narrative trying to take out on those who they think are reason for their failures.
The book presents a case by case example of the insiders to confirm this. However, it also points to such people being well organized to go behind those pointed by their controllers and being provided with material which is of extreme violent and inciteful nature besides concocted with lies and personal slander or abuse.
Further it also shows how the excesses and violence being incited with these campaigns in a planned manner. For this it presents the case of a former, self-motivated troll who decided to turn against the leadership and expose them for a motive that she says is an atonement for her past after feeling repulsive at the level of bilge being consistently fed and the toll it took on personal life.
Demographically, one might associate such paid trolls to a well-entrenched stereotype of these trolls being from the least developed states with lot of unemployed / unemployable youth like those in the cow belt. The examples in the book point to that.
"Author Chetan Bhagat fleshed out a troll in his column on 11 July 2015 in the Times of India where he described the Modi bhakts as ‘exclusively male’, with ‘weak communication skills, especially in English’, leading to an ‘inferiority complex’. He also said they are ‘generally not good at talking to women’, they do desire women but can’t get them and are therefore ‘sexually frustrated’."
But it does not stop there. What it also shares is that the brains and hatchery of such model were in the most educated belts in the south and west like Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. In fact the project for this, which was incepted and executed by RSS was referred as the 'Chennai Project' ( It was in fact Madurai BTW ) by the Senior RSS man himself tells an even darker picture.
"Ram Madhav is one of the most powerful general secretaries of the BJP. Wearing an Apple watch on his wrist and sitting in front of a wafer–thin Apple computer on his desk, he meets me in his smart office in New Delhi. He is the mastermind of the original Chennai project and smilingly admits to me that it was his idea to build the secret IT shakhas."
"I spoke to one of the original RSS techies from Madurai, Chennai. He was in his late fifties, had studied chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur and spoke fluent Hindi. He was very soft–spoken and his large eyes lit up with mirth as he talked with me. ‘Technology is ideology neutral,’ he told me. ‘I believe in the Sangh’s values so I volunteered the time and trained them. What they do with the training I may not necessarily approve of. But this was our way of countering leftist propaganda, which is equally bad.’"
3)Online Trolling affects just those people who are over-active online. Just those "Online activists". Rarely those in the real world. it has no effect on the field.
This is the disarming comment made not just by the Supporters of the ruling dispensation but even many of the opposition who think their traditional vote bank is not impacted by online battles. Well, that is a big misnomer. Ask those hapless people who were thrashed and killed, after being accused of Cow slaughter or companies like Snapdeal and Myntra who were arm twisted for what was stated as "insult to Hinduism" when they used Hindu Icons in their advertisements. Before you know, even school children can be rounded up on the same basis for using such icons in their Ad based skits which used to be common when we grew up.
4) The current leadership in BJP are extreme as it has to be so to dislodge the dynasts. RSS does not approve that.
Please wake up. The grandfather of this whole scheme is RSS as documented in the final section of the book.
5) So why political parties even those other than the ruling dispensation is slowly warming up to the use of technology and similar armies?
"Former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, whose responsibility it was to ensure fair and regulated elections, had wanted the Election Commission’s (EC) guidelines for the media for politicians and political parties during elections to be extended to social media as well."
"All political parties by law have to declare their media spend to the EC. But you can spend as much as you like on digital media and come under no scrutiny during an election campaign with no questions raised about content either. This explains the increasing focus on social media as the new battleground."
The existing EC guidelines are frequently bypassed, but the intensity still is low as there is a Damocles sword hanging on the head of the parties where the violation if found can be punished. But compare that against online campaign funding not being under EC guideline will be godsend where unspecified amount of money, which in most case be black, can be deployed without official scrutiny. Well that answers why this will be the trend going forward by all parties and online warriors are getting prominence in each party. Combine that with the technologies of AI and automated bots. This is the worst that could happen in a democracy and that will be the death knell for the nation that was.
For those who routinely dismiss such proofs and arguments as left incited, anti-national, anti-Hindu, farfetched or usual detraction etc., please understand this is nothing about being left or right of an argument or a fantasy. The simple fact that the things pointed out in the book is nothing new, lends immense credibility to this as a fact. It is dawn of a nightmare that is slowly unwrapping itself.
If you are expecting a deep incisive research on the present and future trends of Technology in the electioneering, how the current ruling dispensation systematically executes and support its online campaigns, its economics etc. or a professional & erudite narration, you will be sorely disappointed. The language and tone is very tabloid like. There are no ground shattering revelations. Most of the facts are in the public domain perhaps because there is a lot of water that has flowed under the bridge after the book was released and there is very little systematic breakdown of data and facts there, beside what we see in the social media transactions. The book only takes couple of hours from cover to cover.
However, the book still is an important document for something which is prevalently seen, but rarely taken with the seriousness it deserves. On that context, the book makes certain important and valid points one has to seriously consider which not only corrects ones perception about the seriousness of the deliberate and systematic violation of the current ruling dispensation, but also points to the danger that this trend being replicated by other parties slowly (oh, they will - there is ample example) that will undermine the state of the democracy and basic constitutional values of our nation.
That is very evident, when not only the avowed supporters but even the casual passive approvers of current dispensation brush the issue every time such large scale & extreme abusive trolling surfaces, by saying that even the opposition is catching up or matching up (which rarely happened in the past but slowly and surely even the opposition is catching up, though nowhere in the scale of the ruling dispensation). Exactly the point.
So, to summarize, let me highlight the points I think one should seriously consider from the book as a response to usual, careless excuses which are thrown these days undermining the seriousness of the issue.
1) Trolling is bad, but these days that is the way of life in social media. Grow up. why complain?
Trolling is something when someone has disagreement with another’s open stand in social media and tries to bait and taunt to frustrate and insult the one who stated his/her views, to either force a give up or worst case, throttle the dissent. It is also not rare that there are some extreme inflammatory comments, pictures and Meme's are posted. Such things are bad but would still happen in public sphere irrespective of which side or what the subject of contention is. In other words, such habitual trolls are nothing but online Goons. Occasionally, even the well meaning and balanced individuals also stray into this territory. This is not about that.
Well then what is the problem, one might ask. The problem is of the impact, scale and systematic deployment of focused, cultivated army of such trolls when any voice of dissent is raised, particularly against the current ruling dispensation and its brotherhood of organizations.
"Mr Modi joined Twitter in 2009 and set up his personal website in February 2005. His party, the BJP, was the first Indian party to understand the power of social media and the Internet. They set up the party website in 1995 and were trained by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), who went on to set up Internet shakhas in the early noughties (more on this unusual history later). Contrast this with the Indian National Congress (INC), which set up its official website ten years later in 2005. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi only joined Twitter in 2015. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has a strong presence on social media, came into existence in November 2012. It had registered its website a couple of months earlier, in September."
The following statement makes some important observation with regards to the question. For one RSS and the Party had systematically planned, nurtured and executed such large set of people to do its biding. The one thing that this book presents is the operational rigors of such setup as a permanent tool for its political machinations. This becomes intensified at the extreme level of abuse including concocted lies and blatantly sexual & abusive threats openly served against the dissenters with impunity.
Interestingly it also points to the fact that the engineered inception of AAP as result of this strategy. It is no accident that the whole tirade against corruption where both were hobnobbing, and then certain set of people decided to open their shop elsewhere. One can connect the dots easily.
Further the book also presents a deeper and more ominous evolving trend where this is supported by organized business entities who generate troll messages from fictional accounts.
2) Trolls are few uneducated, disgruntled and unemployed youths who are caught on the false narrative trying to take out on those who they think are reason for their failures.
The book presents a case by case example of the insiders to confirm this. However, it also points to such people being well organized to go behind those pointed by their controllers and being provided with material which is of extreme violent and inciteful nature besides concocted with lies and personal slander or abuse.
Further it also shows how the excesses and violence being incited with these campaigns in a planned manner. For this it presents the case of a former, self-motivated troll who decided to turn against the leadership and expose them for a motive that she says is an atonement for her past after feeling repulsive at the level of bilge being consistently fed and the toll it took on personal life.
Demographically, one might associate such paid trolls to a well-entrenched stereotype of these trolls being from the least developed states with lot of unemployed / unemployable youth like those in the cow belt. The examples in the book point to that.
"Author Chetan Bhagat fleshed out a troll in his column on 11 July 2015 in the Times of India where he described the Modi bhakts as ‘exclusively male’, with ‘weak communication skills, especially in English’, leading to an ‘inferiority complex’. He also said they are ‘generally not good at talking to women’, they do desire women but can’t get them and are therefore ‘sexually frustrated’."
But it does not stop there. What it also shares is that the brains and hatchery of such model were in the most educated belts in the south and west like Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. In fact the project for this, which was incepted and executed by RSS was referred as the 'Chennai Project' ( It was in fact Madurai BTW ) by the Senior RSS man himself tells an even darker picture.
"Ram Madhav is one of the most powerful general secretaries of the BJP. Wearing an Apple watch on his wrist and sitting in front of a wafer–thin Apple computer on his desk, he meets me in his smart office in New Delhi. He is the mastermind of the original Chennai project and smilingly admits to me that it was his idea to build the secret IT shakhas."
"I spoke to one of the original RSS techies from Madurai, Chennai. He was in his late fifties, had studied chemical engineering from IIT Kanpur and spoke fluent Hindi. He was very soft–spoken and his large eyes lit up with mirth as he talked with me. ‘Technology is ideology neutral,’ he told me. ‘I believe in the Sangh’s values so I volunteered the time and trained them. What they do with the training I may not necessarily approve of. But this was our way of countering leftist propaganda, which is equally bad.’"
3)Online Trolling affects just those people who are over-active online. Just those "Online activists". Rarely those in the real world. it has no effect on the field.
This is the disarming comment made not just by the Supporters of the ruling dispensation but even many of the opposition who think their traditional vote bank is not impacted by online battles. Well, that is a big misnomer. Ask those hapless people who were thrashed and killed, after being accused of Cow slaughter or companies like Snapdeal and Myntra who were arm twisted for what was stated as "insult to Hinduism" when they used Hindu Icons in their advertisements. Before you know, even school children can be rounded up on the same basis for using such icons in their Ad based skits which used to be common when we grew up.
4) The current leadership in BJP are extreme as it has to be so to dislodge the dynasts. RSS does not approve that.
Please wake up. The grandfather of this whole scheme is RSS as documented in the final section of the book.
5) So why political parties even those other than the ruling dispensation is slowly warming up to the use of technology and similar armies?
"Former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, whose responsibility it was to ensure fair and regulated elections, had wanted the Election Commission’s (EC) guidelines for the media for politicians and political parties during elections to be extended to social media as well."
"All political parties by law have to declare their media spend to the EC. But you can spend as much as you like on digital media and come under no scrutiny during an election campaign with no questions raised about content either. This explains the increasing focus on social media as the new battleground."
The existing EC guidelines are frequently bypassed, but the intensity still is low as there is a Damocles sword hanging on the head of the parties where the violation if found can be punished. But compare that against online campaign funding not being under EC guideline will be godsend where unspecified amount of money, which in most case be black, can be deployed without official scrutiny. Well that answers why this will be the trend going forward by all parties and online warriors are getting prominence in each party. Combine that with the technologies of AI and automated bots. This is the worst that could happen in a democracy and that will be the death knell for the nation that was.
For those who routinely dismiss such proofs and arguments as left incited, anti-national, anti-Hindu, farfetched or usual detraction etc., please understand this is nothing about being left or right of an argument or a fantasy. The simple fact that the things pointed out in the book is nothing new, lends immense credibility to this as a fact. It is dawn of a nightmare that is slowly unwrapping itself.
April 16, 2019
"I Am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP's Digital Army"
This book by Swati Chaturvedi is well-researched but a little brief for its content, I must say.
Some of the narratives were quite shocking!
The book is a *must* for all those who 'worship' the current governmental establishment that wears a cloak of Democracy but looks like something else.
Seeing people for who they are is very important, and that's my takeaway from this small read.
Issuing rape threats to female journalists, sending pics of pubic hair, issuing death threats, swearing and abusing every now and then... -- We live in a time, under an establishment, that has a well-structured, hierarchical team (read NDOC) working on it!
This book also highlights, briefly, not just the presence, but also the command the BJP has on the web.
For example, the BJP had their website built in 1995, a decade before INC.
PM Modi had his twitter debut in 2009!
RSS has many 'IT-Shakhas' across major cities!
Why on Earth's Suphan Buri (Thailand) a source location for many of trending tweets -- both for BJP and against opposition leaders like Kejriwal? (As discovered by Ankit Lal of AAP; who got intrigued by the patterns and decided to mimic the BJP way of doing things online)
Suffice to say, the BJP is the most tech-savvy political party. And as citizens, we need to keep in mind and see through things just like we have been trained to do with Rahul Gandhi/INC/AAP/Kejriwal.
This book by Swati Chaturvedi is well-researched but a little brief for its content, I must say.
Some of the narratives were quite shocking!
The book is a *must* for all those who 'worship' the current governmental establishment that wears a cloak of Democracy but looks like something else.
Seeing people for who they are is very important, and that's my takeaway from this small read.
Issuing rape threats to female journalists, sending pics of pubic hair, issuing death threats, swearing and abusing every now and then... -- We live in a time, under an establishment, that has a well-structured, hierarchical team (read NDOC) working on it!
This book also highlights, briefly, not just the presence, but also the command the BJP has on the web.
For example, the BJP had their website built in 1995, a decade before INC.
PM Modi had his twitter debut in 2009!
RSS has many 'IT-Shakhas' across major cities!
Why on Earth's Suphan Buri (Thailand) a source location for many of trending tweets -- both for BJP and against opposition leaders like Kejriwal? (As discovered by Ankit Lal of AAP; who got intrigued by the patterns and decided to mimic the BJP way of doing things online)
Suffice to say, the BJP is the most tech-savvy political party. And as citizens, we need to keep in mind and see through things just like we have been trained to do with Rahul Gandhi/INC/AAP/Kejriwal.
December 21, 2020
Horrible writing, nothing secretive and hasty generalisation. I may agree that some BJP supporters are abusers and threat-givers. But that doesn't mean all supporters are alike and other parties' supporters have a moral high-ground. Garbage can exist in every village, just the degrees vary.
First, take an example of Abhishek Mishra, a pro-Congress troll, who peddled fake news through websites just like the examples cited in the book. He literally defamed the PM and President of this country. But no mentions of such trolls in this book which means the work is oblivious.
Also, think of Sadhavi Khosla whose interview is written in this book. Though the BJP has officially denied, she claimed that she worked for the media cell of the BJP for co-ordinated attacks on the dissenters. She herself comes from the family of Congress supporters. That’s the case of obvious conflict of interests. Then why are her claims not taken with a pinch of salt?
Same goes for the interview with the AAP's IT cell head Ankit Lal which is included in the book. It's like interviewing the business competitor of X company on that company's ethics. Also, if someone speak to Amit Malviya, the head of BJP IT Cell, then he, too, wouldn't speak good for the AAP or their IT cell.
Second, this is nothing sort of investigation. All things, which the author mentions, are open in the world of internet. When you use the word ‘investigation’ then people are expected to know unknown and hitherto hidden details. Any active Twitter user knows how some people do abuse and attack in the packet.
Third, she cites Chetan Bhagat's article in the book for further reading. Oh, irony!
In a nutshell, the book is a farrago of horrible writing with no investigation and hasty generalisation which is used to meet the confirmation bias of the author.
First, take an example of Abhishek Mishra, a pro-Congress troll, who peddled fake news through websites just like the examples cited in the book. He literally defamed the PM and President of this country. But no mentions of such trolls in this book which means the work is oblivious.
Also, think of Sadhavi Khosla whose interview is written in this book. Though the BJP has officially denied, she claimed that she worked for the media cell of the BJP for co-ordinated attacks on the dissenters. She herself comes from the family of Congress supporters. That’s the case of obvious conflict of interests. Then why are her claims not taken with a pinch of salt?
Same goes for the interview with the AAP's IT cell head Ankit Lal which is included in the book. It's like interviewing the business competitor of X company on that company's ethics. Also, if someone speak to Amit Malviya, the head of BJP IT Cell, then he, too, wouldn't speak good for the AAP or their IT cell.
Second, this is nothing sort of investigation. All things, which the author mentions, are open in the world of internet. When you use the word ‘investigation’ then people are expected to know unknown and hitherto hidden details. Any active Twitter user knows how some people do abuse and attack in the packet.
Third, she cites Chetan Bhagat's article in the book for further reading. Oh, irony!
In a nutshell, the book is a farrago of horrible writing with no investigation and hasty generalisation which is used to meet the confirmation bias of the author.
September 29, 2017
A short and simple read about the social media landscape related to Indian politics and the way that the narrative is being shaped by people with vested interest, making use of fake news, Photoshop and hatred as a socio-political weapon. It's predominantly focussed on Twitter and it charters the author's experiences and her investigation into the big players who run the whole shitshow. It confirms a lot of my suspicions and builds up on what we see around us on social media and the brainwashing that's been going on. All it does is create clashes of ideology, pitting people against each other for cheap political gains.
Anyone with half an unbiased mind knows which side of the political spectrum started this and indulges in this to get the maximum mileage out of the method. Sadly, it being effective, especially in a culture like ours, where rhetoric and emotions run wild, has led to making things worse. With the next election upcoming, I dread what the future has in store for us.
Anyone with half an unbiased mind knows which side of the political spectrum started this and indulges in this to get the maximum mileage out of the method. Sadly, it being effective, especially in a culture like ours, where rhetoric and emotions run wild, has led to making things worse. With the next election upcoming, I dread what the future has in store for us.
July 21, 2021
An expose' on the workings of the BJP IT/SM cell. Other than a few things, one is mostly aware of its functioning if you have been on Twitter for some time. Not bad but.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
Rating: 3.5 stars.
April 6, 2018
A book on trolls, and a very detailed one at that. This book chronicles all the social media mishaps done by the ruling party which according to the author has an impressive social media army. Must read.
January 5, 2017
Finished the first book of 2017."I am a troll" is undoubtedly one of the courageous attempts of recent times. The author narrates how RSS spreads their propaganda through online space. The hash tag campaigns, mass troll harassments ,sexual abusing – all such social media “Activities” are controlled by RSS and its machineries. The shocking part of this story is, most of these fake ids/trolls are followed by Narendra Modi official and PMO.
Happy to observe that ladies are at the front line of war against fascism.(Rana Ayyub(Gujarat files),Swati Chaturvedi(I am a troll)).The book would have been more better, if the author could interview Aravind Gupta,BJP IT Cell head.In many places, devoid of deep analysis, this book is like a daily new paper. But the courage to take this challenge is appreciable
Happy to observe that ladies are at the front line of war against fascism.(Rana Ayyub(Gujarat files),Swati Chaturvedi(I am a troll)).The book would have been more better, if the author could interview Aravind Gupta,BJP IT Cell head.In many places, devoid of deep analysis, this book is like a daily new paper. But the courage to take this challenge is appreciable
February 12, 2017
The more virulent strain of this malaise, on WhatsApp, was seen in Western Uttar Pradesh in 2013-14. It would be immensely interesting to see if the same tactic (it apparently has been deployed again) works in 2016-17.
January 10, 2017
It is not exactly a great read but gains importance as it exposes how opinion is manufactured and dissent is stifled in the world of social media.
January 27, 2017
Not too much content, a bit repetitive across chapters. Expected much more evidence and detail. But certainly throws light at what it claims to be on the subject.
March 1, 2018
Very small book. Can complete in one go!
Honestly, not a very good read but you would be impressed by the research which the author has put in as well as how she has connected the dots.
Honestly, not a very good read but you would be impressed by the research which the author has put in as well as how she has connected the dots.
February 6, 2018
Social media provides websites or applications which enable users to create and share content. It allows us to participate in social networking. In many ways, it is a great democratic forum for everyone to be heard. However, social media also has detrimental effects on our privacy as well as giving us a false sense of ‘connection’. Further down the scale, cyber-bullying is one of the worst consequences of this great tool. It is this bullying, particularly in national politics, which is the subject of this book. It is with reference to the current political climate in democratic India. The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) - the Hindu Nationalist party in power in India today - took an early start off the blocks in the use of social media for political campaign, outreach and propaganda in state and federal elections. The spectacular win of its candidate, Narendra Modi in 2014, was a lesson to the opposition and the public. It showed the power of social media in Indian elections in moulding perceptions about reality. However, political activism in social media did not take a holiday once the polls were over. Indians have come to realize that the Hindu Nationalists are always in election mode. They have used social media incessantly for cyber bullying opposition politicians, journalists, inciting religious tensions, abusing and harassing women journalists and trolling anyone who questions them. This book is a report into the nature of this cyber cell of the Hindu Nationalists by a veteran woman journalist who was and is subjected to harassment by them. As far as I know, this is the first time one has published a book of this phenomenon in India.
Anyone in India who is an active Twitter user or familiar with the print media in English, would agree that the BJP has an army of cyber bullies active everyday on the web. This is an open secret. Their tweets and comments in newspaper columns routinely contain vile abuse of Muslims, Christians, Pakistanis and at times, the Chinese. Opposition politicians of the Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also cop a lot of abuse. Next come liberal journalists, particularly liberal women journalists. After that in the hierarchy, we find Bollywood film stars, especially Muslim stars like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, who have been critical of the PM and the BJP. It is documented that the Prime Minister of India himself is an online follower of many of these trolls, twenty six of them at last count. So are many members of his cabinet. The book provides some data on the nature of this organized cyber-bullying by the BJP. It gives short accounts of meetings with an ex-troll as well as current trolls in its investigation. However, only one ex-troll, Sadhvi Khosla, is identified by name. The book, being a short one at 140 pages in a font size of 11 or 12, just whets your appetite without satisfying the hunger. Where the book disappoints is in its poor research to prove its contention that this cyber-bullying is organized and directed at the highest levels of the BJP, reaching all the way up to the Prime Minister. It is true that the PM has invited many members of the cyber army for a meeting at his office. It is true that he has never publicly reprimanded the many trolls he follows for the vile language they use online. But, this in itself is not proof that his office directs these operations. In this sense, the author has let her own cause down through sloppy evidence. Consequently, the book reads like a biased, one-sided whinge against the BJP. To her credit, the author has praised some ministers of the BJP who use social media for constructive purposes to help citizens. A lot of the ‘evidence’ supporting her contention against the government come from the one ex-troll (Sadhvi Khosla) or the BJP’s mortal opponent, the Aam Aadmi Party. One would have expected such evidence to come rather from her own research and preferably, independent sources.
The lack of serious research in the book is a symptom of the wider problem of sub-standard professionalism in the Indian media today. One has to only look at the comments column in major English newspapers in India. Except for ‘The Hindu’, proper moderation of the comments column is practically non-existent. All kinds of vile abuses and advertisements pass through as comments without restraint. Debates in the commercial visual media simply morph into unrestrained shouting matches with the anchors being unable to control it. The media constantly berates politicians and bureaucrats for incompetence and substandard performance. But they themselves do not aim for high levels of professionalism either.
Cyber activism in politics is a fact of life in India today. It is bound to expand with all political parties organizing their own cyber cells, following the BJP’s example. All that we can hope for is that the level of activism is kept at a more decent level than what the BJP has descended to. Mercifully, the president of the Congress party has made a start by asking his cyber cell to maintain decency irrespective of provocations. The other major cyber-activist party is the AAP. A lot of hope was vested in them by the urban public when they emerged as a political force in Delhi a few years ago. Even though its senior members are professionals and well-educated, they have not shown sufficient restraint in their social media campaigns either. They tend to resort to sensationalism and half-truths. However, they don’t resort to the kind of personal abuse that the BJP is guilty of. One can hope that the BJP itself may change course once the current regime suffers some defeats at the hustings. Already, one can sense a feeling of fatigue and skepticism among the general public against this barrage of hate and hostility towards all opponents, both national and foreign.
This book would be useful for the people who are not very savvy with information technology. It shows how Twitter handles are abused in creating an aura of mass public support in any hate campaign. There is a bit of data on how Virtual Private Networks are used to create an impression of support from around the world. There is also a list of the twenty six abusive trolls followed by the Prime Minister himself, their names as well as their individual Twitter handles. Those who are opposed to the BJP would find it a breezy and easy read.
Anyone in India who is an active Twitter user or familiar with the print media in English, would agree that the BJP has an army of cyber bullies active everyday on the web. This is an open secret. Their tweets and comments in newspaper columns routinely contain vile abuse of Muslims, Christians, Pakistanis and at times, the Chinese. Opposition politicians of the Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also cop a lot of abuse. Next come liberal journalists, particularly liberal women journalists. After that in the hierarchy, we find Bollywood film stars, especially Muslim stars like Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, who have been critical of the PM and the BJP. It is documented that the Prime Minister of India himself is an online follower of many of these trolls, twenty six of them at last count. So are many members of his cabinet. The book provides some data on the nature of this organized cyber-bullying by the BJP. It gives short accounts of meetings with an ex-troll as well as current trolls in its investigation. However, only one ex-troll, Sadhvi Khosla, is identified by name. The book, being a short one at 140 pages in a font size of 11 or 12, just whets your appetite without satisfying the hunger. Where the book disappoints is in its poor research to prove its contention that this cyber-bullying is organized and directed at the highest levels of the BJP, reaching all the way up to the Prime Minister. It is true that the PM has invited many members of the cyber army for a meeting at his office. It is true that he has never publicly reprimanded the many trolls he follows for the vile language they use online. But, this in itself is not proof that his office directs these operations. In this sense, the author has let her own cause down through sloppy evidence. Consequently, the book reads like a biased, one-sided whinge against the BJP. To her credit, the author has praised some ministers of the BJP who use social media for constructive purposes to help citizens. A lot of the ‘evidence’ supporting her contention against the government come from the one ex-troll (Sadhvi Khosla) or the BJP’s mortal opponent, the Aam Aadmi Party. One would have expected such evidence to come rather from her own research and preferably, independent sources.
The lack of serious research in the book is a symptom of the wider problem of sub-standard professionalism in the Indian media today. One has to only look at the comments column in major English newspapers in India. Except for ‘The Hindu’, proper moderation of the comments column is practically non-existent. All kinds of vile abuses and advertisements pass through as comments without restraint. Debates in the commercial visual media simply morph into unrestrained shouting matches with the anchors being unable to control it. The media constantly berates politicians and bureaucrats for incompetence and substandard performance. But they themselves do not aim for high levels of professionalism either.
Cyber activism in politics is a fact of life in India today. It is bound to expand with all political parties organizing their own cyber cells, following the BJP’s example. All that we can hope for is that the level of activism is kept at a more decent level than what the BJP has descended to. Mercifully, the president of the Congress party has made a start by asking his cyber cell to maintain decency irrespective of provocations. The other major cyber-activist party is the AAP. A lot of hope was vested in them by the urban public when they emerged as a political force in Delhi a few years ago. Even though its senior members are professionals and well-educated, they have not shown sufficient restraint in their social media campaigns either. They tend to resort to sensationalism and half-truths. However, they don’t resort to the kind of personal abuse that the BJP is guilty of. One can hope that the BJP itself may change course once the current regime suffers some defeats at the hustings. Already, one can sense a feeling of fatigue and skepticism among the general public against this barrage of hate and hostility towards all opponents, both national and foreign.
This book would be useful for the people who are not very savvy with information technology. It shows how Twitter handles are abused in creating an aura of mass public support in any hate campaign. There is a bit of data on how Virtual Private Networks are used to create an impression of support from around the world. There is also a list of the twenty six abusive trolls followed by the Prime Minister himself, their names as well as their individual Twitter handles. Those who are opposed to the BJP would find it a breezy and easy read.
October 11, 2018
Actually wanted to give a 4 because of the importance of the book but staying with 3 for its content. This book is a small one which can be finished in one sitting trying to explain the obvious , in not so convincing ways and that is were it falters. Still for those who are blind to the obvious such books will function as an eye opener that will plant them firmly in the present
April 1, 2018
Very worrying book; short though for what was a 2 year investigation. Nonetheless offers a look into the ugly world of online right-wing trolling in India
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