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How an anti-Muslim influence operation spread on Indian social media | First Draft

An Indian anti-Muslim influence operation in support of Israel sheds light on how Indian information disorder campaigns operate and target Muslim Indians.

“Be ready, tomorrow 11:00AM sharp.”

On the evening of May 12, an open call was launched on Indian social media to get the anti-Muslim #UnitedAgainstJehad trending.

The text was accompanied by a graphic with more detailed instructions: “You have to tweet at least 40 times […] Radical Islamic Jehad is much more dangerous than any pandemic.”

@RandomIndianGuy is the author of this first tweet — a “hardcore nationalist,” according to his Twitter profile, and a regular promoter of Islamophobic, pro-Hindu narratives.

In a few hours, the likes and shares poured in and by May 13, the hashtag had already appeared over 11,000 times, producing nearly 70,000 interactions on Twitter.

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Source: How an anti-Muslim influence operation spread on Indian social media