Tayyab Baloch
The world biggest democracy is under attack by foreign manipulation sponsored by the Atlantic Council. After the announcement of the 2019 Indian general election, all foreign actors have been activated to bring the regime of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again in power. The techniques of crowd manipulation have been activated and collected data of Indian voters has already harvested to run political data-driven campaigns to change the behavior of voters in the favor of BJP.
An attempt to hack Indian democracy was crafted by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab after the issuance of schedule by election commission of India which has started from 11 April to 19 May 2019 and is planned in seven phases for the formulation of the 17th Lok Sabha. The final result will be announced by the Election Commission of India on 23 May. This election time is very crucial for the future of India. But unfortunately, this is not a first time, as many reports hinted that the globe’s biggest democracy was also hacked during the previous election of 2014 as one of the Indian Cyber experts, Syed Suja claimed the telecom giant Reliance Jio facilitated the BJP for hacking the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) by providing low-frequency signals. While the mega the scandal of the world’s biggest data theft also revealed that Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) Group and its political big data firm Cambridge Analytica (CA) was also hired during previous elections.
A Quartz detailed last year that SCL employed more than 1700 staff members before 2014 general elections the which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the great victory. For meddling the elections, SCL influenced mainstream parties for the victory of its clients by establishing most advanced political research lab and data hub in India.
Here it is important to refer briefly about the creation of UK and US-based Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) Group and its political wing Cambridge Analytica (CA). Initially, it was formulated by MI6 for military purposes but later it was taken as the private entity. This Western behavioral research and strategic communication group did some projects for NATO and the US. SCL worked as the regime changer and brought color revolutions in many countries. In 2017, SCL was also given initially contrasts by the State Department including to facilitate fight ISIS recruitment and NATO-affiliated training programs.
The big data firms have invented a new trend to change the behavior of masses in politics for achieving the targeted-oriented goal as former President of America Barack Obama used data science and social media to enter in the Oval Office. While Donald Trump also hired CA for its political campaign. Chief Executive of the data-mining firm CA, Alexander Nix accepted the role of his firm in a meddling American election for the victory of Trump. This controversial firm played a very decisive role in electing neo-liberal regimes around the globe.
A former employee of SCL group, Christopher Wylie, a whistle-blower who revealed Cambridge Analytica’s data blagging around the globe which badly affected 50 million Facebook users last year, confirmed with documents that the parent company of CA, SCL group conducted behavioral research and meddled for at least six state elections in India between 2003 and 2012 national elections. While many analysis then elaborated that the last election of 2014 was massively rigged to bring BJP in power.
If we minutely look into the rule of BJP under the premiership of Narendra Modi, we can easily unveil the agenda of the Atlantic Council in Indian state affairs. Despite the part of multipolar institutions; BRICS and SCO, India aligned itself with the imperialist center to secure the legitimacy of US policies and neoliberal economics (unipolar hegemony) in Asia. Under the rule of BJP, the US is able to lead India from the behind. Modi’s regime installed the US scheme about the Balkanization of South Asia, while Indian BJP has also fueled hostility against regional integration led by the multipolar world. Beside this, BJP has opened the door of war in the nuclear triangle. In short, the current moves of Indian state affairs on the international arena increased doubts about its commitment for an emerging multipolar world as India has defected to the US’s unipolar system. Therefore, the Atlantic Council has activated all tools to meddle in Indian election with the aim to bring its proxy government under the rule of BJP.
The previous ally of the SCL group, Facebook has joined the Atlantic Council after the mega scandal of world biggest data theft sponsored by the CIA/MI6. It was declared last year in a Facebook Newsroom post that there is excitement for setting up a new coalition with the Atlantic Council, which has a good name in innovative solutions. While experts from Data Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) will keenly focus on security, policy and product teams to get Facebook real-time insights. It was further mentioned that Facebook will work with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Research Unit Monitoring Missions during elections and other highly stable circumstances for focusing on a particular geographic area to help educate citizens as well as civil society.
This new election partnership of Facebook with the Atlantic Council has turned World’s biggest social media platform into the tool of the NATO. Now this alliance provides an opportunity to interference and meddle in sovereign states’ elections under the emblem of defending democracy. NATO has already appeared a supporter of the American rhetoric to export/impose liberal democracy. For this purpose, US/NATO waged political covert warfare around the globe to topple anti-Liberal democracies and governments. Atlantic Council performed an important role by implementing the US policies on the international arena to strengthen its hegemonic power. Atlantic Council is a part of the Atlantic Treaty Association, a NATO subsidiary that assist to gather “political leaders, academics, military officials, journalists and diplomats in an effort to further the values set forth in the North Atlantic Treaty, namely: democracy, freedom, liberty, peace, security, and the rule of law.” The article named, Facebook Partners with Hawkish Atlantic Council, a NATO Lobby Group analyzes about new association with the Atlantic Council reveals the previously strident world of social networking is changing indistinguishable from the state itself. In typical US fashion, authentic pluralism and the so-called “free market of ideas” is being controlled by the possessors of capital in the name of defending democracy and ensuring national security.
Now Indian democracy is on the mercy of this perfidious alliance. Apparently, Indian masses are going to decide the country’s future but unfortunately, they are unaware of the blind treacherous game that is damaging their democracy. This new election partnership can easily be chalked out during this election of 17th Lok Sabha. It is the first time ever in universal electoral history that Facebook seems to be the third contender. In the name of defending democracy, Facebook has launched a massive crackdown against the opponents of BJP by declaring war against fake news in the favor of BJP. Facebook shocked Indian masses about physical verification of user’s accounts by invading their private space. As Gulf News published that Facebook has indulged itself in the election heat. Facebook’s unusual activities in India hinted that there is something big going on in this electoral process as it introduced user’s physical verification about its political contents by sending their representatives directly to user’s door. It is also reported that the FB team forced Indian users to show Aadhaar Card for personal identification by approaching them to their homes. This unwonted activity of Facebook is a direct assault on the user’s privacy.
Besides this, thousands of pages and accounts are belonging with Congress and other small parties were removed by Facebook. Even some of the pages were deleted by nominating them as they were running by ISPR, the public relations department of Pakistan army. While ISPR declared no belonging with such pages. Behind the scene, the purpose of blaming Pakistan was converting attention from the Atlantic Council’s attempt and to gain the opportunity to hack democracy by playing with the psychology of the Indian public. It is essential to explore that the subsidiary of Facebook like WhatsApp messenger is also working as a burning fuel in hacking Indian minds for the favor of BJP. As it is reported that PM Narendra Modi’s BJP has established a WhatsApp force of skilled cyber professionals as it has made three WhatsApp group for the reach of 927,533 polling booths.
Approximately 2,782,599 chat groups were created and each group contained 256 members. With this WhatsApp groups plan, BJP has become able to engage more than 710 million people out of 1.35 billion of the total population. In fact, the commonly used Facebook and its WhatsApp messenger has become the latest tool of mass mobilization and crowd manipulation for BJP’s election victory as India has 1.14 billion mobile phone connections with more than 300 million active users of Facebook and WhatsApp.
While it is also important to mention that one of US-based big data processer firms is behind the Narendra Modi and BJP’s official NaMo app, which has currently launched NaMo TV/Content TV to influence Indian mainstream media users.
It is reported worldwide that the data of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official application, NaMo app has sent to American Celevertap, which is the next generation app engagement and big data processing platform based in California. Modi’s official application collected demographic information, device and network operating system related information and behavioral information of more than 10 million of Indian users and now this collected data is being sent to third-party based in America.
The appliance of analytics on collected Indian data on the eve of general elections pointed out that Indian democracy is under psychological war waged by the Atlantic Council. Data-mining firms are using psychographic profiles to change the behavior of the Indian masses with mind mapping techniques. The US with the assistance of the Atlantic Council’s partnership of big social media giants and data collection firms carried out Psychological Operations or PSYOPS against sovereign states like India.
The American attack on the world biggest democracy can be exemplified its war on democracy. As world’s history witness that more than 70 countries were destroyed directly or indirectly in the name of democracy as Washington Post report claims that the US attempted to change foreign countries’ governments about 72 times during the Cold War. Now in this New Cold War era, the US has taken the advantages of cyberspace and big-data firms to spread treachery under the curtain of democracy with the aim to sabotage anti-Liberal democracies, elected governments and meddling in elections to usher the liberal World Order in this 21st century.
In fact, the rise of the multipolar world challenges western hegemony. Liberal warmongers have harvested the big-data of the world for psychological operations. So the Atlantic council and its supported social media platforms and communication labs have stolen the big data of the world’s nations including collected data of voters to bring puppet regimes in targeted states. Nowadays, India is on their target as once the Indian commitment to multipolar world rang the bells in the imperialist center under the All India Congress Government.
Therefore, they brought BJP in power and they planned to bring India into NATO as American lawmakers proposed that the US induct India as a “Major Non-NATO Ally” (MNNA), just like Brazil. In fact, their target is to weaken the multipolar alliance of BRICS. For this purpose, they also brought a puppet regime in Brazil and now they are attempting to put the crown to BJP again because it is only BJP which can fulfill their agenda.
