RSF concerned over rising online hate campaigns against journalists in India

Press freedom organisation calls for action against right-wing cells

Citing rising number of online hate campaigns targetting journalists, press freedom organisation RSF has urged the Indian government must not remain silent and take action.

As Narendra Modi begins his third term as Prime Minister, Paris-based press freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says it is concerned about the growing campaigns  against journalists perpetrated by extreme right-wing nationalist networks. 

In a press statement, RSF says that the authorities, who have remained silent on the subject, must put an end to these attacks. RSF adds that investigative journalist Srishti Jaswal, who infiltrated the groups that cyber-harassed her, spoke to RSF about the tactics of these trolls and the terrifying experience of being their target.

“Voices who dare to speak out against the ruling party and the ideology disseminated by the far-right are immediately attacked by waves of trolls, threatened, and branded as ‘traitors’ or as ‘anti-national’.’ This constant harassment has created a climate of fear, driving much of the Indian press into self-censorship. RSF condemns this tactic, engineered by far-right networks, to destroy the credibility of journalists and silence them. The Indian authorities must put an end to this scandal  at all costs, which has been stifling the right to information for ten years. The perpetrators of harassment and defamation campaigns against journalists must be prosecuted and brought to justice. This total impunity can no longer continue,’’ says Célia Mercier, Head of RSF’s South Asia Desk.

The statement adds that the online attacks on journalists are, in large part, the work of coordinated networks of the far-right nationalists, according to several journalistic surveys. One such network is the Hindu IT Cell, co-founded by Vikas Pandey, who was campaign manager for the party currently in power, the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the 2014 elections. 

This cell has targetted several dozen journalists in the past decade, according to Srishti Jaswal, a freelance journalist who infiltrated this network. According to her investigation, the group has a digital army of followers on X (formerly Twitter), and at least 400 volunteers.

The cyberstalking prison

The statement adds that Srishti Jaswal was also the victim of cyberstalking in 2020, while working for the English-language daily Hindustan Times. “I was receiving 20 insult notifications per second, with unspeakable pornographic content, death and rape threats. I couldn’t leave my house and didn’t feel safe there either. Cyberstalking isolates you in so many ways – it’s like a prison,” she says.

Jaswal, whose parents were also being harassed, had no choice but to leave her native town and go into hiding. “Neither the state nor the police are going to help you since these campaigns are connected to the BJP,”  she explains. On July 2, 2020, the Hindustan Times, challenged by trolls on their social media accounts, announced its decision to suspend Jaswal. What is more, a blasphemy complaint was filed against Jaswal by men from these far-right groups. Jaswal was summoned by the police, who ordered her to apologize to the complainants.

Tactics to ruin reputations 

By document the trolls targeting her, Srishti Jaswal discovered that those responsible for this organized cyber-harassment were from the Hindu IT Cell. Jaswal was able to  infiltrate this cell and discover its modus operandi. “The members of this network first identify their targets, such as journalists who cover minorities, criticise the extreme right or the BJP. They then publish screenshots of their publications out of context, with the aim of discrediting them. Finally, the campaign is amplified via multiple accounts,” says Jaswal.

RSF says that partisan television channels and Hindu nationalist propaganda sites then amplify this false information. Srishti Jaswal herself was the target of a smear campaign by website OpIndia, which in 2020 hammered home the fact that she was ‘hinduphobic’ and had made blasphemous remarks. 

“The psychological impact of cyberharassment is very significant, raising fears of real physical attacks. This pressure leads journalists to leave the profession. In general, self-censorship has taken hold among journalists on a massive scale,’’ she adds.

Protecting journalists: a matter of urgency

RSF says that the fight against this online harassment in an urgent priority when it comes to protecting Indian journalists. It is one of the most important recommendations RSF made for the new government, which took office at the beginning of June, it says.