Days after Bloomberg blamed ‘India-based Twitter accounts’ for the violence in Leicester in England’s East Midlands region, a researcher exposed how the international news agency had been misleading its readers with click-bait headlines.
On November 16, Bloomberg published an article titled, “India-Based Twitter Accounts Fanned UK Unrest, Researchers Say” and claimed social media activity, originating in India, was responsible for violence in Leicester.
The international news agency shrewdly put the onus of its dubious claim on ‘researchers’ of the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) of Rutgers University.
“Social media was rife with videos claiming to show mosques being set alight and claims of kidnapping, forcing police to issue warnings that people should not believe misinformation online,” the report stated, without mentioning that the disinformation campaign was the handiwork of Islamists in Leicester.
“Many of the Twitter accounts that amplified the unrest originated in India, researchers said,” it claimed. OpIndia had reported how Islamists had falsely blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) for supposedly trying to kidnap a 15-year-old Muslim girl.
A Hindu man was dubbed as a paedophile and his address was leaked on Facebook, as part of the onslaught. Later, it turned out to be fake news.
Today’s update, covering the previous 24 hours 👇 pic.twitter.com/CSB5ZtpZvS
— East Leicester Police (@LPEastLeics) September 14, 2022
Bloomberg also relied on the statement of Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby, who had no qualms about meeting Majid Freeman, an ISIS-sympathising Islamist and a conspiracy theorist. Interestingly, Majid has been at the forefront of fuelling anti-Hindu sentiments in Leicester by peddling fake stories.
“US technology companies played a key role in fanning the confrontations, according to Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby, numerous media reports and participants including Adam Yusuf, a 21-year-old who told a judge that he brought a knife to a demonstration and was “influenced by social media,” Bloomberg claimed in its report.
We had a productive meeting last night with Peter Soulsby (@CityMayorLeic) where he made some commitments re the rise in #Islamophobia, acknowledged the #Hindutva ideology is causing chaos & lack of funding for youth clubs. Thanks Active Muslims Leicester (AML) for facilitating. pic.twitter.com/rH4nEyFDLG
— Majid Freeman (@Majstar7) October 11, 2022
The news agency also found a way to rope in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and suggested that the anti-Hindu violence in Leicester was the fallout of ‘rising intolerance for Muslims’ in India.
“Anti-Muslim sentiment has been rising in majority-Hindu India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading to a narrative that Hindus outside the country, some of whom are not Indian, subscribe to Hindutva, a kind of Hindu nationalism,” it claimed.
Researcher slams Bloomberg for quoting her report out of context
It must be reiterated that Bloomberg relied on a research report [pdf] by the Network Contagion Research Institute of Rutgers University for drawing bizarre inferences and making unsubstantiated claims.
On Tuesday (November 22), the lead author of the report, Prasiddha Sudhakar, slammed the news agency for distorting her findings with respect to the Leicester violence.
As a lead author & researcher on the Leicester report released by @ncri_io, I’d like to set the record straight after a @business headline has been picked up and circulated prolifically by other outlets. It’s a distortion of our report & findings. pic.twitter.com/sswmeJhKpg
— Prasiddha Sudhakar (@prasiddhaa_) November 22, 2022
She pointed out that the contentious headline chosen by Bloomberg did not even feature in her study. “The headline is not a cherry-picked sentence from our study. Nor does it misstate a finding therein. Instead, it concocts a conclusion nowhere present in our report,” Prasiddha Sudhakar added.
While pointing out the misleading nature of the article by the news agency, she said, “The irony that Bloomberg chose a headline that deliberately continues to push a false narrative that our report *debunks and nuances* isn’t lost on me. However, it is indicative of systemic misreporting of the Hindu diaspora and India that infects Western media.”
The irony that @business chose a headline that deliberately continues to push a false narrative that our report *debunks and nuances* isn’t lost on me. However, it is indicative of systemic misreporting of the Hindu diaspora and India that infects Western media.
— Prasiddha Sudhakar (@prasiddhaa_) November 22, 2022
She reiterated how Bloomberg attributed their self-concocted conclusions to the researchers. “Nowhere did researchers claim Indian accounts tweeted 500x a minute, nor that this “fanned religious violence in the UK,” the lead author of the report added.
As but one illustration, @business cyber editor @jeffstone500 tweeted this:https://t.co/qrwtXdACSm
— Prasiddha Sudhakar (@prasiddhaa_) November 22, 2022
Nowhere did researchers claim Indian accounts tweeted 500x a minute, nor that this “fanned religious violence in the UK”
The researcher continued, “Our report exhaustively documents the way on-the-ground riots in Leicester were mobilized by local social media accounts, not those in India.”
She noted, “Our report notes that an Indian SM echo chamber amplified blame on Muslims, where some escalated to anti-Muslim rhetoric. There’s no evidence to suggest they “fanned UK unrest,” as Bloomberg puts it. The NCRI report is clear.”
Our report notes that an Indian SM echo chamber amplified blame on Muslims, where some escalated to anti-Muslim rhetoric. There’s no evidence to suggest they “fanned UK unrest,” as @business puts it. The @ncri_io report is clear.
— Prasiddha Sudhakar (@prasiddhaa_) November 22, 2022
“Our findings suggest that a “Hindutva bogeyman” was constructed locally to mobilize violence. Violence against Hindus & temples was justified under the guise of responding to “Hindutva extremism.” False narratives of Hindu violence spread,” Prasiddha Sudhakar pointed out.
As researchers whose objective was to study the spread of misinformation, we also feel a duty to be exceedingly transparent and to do everything possible to curb the spread of false narratives that @business has unfortunately sparked off.
— Prasiddha Sudhakar (@prasiddhaa_) November 22, 2022
She concluded, “As researchers whose objective was to study the spread of misinformation, we also feel a duty to be exceedingly transparent and to do everything possible to curb the spread of false narratives that Bloomberg has unfortunately sparked off.”
Other media publications amplify disinformation
Without adhering to journalistic principles of verification and non-sensationalism, several media organisations re-published the contentious article by Bloomberg news agency.
In the absence of due diligence, the disinformation that India-based Twitter accounts were somehow responsible for the unrest in Leicester was further amplified to the readers (both in India and abroad). Singapore-based newspaper ‘The Straits Times’ was at the forefront of peddling the fake information.
The Indian Express, which hails itself for its journalism of courage, was also responsible for the amplification of the misleading news.
Given that the Bloomberg report indirectly blames Indian Hindus and portrays the Muslim community as the victims in Leicester, it was also picked up by Radio Pakistan for consumption by its brainwashed readers.
Think tank found no evidence of RSS, or Hindutva gangs in Leicester
Earlier this month, a UK-based think tank debunked the false claims made by Islamists about the presence of ‘RSS terrorists’ and ‘Hindutva extremist organisations’ in Leicester city.
The disinformation was peddled by Islamists to rationalise their targeting of the Hindu community and camouflage their acts of aggression as violence perpetrated in self-defence.
The Henry Jackson Society (HJS), founded in 2005, released a 39-page report [pdf] on November 3 and concluded that the false allegations had exposed the Hindu community in Leicester to hate, vandalism and assault.
“Contrary to press reports at the time, the investigations did not find Hindutva extremist organisations operating in Leicester, but instead discovered a micro-community cohesion issue falsely presented as an issue of organised Hindutva extremism and terrorism,” the summary of the report read.
HJS emphasised, “It finds that false allegations of RSS terrorists and Hindutva extremist organisations active in the UK has put the wider Hindu community at risk from hate, vandalism and assault.”
“Some members of the Hindu community in Leicester imposed a voluntary curfew, some relocated to stay with family or friends until they felt safe to return, while still others were unable to return to work owing to fears for their personal safety,” it further added.
