On Thursday (March 2), independent journalist Matt Taibbi posted a new tranche of ‘Twitter Files’ which revealed how the Atlantic Council’s US-funded Digital Forensic Research (DFR) Lab wanted to censor Twitter handles, allegedly associated with ‘Hindu nationalism’, and particularly with the BJP.
An analyst named Andy Carvin wrote to top Twitter executives on June 8, 2021, “Hi guys. Attached you will find… around 40k Twitter accounts that our researchers suspect are engaging in inauthentic behaviour… and Hindu nationalism more broadly.”
2. On June 8, 2021, an analyst at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab wrote to Twitter:
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
“Hi guys. Attached you will find… around 40k twitter accounts that our researchers suspect are engaging in inauthentic behavior… and Hindu nationalism more broadly.” pic.twitter.com/0RpK3kyhHC
The DFR Lab analyst flagged over 40,000 accounts, claiming that they were paid employees/ unpaid volunteer’s of India’s largest party, namely, the BJP.
Journalist Matt Taibbi pointed out that the list comprised ordinary Americans, who had little to no connection to India or Indian politics.
3. DFRLab said it suspected 40,000 accounts of being “paid employees or possibly volunteers” of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
But the list was full of ordinary Americans, many with no connection to India and no clue about Indian politics. https://t.co/B5L8KsY6ZH pic.twitter.com/vqijzp9BR2
Contrary to the wishes of the DFR Lab, the top Twitter executives refused to act on the flagged Twitter accounts. Yoel Roth, the former Global Head of Trust & Safety at Twitter, noted, “I spot-checked a number of these accounts, and virtually all appear to be real people.”
Interestingly, Roth has been at the epicentre of gutting the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump and censoring the infamous Hunter Biden story.
5. Twitter agreed, one reason many of the accounts remain active. “Thanks, Andy,” replied Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth. “I spot-checked a number of these accounts, and virtually all appear to be real people.” pic.twitter.com/HCf1YPjpFa
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
DFR Lab wanted to censor BJP-associated and prominent RW accounts
Opindia had found that at least 66 prominent and verified Indian Twitter handles were sent by US-funded Digital Forensic Research (DFR) Lab to the top executives of the social media giant for censorship.
And the reason cited by the organisation was that they were connected to the BJP and the cause of Hindu Nationalism. Here is the list of the accounts that we found so far:
- Abhijat Mishra
- Amar Prasad Reddy
- Anubha Tripathi
- Arjun Bhati
- Arun Yadav
- Asha Nakum
- Ashish Merkhed
- Ashok Goel
- Baby Kumari BJP
- Bamba Lal Diwakar
- Barkha Shukla Singh
- Bhupesh Chaubey BJP
- Colonel Rohit Dev (RDX)
- Deomani Dwivedi
- Dinesh Chaudhary
- Dr. Pankaj Shukla
- Dr. Sarojini Agarwal MLC
- Gajendra Chauhan
- Gopal Krishna Dwivedi
- Hariom Pandey
- Harjinder Singh Kukreja
- Jitu Jirati ( jitendra jirati )
- Kapil Mishra
- khemchand sharma
- Kishore Ajwani
- Kuljeet Singh Chahal
- Manish Kaushik
- Manoj Manu
- Manu Bhaker
- Meena Das Narayan
- N Ramchander Rao
- Narendra Kumar
- Narendra Kumar Chawla
- Naveen Kumar Jindal
- Naveen Thacker
- NCIB Uttar Pradesh
- Neelkant Bakshi
- Parmod Kumar Vij
- Piyush Goyal Office
- Piyush Mishra
- Pradipsinh Vaghela
- Prakash Dwivedi
- Pravin Alai
- Priyanka Singh Rawat
- RaghavjiBhai Patel
- Rahees Singh
- Rajan Tewari
- Ramesh Solanki
- Rameshnaidu Nagothu
- Ramvichar Netam
- Ravi Rana
- ROHIT CHAHAL
- Sandeep Mittal, IPS
- Santosh Ranjan Rai
- Serv’ed,Call me Servüôè(Ravi Mantha )
- Shinjini Das
- Shishir
- Sumit
- Suresh Nakhua
- Swapnil Kamal Rani Varun
- Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga
- Uday Mahurkar
- UP MSMe
- VARANASI AIRPORT
- Varun Puri
- Vijesh Lunawat
Interestingly, DFR Lab wanted to censor Twitter to censor the official Twitter handle of the Varanasi airport (@AAIVNSAIRPORT) and the MSME department of the Uttar Pradesh government (@upmsme) , and the office of Union Minister Piyush Goyal.
Earlier, it was revealed by Matt Taibbi that Twitter employees found no evidence of Russian influence in the 2016 US elections. Yet, they continued to allow Democrats and media organisations to use their platform to push the notion that Trump had Moscow’s backing.
What is DFR Lab
The DFR Lab is a self-proclaimed ‘fact-checking’ endeavour by the Atlantic Council, an organisation that works to promote US interests worldwide. Its board of international advisors involves the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Though it is not yet clear why exactly a US-based organisation associated with George Soros wanted BJP-associated social media handles censored by Twitter, the fact that Soros had recently hinted at politically weakening Modi as one of his goals, might shed some light in the broader context of the issue.
