With almost 800 million internet users and general elections starting Friday, India is at high risk for cyber and influence campaigns by foreign actors.
NEW DELHI—India, the world’s most populous country, will hold general elections starting April 19. Voting to elect India’s 18th parliament and its next federal government will span six weeks and seven phases, with results to be announced on June 4. Amid the clamor of election campaigns, concerns have arisen that China—the country’s biggest neighbor—and other foreign players will use the occasion to push disinformation and propaganda, according to IT security experts.
India ranks highest in 2024 for the threats caused by misinformation and disinformation in the world, according to a report released by Logically, a Virginia-based technology company that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with expert intelligence.
India has 759 million active internet users and the highest number of Facebook users in the world at 366.9 million. That’s about 175 million more users than in the United States. Indian households on average spent around four hours streaming content in 2023 and the country boasts the highest number of Youtube users in the world at 462 million.
Pathikrit Payne, a New Delhi-based geopolitical analyst, told The Epoch Times that given India’s digital revolution, threats of AI-generated fake messages, videos, and even fake comments may be used by potential adversaries to create confusion during the election process.
Meanwhile, the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) on April 4 published a report entitled “‘Same targets, new playbooks: East Asia threat actors employ unique methods,” highlighting concerns about China’s use of content generated by AI to influence voters as they head to the polls in India.
“As populations in India, South Korea, and the United States head to the polls, we are likely to see Chinese cyber and influence actors, and to some extent North Korean cyber actors, work toward targeting these elections,” the MTAC said in its report.
Sameer Patil is a senior fellow with the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology and deputy director of the Observer’s Research Foundation, Mumbai. Mr. Patil told The Epoch Times in an email that actors like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have been known to use deep fake technology to push propaganda and they can potentially do the same during election campaigns.
“There is a suspicion that China might utilize AI to push disinformation and propaganda in the Indian political landscape to perhaps push certain foreign policy objectives and reduce political focus on its border stand-off with India,” he said, adding that a great deal depends on how much traction is gained by such misinformation in political campaigns.
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