Pal: Pro-government influencers in India are fueling outrage on social media

One of India’s largest conglomerates, Adani Group, has lost more than $100 billion in market value  following a report accusing it of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud. 

An article in the Financial Times discusses Indian prime minister and longtime ally of Adani Group Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue. Meanwhile, pro-government social media influencers have taken to Twitter to express support for Modi and Adani Group. 

University of Michigan associate professor Joyojeet Pal, an expert on the role of technology in democracy and labor, is interviewed for the article. 

“The big leaders of the [Bharatiya Janata Party] have generally stayed silent on the issue,” Pal says. “But once the narrative changed from Adani to an ‘attack on India,’ a couple of big influencers stepped in.”

RELATED

Read “Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s opponents seize on Adani Group woes” at the Financial Times. 

Learn more about associate professor of information Joyojeet Pal by visiting his UMSI faculty profile.