US govt funded Atlantic Council’s DFR Lab wished to censor Twitter handles of BJP supporters, significantly ‘Hindu Nationalists’
On Thursday (March 2), impartial journalist Matt Taibbi posted a brand new tranche of ‘Twitter Files’ which revealed how the Atlantic Council’s US-funded Digital Forensic Research (DFR) Lab wished to censor Twitter handles, allegedly related to ‘Hindu nationalism’, and significantly with the BJP.
An analyst named Andy Carvin wrote to high 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 on the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab wrote to Twitter:
“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
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
The DFR Lab analyst flagged over 40,000 accounts, claiming that they had been paid workers/ unpaid volunteer’s of India’s largest celebration, specifically, the BJP.
Journalist Matt Taibbi identified that the listing comprised strange Americans, who had little to no connection to India or Indian politics.
3. DFRLab stated it suspected 40,000 accounts of being “paid employees or possibly volunteers” of India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
But the listing was stuffed with strange Americans, many with no connection to India and no clue about Indian politics. https://t.co/B5L8KsY6ZH pic.twitter.com/vqijzp9BR2
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) March 2, 2023
Contrary to the needs of the DFR Lab, the highest Twitter executives refused to behave on the flagged Twitter accounts. Yoel Roth, the previous Global Head of Trust & Safety at Twitter, famous, “I spot-checked a number of these accounts, and virtually all appear to be real people.”
Interestingly, Roth has been on the epicentre of gutting the Twitter account of former US President Donald Trump and censoring the notorious Hunter Biden story.
5. Twitter agreed, one purpose most of the accounts stay lively. “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 wished to censor BJP-associated and distinguished RW accounts
Opindia had discovered that a minimum of 66 distinguished and verified Indian Twitter handles had been despatched by US-funded Digital Forensic Research (DFR) Lab to the highest executives of the social media big for censorship.
And the explanation cited by the organisation was that they had been linked to the BJP and the reason for Hindu Nationalism. Here is the listing of the accounts that we discovered to date:
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
Screengrab of the Twitter account flagged by DFR Lab
Interestingly, DFR Lab wished to censor Twitter to censor the official Twitter deal with of the Varanasi airport (@AAIVNSAIRPORT) and the MSME division of the Uttar Pradesh authorities (@upmsme) , and the workplace of Union Minister Piyush Goyal.
Earlier, it was revealed by Matt Taibbi that Twitter workers discovered no proof of Russian affect within the 2016 US elections. Yet, they continued to permit Democrats and media organisations to make use of 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 advertise US pursuits worldwide. Its board of worldwide advisors entails the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Though it’s not but clear why precisely a US-based organisation related to George Soros wished BJP-associated social media handles censored by Twitter, the truth that Soros had not too long ago hinted at politically weakening Modi as one among his targets, may shed some mild within the broader context of the difficulty.
