New Delhi: The Washington Post has reported on an organisation named the Disinfo Lab, functioning since 2020, which is allegedly run by Lt Col Dibya Satpathy (39), an intelligence officer presently posted with India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). The report says he has “worked to shape international perceptions of India, said the three people familiar with the operation. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive intelligence activities.”RAW has been in the news recently in connection with alleged assassination plots in Canada and the US.The Washington Post, after reviewing “100,000 reposts of Disinfo Lab content on X” writes that the Disinfo Lab “has published lengthy dossiers and social media posts claiming to reveal the personal relationships and funding sources behind U.S.-based critics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”The Disinfo Lab “combined fact-based research with unsubstantiated claims to paint U.S. government figures, researchers, humanitarian groups and Indian American rights activists as part of a conspiracy, purportedly led by global Islamic groups and billionaire George Soros, to undermine India.” The news report records how these allegations went viral on Indian social media “after they were amplified by pro-Modi influencers, who at times used the group’s findings to validate their own positions. Its reports have been cited by Indian officials on television and presented on Capitol Hill.”The Disinfo Lab “does not disclose its affiliation, describing itself on its website as a ‘separate legal entity’ that seeks to offer ‘completely unbiased research.’”Over the past five years, the newspaper records how “social media researchers have uncovered large Indian online networks that promote the BJP’s foreign policy positions to domestic and foreign audiences.” Coordinated social media accounts have been found to play a role, for instance, in spreading identical posts in support of Russia, an important supplier of weapons and energy to India, and of Israel, an increasingly close partner.Satpathy is said to have met “Western journalists and commentators under fake identities — including his preferred alias, Shakti, meaning “power” in Hindi — and sought favorable coverage of India or critical coverage of its adversaries, Pakistan and China, according to five additional people who have had contact with Satpathy.” The Disinfo Lab though, denies any connection with government, “We are in no form associated with any govt agency, nor with any of its personnel. Nor are we associated with any other organization — Indian or International”, they told the Post. It said it was created by individuals “who had met in an anti-corruption political movement” and were concerned about “the massive disinformation targeted at India to sow divisions in society.”On X, the Disinfo Lab called the Washington Post article a “barely disguised revenge piece”.“The Indian right wing is a new player that has arrived on the world stage and wants to shape global discussion,” Joyojeet Pal, a professor of information at the University of Michigan who studies disinformation in India is quoted by Washington Post as saying. “So far, much of it is done in the same way it’s done within India — through crude, blunt force. But it’s getting smarter.”The Disinfo Lab has emerged as “one of the more sophisticated players,” it avers as in it “28 reports it has published so far, the organization has often painted a picture of an India under attack by a sprawling “nexus” of conspirators funded by Pakistani intelligence, the Muslim Brotherhood and Soros.” The Washington Post reports of the influential retweeters, end up giving “the Disinfo Lab a stamp of authority and, some of its targets say, boost its ability to intimidate individuals overseas”, when in effect it is allegedly connected with “India’s intelligence operation.”Sumit Ganguly, an expert on Indian diplomacy and national security at Indiana University at Bloomington in the US told the newspaper that undermining foreign governments and their officials is “routine” work for all intelligence agencies. But, he is quoted as saying, if Indian intelligence is “besmirching American critics and civil society organizations, it would be crossing a line reminiscent of KGB tactics during the Cold War,” he said. “It would be part and parcel of the Modi government’s attitude toward dissent, whether at home or abroad.”Satpathy did not respond to comments. India’s national security adviser, Ajit Doval, too did not respond to the newspaper.
