India sieves online deluge to stamp out disinformation in world's biggest election

BENGALURU/LUCKNOW — Indian forest service official Surya Sen usually manages a city zoo, but during the world's largest general elections, he has a very different task - rooting out online misinformation to prevent any disturbances.

As nearly a billion voters head to the polls in a mammoth six-week programme that began on April 19, officials like Sen counter rapidly spreading online misinformation from election cells that also monitor television and public camera images.

"Social media is the primary ground for misinformation," said Sen, whose team monitors social media from an office in India's Silicon Valley city of Bengaluru that goes to the polls on Friday.

Sen works with an external agency, where 30 people use keyword tracking software and monitor high-profile influencers round the clock. His operation is one of hundreds of such cells nationwide that co-ordinate with India's election commission.

At the same time, Sen's in-house team of 40 sifts online posts by political parties to detect everything from hate speech to fake news that violates polling rules.

It is a high-stakes job.

Just last week, two AI-generated deepfake videos of Bollywood stars criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a rare third term, and asking people to vote for the opposition Congress went viral, drawing half a million views.

Many were deleted but some are still online, despite two police investigations in the financial capital of Mumbai.

In a statement, the Election Commission said its officials across India had received "instructions to be pro-active in scotching fake news on social media".

Sen showed Reuters his messaging app WhatsApp, which buzzed constantly with alerts from the external agency flagging content that could