London; 17 Dec 2019 (UMM): A global network of co-ordinated 265 pro-Indian fake websites operating across 65 countries has been traced by EU Disinfo Lab, a Brussels-based NGO.
The websites are aimed at influencing decision-making in Europe, and was traced to have links with an Indian company, Srivastava Group.
The researchers uncovered a vast network of English language fake sites serving India's lobbying interests.
"More than the fake media outlets alone, it is their combination with the fake NGOs that's really worrying because it provides a mirage of online and grassroots support to a cause…” said Alexandre Alaphilippe, executive director of EU Disinfo Lab, told the BBC.
Sites use misleading names, like Manchester Times and "Times of Los Angeles" instead of the better known "Los Angeles Times".
According to BBC News 16 December 2019 the network was also found to involve groups responsible for anti-Pakistan lobbying events in Europe.
The websites copy syndicated content from news organisations to make them look like real news sites. They then implant anti-Pakistan stories and opinion pieces from employees of NGOs linked to the network to serve India's lobbying interests, EU Disinfo Lab researchers found.
"We think the main goal was to be able to reach policymakers in Brussels and Geneva, without being able to trace back to those behind the manipulative network." Alaphilippe told the BBC.
"MEPs [Members of the European Parliament] have engaged directly with this network on a multitude of levels, whether that's been through writing op-eds for their media, participating in overseas trips and press conferences, or by speaking in the European Parliament on behalf of the cause." said Alaphilippe.
Ray Serrato, an open source investigator with a focus on disinformation, in an email to the BBC, said what struck him was that "somebody went to pains to set up hundreds of inauthentic sites to bolster coverage of issues aligned with India's interests, and then used European MPs to lend legitimacy to some of those sites".
According to BBC, Srivastava Group is an Indian holding company which declares on its website that it has "interests in Natural resources, Clean energy, Airspace, Consulting services, Healthcare, Print Media and Publishing".
One of Srivastava Group's subsidiaries, the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (IINS), sponsored a controversial visit to Indian-administered Kashmir for right-wing MEPs in October.
The IINS is based at the same address in Delhi as Srivastava Group and an obscure media outlet called New Delhi Times.
Srivastava Group did not respond to the BBC's attempts to request comment by phone and email.
When Indian media reported the publication of EU Disinfo Lab's initial findings in November, the New Delhi Times' editor in chief Ankit Srivastava tweeted that Pakistan's intelligence services were trying to tarnish him, although he provided no evidence.
Madi Sharma has been identified by EU Disinfo Lab as central to the disinformation network. She has written for EP Today and the New Delhi Times as their "EU correspondent".
According to BBC, it was Madi Sharma who sent MEPs invitations for the controversial trip to Kashmir. She signed the invitation letters as the Founder and CEO of the Women's Economic and Social Think Tank (WESTT) and said the trip would be sponsored by the IINS.
Madi Sharma, who also goes by the name Madhu Sharma, is a British member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
EESC shared its new code of conduct with the BBC. It requires "integrity, openness, diligence, honesty, accountability and respect for the Committee's reputation" and avoidance of conflicts of interest.
Ms Sharma has not signed the new code of conduct."
The BBC tried to contact Madi Sharma and Ankit Srivastava directly and through their respective organisations, WESTT and Srivastava Group, but they did not respond.
