[Need of the day] A Toolkit for global chatrooms to manage narratives on the internet

People align across the globe on issues via chatrooms

A young Nobel Peace Prize nominee from Sweden, a Lebanese ex-porn star and a Barbadian popstar recently spoke in support of Indian farmers protesting thousands of miles away. Farmer protests instantly became international news and invoked reactions from across the globe. The plot thickened when a protest ‘toolkit’ was found on the internet which people across the globe drafted and edited. Various hypothesis about the hidden agenda of a global campaign and external interference in India’s matters emerged. This won’t be an isolated incident where the world used the internet and social media to point fingers in India; or any country, as a matter of fact. So, what should be India’s own toolkit to manage global narratives on the internet?

Internet and social media have given birth to big global ‘chatrooms’. Here, country lines are getting blurred and ideological lines are becoming stronger. One increasingly finds oneself aligning with someone in Toronto, New York or Colombo rather than with one’s neighbour, brother or childhood friend because one’s ideology and interests align better with those individuals outside the country. Increasingly, we notice that the global right-wing and the left-wing people cut across borders to align on various issues like terrorism or abortion. Debates, outrage and polarization have now gone global. Cross-border influences is not a new phenomenon. For ages, ideologies, ideas, science, culture and music travelled miles and found new homes. But now, the exchange directly involves common people on a many-to-many basis, and it happens in real-time. Humanity has moved a step closer to the democratization of voices.

Our issues aren’t our ‘internal’ issues anymore

In these global chatrooms, domestic issues of countries no more remain their ‘own internal matters’. That’s what is shaking up the roofs of these chatrooms. Governments and citizens are raising concerns about ‘outsiders’ interfering in their ‘internal matters’. Whether it is on the issue of foreign influence in US elections or incitement of separatist movements in India by foreign entities, the internet platforms have been accused of ‘facilitating’ interference. Whether external interferences with mal-intent do happen or not is a different debate, but it can’t be denied that the global chatrooms don’t truly operate neutrally. Though they contribute to the democratization of voices, serious deficiencies exist in their policies and procedures.

Global chat room can be rigged – the issue is real

A few platforms like Twitter and Facebook not only have a monopoly over the global ‘voices’ but are also known to have opaque policies about filtering content or blocking people from posting content. Further, these platforms can be influenced by powerful corporates, rigged by bots, arm-twisted by governments or highjacked by organized groups. International funds flowing into a country can cause a narrative to be set on these platforms in a coordinated and planned manner by dedicated teams. If these imperfections exist, accusations of pushing ‘Foreign Destructive Ideology (FDI)’ into a country will keep popping up and calls for banning platforms like Twitter will keep getting louder. China has, in fact, resorted to an extreme strategy of banning most global platforms and replaced those with local replicas which operate in isolation.

How could India play in the global chat room?

So, what should India’s own toolkit for managing global platforms contain?

International voices

Firstly, India needs to have a greater share of international voices by nurturing global thought leaders and think tank institutions whose voices on global events matter. Unfortunately, today we don’t have many Indian journalists, scientists, activists, intellectuals or economists who have international stature and the ability to set a global narrative. We need our own influencers like Gretas, Elon Musks, Meenas and Rihannas whose voice reaches corners of the world. If we let a one-sided flow of influence (from outside into India), selective outrage will flourish. International celebrities and influencers will speak up only when it suits their agenda or their understanding of issues and not necessarily when India wants its own campaigns to go global.

We need our own intellectuals equipped with their versions of toolkits that operate globally.

Secondly, we need to have greater interest and expertise in other countries’ history, culture and current affairs. We are too busy debating our own internal issues and responding to global criticism in India. Indians on the global chatrooms need to demonstrate knowledge on world affairs, offer insightful commentary and suggest solutions. This would allow us to garner respect from the outside world, set a narrative outside India and put our own strengths and weaknesses in the right perspective vis-à-vis other countries.

Look outwards rather than inwards

One of the reasons for our inability to achieve both above is that over the last few centuries, we have turned more inward-looking than outward-looking. If we want to garner respect and lead in making a positive difference in the world, we will have to look outwards rather than be busy debating and defending our own issues. There are many global issues like climate change, gun violence, racism and wealth inequality but we rarely find Indian voices on social media leading these issues globally.

We need global figures like Gandhi who led the independence movement outside India (in South Africa) and Subhash Chandra Bose who forged global alliances for India’s cause of independence. After all, for millennia India was a country of thinkers and thought leader of the world. Nalanda and Taxila were the world’s intellectual capital where students from across continents came to learn. To do this in today’s world, the internet and social media can be extremely useful platforms and we should aspire to lead global discussions in the chatrooms.

Despite its imperfections, only good will come out of the cross-border democratization of dialogues on the internet. Because when millions debate and their ideas travel unhindered, the truth finally surfaces, and any false narrative ultimately gets exposed. India, with its rich history of intellect and ideas and educated masses, has an opportunity to play an important role in this journey. We just need to get smarter and more focused on it.