Indian Army takes to Whatsapp to combat misinformation campaign

The army has a new problem on its hands: A misinformation campaign on social media. The army has accordingly allotted three officers to dealing with Whatsapp, Twitter and Facebook. [caption id=“attachment_2119039” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image.[/caption] According to The Indian Express, the army chief gets a daily report on the Army’s social media activities of the previous day and coming plans for the day. Sometimes the team even gets suggestions, that are handed down to the Additional Director-General (Public Information), or ADGPI, who passes it on. The goal of the social media team, especially on WhatsApp where it monitors up to 300 groups, is to counter a negative message within hours and promote a positive one within minutes, says the report. It’s not the first time the Indian Army has taken to social media to combat negative attention it receives. In December last year, the Northern Army Commander Lt-Gen DS Hooda admitted to the "mistake" by his personnel in killing of two civilians in Kashmir. This led to a slew of reactions and Hooda had to write to his men saying “not to fall prey” to print, electronic and social media opinions. He had also written: “Mistakes will happen. Let me assure you that I have a clear understanding of the difficulties under which we operate and that nobody will be unfairly harmed. This clear message must go out to all units. “Our Army’s ethic and values, backed by a strong military justice system, are the best in the world. These will serve to guide us and also protect us. You and your men are doing an outstanding job in the most exacting of circumstances and your well being is uppermost in my mind.” Following the recent terror attacks, a fresh wave of messages have started appearing attacking the army leadership in the state and some of which were purportedly written by young officers. The army believes that these were “misinformation campaign”, possibly orchestrated from across the border to dampen the spirit of the force. Asked about the latest message doing the rounds, army sources said they checked with the officers who have denied sending any such message. A circular in this regard was issued two years back which had said “Facebook, Twitter and Orkut” were only meant for private conversations and not to discuss operational details. “Data sent on these are unsecure as data can be intercepted,” the circular read. With inputs from PTI