ANI, Srivastava Group named in massive EU disinformation campaign to promote Modi government’s interests
The EU DisinfoLab, an NGO based in Brussels, has published a report detailing one of the largest ever disinformation campaigns in Europe, organised by Indian stakeholders, to further the interests of the Indian government and the prime minister Narendra Modi.
Among the prime players of this disinformation campaign are Asian News International, India’s largest video news agency, and the Srivastava group – a shadowy business conglomerate that came into the spotlight in India after it organised a visit to Kashmir for far-right members of the European Parliament, in late 2019. The report, titled “Indian Chronicles,”… described how fake media websites and NGOs run by the Srivastava group lobbied members of the European parliament, or MEPs, to write op-eds taking pro-India stances…. ANI then quoted these as credible reports from European media, from where Indian media and news channels reproduced and disseminated them, unchecked. The Les Jours report suggested that the entire operation could be linked to Indian intelligence services.
