Far-right Indian news site publishes racist conspiracy. U.S. tech companies continue with platform

“The aim is to amplify this disinformation and when the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders share it, people will think it’s real,” Naik said. “In the long run, something like this builds the argument to critics and journalists that this person is bad, because there will be unfavorable coverage against them.”

When WIRED reached out to OpIndia for comment, Sharma responded to our emailed questions and posted them to X.

When asked about hate speech and misinformation on her site, Sharma wrote: “Our critics are mostly Islamists, jihadists, terrorists, leftists, and their sympathizers just like you. We don’t particularly care about any of them.” She added: “Islamophobia does not exist,” he added, pointing to an OpIndia article outlining his position. Asked whether she received funding from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Sharma added: “That’s not your concern.” Sharma’s post also tagged one of the authors of the article, who faced heavy abuse from Sharma’s followers.

Activists and researchers have tried for years to highlight the problematic content published by OpIndia. 2020 campaign by UK-based advocacy group Stop Funding Hate As a result, many advertisers have removed their ads from their sites. But Google says the content published on the site does not appear to violate its own rules.

“All sites in our network, including Opindia, Publisher policyThis expressly prohibits advertising from appearing alongside content that promotes hate speech, violence, or demonstrably false claims that could undermine confidence in or participation in elections.” said Google spokesperson Michael Aciman. “Publishers are also subject to regular reviews, and ads from violating content are actively blocked or removed.”

Nevertheless, users have noticed that many OpIndia articles promoting conspiracy and Islamophobia, published with the help of ad exchange platforms such as market leader Google’s Ad Manager, appear next to Temu and Palm Beach Post. You can find advertisements for.

Facebook, on the other hand, is like a “walled garden,” Wiley said. If you meet the company’s monetization criteria, such as having 1,000 followers or more, you can earn money from ads posted on your page.

The researchers who spoke to WIRED were unable to determine exactly how much the site made from Google ads and Facebook monetization, but said it’s likely that OpIndia doesn’t rely solely on ad exchanges for revenue. Like many news organizations in India, some of its funding appears to come in the form of more traditional advertising from its main client, the government.

“Most mainstream news outlets in India depend on government advertising to survive,” says Prashant Bhat, a media studies professor at the University of Houston. “That revenue is essential for mainstream media to survive in a competitive media environment like India’s. India has about 400 24-hour TV news channels in various languages ​​and more than 10,000 registered newspapers. They definitely need government patronage to survive.”

Sharma acknowledged that OpIndia relies partly on advertisements from the government. “Literally every media company receives advertisements from different political parties,” Sharma said. “In fact, part of your salary may even be funded by such political parties and their sympathizers. Get off your high horse.”