New Delhi: After the Punjab Police crackdown on notorious extremist Amritpal Singh, social media started buzzing with a lot of disinformation. Various social media handles backed by Khalistani extremists and ISI are allegedly found to be spreading fake news to deceive people. Various handles impersonating news media outlets were seen disseminating fake videos and wrong information. These accounts were using hashtags like “Khalistan Zindabad”, “Punjab under siege” and “We stand with Amritpal”, apart from tags related to Amritpal. Some accounts were also fanning Pakistan’s Kashmir propaganda and the hashtag “Free Kashmir” was also seen in some social media posts.
Earlier, a state-wide crackdown was launched against “Waris Punjab De” chief Amritpal Singh and his associates. On 18 March, hundreds of people associated with the organization were arrested but the authorities were not able to catch Amritpal Singh.
After that, mobile internet and SMS services in the state were suspended for three days and later the ban was lifted and only four districts Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Moga and Sangrur were under the ban, but later mobile shutdown was limited to Tarn Taran and Firozpur. Broadband and other emergency messaging services were not restricted.
The Twitter handle named @SatlujTV with only 422 followers is spreading fake news. They are also using other social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube to spread propaganda. According to reports, Sutluj TV is based in the USA in Glendale, Arizona, and is owned by Surinder Singh and Tony Mangat, Khalistani sympathisers. After the crackdown, Satluj TV uploaded various videos on social media platforms, where Amritpal Singh is manifested as an anti-drug activist and Punjab is called “India-occupied Punjab”
With only 813 subscribers on YouTube, the propaganda channel Satluj TV is using white-American faces to disseminate fake news. One of their anchors’ named Bob William is calling Punjab “Indian-occupied Punjab” and in his report, he is misleading with facts like the “situation in the state is intense”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCWJ2xtk4wE
Another anchor from Satluj TV named Jinger Jeffries reported that “Amritpal Singh is illegally detained by police in Indian-occupied Punjab.” Not only propaganda channels, but mainstream media houses based in Canada are also seen to be tweaking facts. Global BC, British Columbia, Canada-based channel under Global news (Corus Entertainment), portrayed Amritpal Singh as a “Youth activist.” The report by Christa Dao tried to depict Punjab under unrest.
https://twitter.com/GlobalBC/status/1637505170170052609?t=25V6NY2WhkN1ldPvZkAtQA&s=08
Various handles on Twitter were also seen spreading fake news of Amritpal Singh’s torture in police custody. TikTok is being used by Khalistani sympathisers to spread fake news in western countries like the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Although TikTok is banned in India, screen-recorded content from Chinese apps is uploaded on Twitter and Facebook to mislead people in India.
The Sunday Guardian tried to contact Sukhchain Singh Gill, IGP Punjab Police, regarding this issue, but none of this paper’s calls was answered by his office. The Punjab Police has launched a campaign to deter fake news and various users spreading disinformation were blocked. Punjab Police is also using memes to create awareness against misinformation.
Fastway TV USA, another propaganda YouTube channel, is also spreading disinformation among the Punjabi diaspora. According to information provided on YouTube, the channel is operated by “Sikh of America”, a non-profit organization. The channel is based in Renton, Washington.
The channel is spreading fake news like “Amritpal has been arrested and handed over to NIA”. In many other videos, the anchor is asking people to stand against India. The channel came into its inception in 2016. Many videos spreading disinformation are uploaded by this channel to spread hatred against India. The channel is banned on Facebook and Twitter. Short clipping from its YouTube content is used to spread fake news on other social media platforms. Two PayPal links are also connected with its YouTube channel to fund the propaganda machine.
Last month, after the Ajnala incident, the government of India banned various YouTube channels from spreading Khalistan propaganda. But after the crackdown on Amritpal-related YouTube channels, Twitter handles and Facebook pages are working round the clock to spread hatred against India and fake news.