Ranchi: A report by the Tech Justice Law Project shared by chief minister Hemant Soren has claimed that Meta is allowing BJP and its shadow pages to violate electoral law and Meta's own policies on political advertising for the Jharkhand elections.
While the official page of BJP Jharkhand is using political ads to highlight issues related to govt programmes and electoral promises, the network of shadow accounts is engaged in posting communally divisive content and attacking opposition ads, it said.
Sharing the report on his official handle on X, Soren on Wednesday wrote, "I am not wrong when I say that BJP is a showroom of lies and hatred. We Jharkhandis inherited struggle, learnt the lessons of our ancestors' valour - but these dictators got only the knowledge of spreading hatred. See how they are spending crores to spread hatred, violence, social animosity and lies against me."
In a separate statement, his party — JMM — also added, "It's a seriously worrying commentary on how democracy is being subverted by BJP."
Reacting to it, BJP said that the leftist ecosystem has dominated the public domain for a long time since Independence and its decline has unsettled many political parties that have thrived and drawn strength from this ecosystem, and the JMM is no exception.
"Our own social media presence and organisational structure are strong and capable of significantly influencing public opinion. There are numerous nationalist platforms that support the BJP out of genuine love and respect. However, we do not control or oversee all such pages," said state BJP spokesperson Ajay Sah told TOI.
"Lastly, the Election Commission of India (ECI) possesses sufficient power and authority to regulate and monitor all such campaigning mechanisms effectively," he added.
The report added that through at least 87 such pages linked to BJP narratives, shadow accounts spent at least Rs 81.03 lakh in the last three months, almost the same as the BJP Jharkhand account.
Other major political parties, such as INC Jharkhand and JMM, did not spend on political ads during this period, it said.
Tech Justice Law Project is a non-profit digital watchdog and a collective of legal experts, policy advocates, digital rights organisations, and technologists aimed at enforcing the 'campaign for accountability'.
Highlighting the key findings, the report added, "As per Meta's transparency reports on political advertising, at least Rs 2.25 crore has been spent already on political ads in the last three months. Almost half of this total expenditure is from the BJP's official page, spending Rs 97.09 lakh, garnering 10 crore impressions through more than 3080 ads."
However, BJP is getting a huge boost through its shadow advertisers. "While the official page of BJP Jharkhand is using political ads to highlight issues related to govt programmes and electoral promises, the network of shadow accounts is engaged in posting communally divisive content and attack ads. Our research identified at least 87 such pages actively purchasing ads on Meta linked to BJP narratives. Taken together, these shadow accounts spent at least Rs 81.03 lakh in the last three months," it added.
Shadow pages have been pushing out almost five times the number of ads and receiving almost quadruple the number of impressions as the official BJP Jharkhand page. "In other words, one rupee spent by the shadow network is seen by four times as many people as one rupee spent by the BJP Jharkhand page. During this period, other major political parties such as INC Jharkhand and JMM did not spend on political ads," claimed the report.
The international watchdog also maintained that the verification information provided in the disclaimer for these shadow pages appears to be junk. "Researchers tried the mobile number on different days at different times and found it always switched off. Other necessary transparency requirements are missing, and the address mentioned in the profiles cannot be pinpointed on a map," it said.
Citing an example of such a shadow page (Jharkhand Chaupal), the report said, "One rupee spent by Jharkhand Chaupal goes thrice as far as one rupee spent by BJP Jharkhand. This raises serious questions on Meta's policies around political advertising and pricing."
A few other 'shadow pages' identified in the report include ‘Badlega Jharkhand, Khijri Sankalp, and Lohardaga Vidhansabha,' among others. The report questioned Meta's policies, stating how the ads with dehumanising images of the chief minister of Jharkhand, depicted with horns, were identified across different pages and used in communal ads around Diwali.
"Short-form animated videos were also found containing communally divisive and fear-mongering content where Hindus wearing orange are shown as running away from a group of men wearing green clothes and caps, employing stereotypes of Muslim attire. As per Supreme Court orders, all political advertisements have to be pre-certified by the Election Commission of India," it said.