Cobweb of pro-Indian fake websites found

Researchers have detected a vast network of 265 pro-Indian fake websites that continuously feed disinformation to influence the public and policymakers worldwide.

The websites operate from 65 countries and have been traced back to an Indian company, Srivastava group.

EU Disinfo, a Brussels-based NGO published a report on Monday saying that these fake websites are managed by Indian influence network. 

The organisation listed websites such as Times of Portugal, The Dublin Gazette and New York Morning Telegraph in its report saying that they were "serving Indian governmental interests".

The investigation of EU Disinfo Lab started after EUvsDisinfo discovered a website named EP Today. EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the European External Action Service's East StratCom Task Force.

In early October, EP Today's website had been re-publishing large numbers of news directly from Russia Today and Voice of America, claiming itself to be an online magazine for the European Parliament in Brussels. 

Among these contents, EU Disinfo Lab found a large number of articles and op-eds related to minorities in Pakistan as well as other India-related matters. 

The organization quickly discovered that EP Today is managed by Indian stakeholders, with ties to a large network of think tanks, NGOs, and companies from the Srivastava Group. 

According to the website of Srivastava Group, they are "among the fastest-growing business houses in the country with interests in Natural resources, Clean energy, Airspace, Consulting services, Healthcare, Print Media and Publishing." 

"The IP address of Srivastava Group was home to the obscure online media "New Delhi Times" and the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (IINS), which are all based at the same address in New Delhi, India," EU Disinfo Lab's report states.  

The report goes on to further detail the investigation into the network that helped them come up with the list of websites that were "designed to influence the European Union and the United Nations by repeatedly criticising Pakistan."

Although the full report came in Monday, EU Disinfo Lab published their initial findings on November 13. 

When Indian media reported about it in November, the New Delhi Times' Editor-in-Chief Ankit Srivastava tweeted that Pakistan's intelligence services were trying to tarnish him, although he provided no evidence.

British public service broadcaster BBC talked to the Executive Director of EU Disinfo Lab Alexandre Alaphilippe.

"More than the fake media outlets alone, it is their combination with the fake NGOs that's really worrying because it provides a mirage of online and grassroots support to a cause. That's exactly where the disinformation lies," Alexandre told BBC.