--- title: Indian Chronicles:fake local outlets, revived NGOs and a borrowed professor url: https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/ description: researchers at EU DisinfoLab traced hundreds of websites posing as local news outlets, a set of revived UN-accredited NGOs and the reused name of a dead… section: Case studies --- ![Illustration: a contemporary investigator's evidence wall of printed social-media posts, network diagrams and a pinned world map, in the same dossier style as the rest of the archive.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-contemporary-evidence-wall.jpg) [Case studies](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/) # Indian Chronicles:fake local outlets, revived NGOs and a borrowed professor At a glance Researchers at EU DisinfoLab traced hundreds of websites posing as local news outlets, a set of revived UN-accredited NGOs and the reused name of a dead law professor to one New Delhi business group… - **When:** November 2019 - **Actor:** The Srivastava Group… - **Target:** European Parliament members and staff… - **Source:** Impersonated Source falsified: fake personas, outlets or documents - **Confidence:** **high** Multiple independent open sources, low disagreement about the facts - **Techniques:** [Narrative laundering](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/narrative-laundering/) [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Manufactured consensus](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/manufactured-consensus/) Full details - **Actor:** The Srivastava Group (New Delhi) and affiliated NGOs, think tanks and websites, per EU DisinfoLab; content amplified by Asian News International (ANI). No state attribution established. - **Target:** European Parliament members and staff; UN Human Rights Council delegates and side-event audiences; readers of Indian news media; international audiences reading about Pakistan and, to a lesser extent, China On this page - [What happened](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#what-happened) - [How it works](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#how-it-works) - [Then and now](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#then-and-now) - [Positions on the record](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#positions-on-the-record) - [Same-method test](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#same-method-test) - [How to spot it](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#how-to-spot-it) - [Images](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#images) - [Sources](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/indian-chronicles-network/#sources) On this page **In one line:** researchers at EU DisinfoLab traced hundreds of websites posing as local news outlets, a set of revived UN-accredited NGOs and the reused name of a dead law professor to one New Delhi business group, and showed how their anti-Pakistan material reached Indian mainstream media through a national news agency. They did not find, and did not claim, a link to the Indian government. ![Diagram: a New Delhi group runs look-alike outlets and revived NGOs; they place content in Brussels and Geneva settings; ANI repackages it as news; Indian and other outlets repeat it; a dashed box notes that no state attribution was made](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/indian-chronicles-network-diagram.svg) ## What happened - **October to November 2019.** EU DisinfoLab, a Brussels research NGO, looks into *EP Today*, a website styled as a news magazine about the European Parliament. It finds the site is run by Indian stakeholders tied to the Srivastava Group, a New Delhi company. The group's IP address also hosts the *New Delhi Times* and the International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies (IINS), both at the same New Delhi address (Newslaundry; YaleGlobal). - **November 2019: the first report.** "Uncovered: 265 coordinated fake local media outlets serving Indian interests". Following the servers, EU DisinfoLab finds more than 265 sites in more than 65 countries. Many took the names of defunct newspapers or names close to real outlets. They mixed general news with material critical of Pakistan. - **Same month.** The Wire and Scroll.in report that the group that sponsored a late-October 2019 trip by Members of the European Parliament to Jammu and Kashmir was linked to this network. The reports do not show whether the MEPs knew who ran the outlets. ThePrint reported that 22 of the 27 MEPs on the trip came from parties it described as right-wing, including Rassemblement National, Law and Justice, the Brexit Party, Lega and AfD. EU DisinfoLab's 2020 report says the Srivastava Group sponsored the trip in partnership with the Women's Economic and Social Think Tank (WESTT), a Brussels NGO whose president, Madi Sharma, sent the invitations (EU DisinfoLab summary; Newslaundry). - **December 2020: the main report.** "Indian Chronicles: deep dive into a 15-year operation targeting the EU and UN to serve Indian interests". EU DisinfoLab dates the operation to 2005 and counts: - more than 750 fake local media outlets covering 119 countries (some accounts give 116); - more than 550 registered domain names; - more than 10 NGOs accredited to the UN Human Rights Council, most of them defunct organisations brought back into use. - **The borrowed professor.** Louis B. Sohn, a Harvard international-law scholar, died in 2006. Network material listed him as taking part in a Human Rights Council session in 2007 and in a Washington, D.C. event in 2011. - **The newest outlet.** EU DisinfoLab calls *EU Chronicle* the latest version of the operation. A companion report describes how it was set up with fake journalists. Op-eds by MEPs appeared on these sites. According to the researchers, many of the MEPs thought the outlets were real. - **The relay.** EU DisinfoLab reports that Asian News International (ANI), a major Indian news agency, repackaged pieces from *EU Chronicle* and similar sites as news. Hundreds of other domains then reused them, and the material reached Indian mainstream media (The Quint; The Caravan; Tribune India). - **What the researchers said about attribution.** EU DisinfoLab attributed the operation to the Srivastava Group and the amplification to ANI. It cautioned against attributing the operation to specific actors such as the Indian intelligence services without further investigation, and said it had found no evidence of their direct involvement (The Diplomat; Al Jazeera). - **Friday 11 December 2020: India's government.** Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, as reported by Tribune India: "India as a responsible country does not practise disinformation". Other outlets reported the wording as "as a responsible democracy". He added that it was "the country next door" that circulated "fictional and fabricated dossiers" and fake news, a reference to Pakistan (Tribune India; The Wire; Dawn). - **Pakistan and China.** Pakistan's Foreign Office publicly answered India's denial, and Pakistani broadcasters and newspapers led with the report (Dawn; Geo; The News). The Islamabad Policy Research Institute, a Pakistani think tank, published a commentary on it. China's *Global Times*, a People's Daily publication, ran it as an Indian company that had "churned out propaganda against Pakistan and China for 15 years". ## How it works - [Narrative laundering](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/narrative-laundering/): this is the core method. As the researchers reconstruct it, the material passes through three steps: a look-alike outlet or a revived NGO, then a Brussels or Geneva venue (an MEP op-ed, a Human Rights Council session), then ANI's newswire. By the time it reaches an Indian newspaper, it reads as European or UN reporting, not as the output of a New Delhi company. - [Astroturfing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/astroturf/): the "local" outlets have no local newsroom. *EU Chronicle*'s writers were fake, according to EU DisinfoLab. The NGOs are defunct bodies brought back to speak at the UN under their old accreditation. The personas and organisations are not what they present themselves as. - [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/): the names borrow authority. *EP Today* and *EU Chronicle* borrow from EU institutions, the hundreds of sites borrow from real or defunct local papers, and the NGOs borrow the standing of UN accreditation. - [Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/): named people vouch for the material: MEPs' bylined op-eds, and a dead professor's name on events he could not have attended. The name and the office lend the material an authority a reader may not think to check. - [Manufactured consensus](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/manufactured-consensus/): more than 750 outlets, NGO speakers and newswire copy repeat the same lines. To a reader it looks as if many independent voices reached the same view on Pakistan on their own. One group was behind them, according to the researchers. ![European Parliament buildings, Espace Léopold, Brussels, 2016](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/images/indian-chronicles-network-european-parliament-2016.jpg) *European Parliament buildings in the Espace Léopold, Brussels, February 2016. Photo by Wikimedia user Jordiferrer, CC BY-SA 4.0. For illustration only: this is the institution whose name and setting outlets such as* EP Today *drew on. The building and the Parliament are not part of the operation.* ## Then and now ![Russian Ads on Facebook (House Intelligence Committee exhibit)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/ira-facebook-ads-hpsci-2018.jpg) *['Russian Ads on Facebook' (House Intelligence Committee exhibit)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ira-facebook-ads-hpsci-2018/), U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 2018 (reproducing 2016 Facebook pages run by Russia's Internet Research Agency). Public domain.* - **Same region, same season, both sides.** On 1 April 2019, in one announcement, Facebook removed networks from both countries for coordinated inauthentic behaviour: 103 Pages, Groups and accounts linked to employees of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing; 687 Pages and accounts linked to individuals associated with an Indian National Congress IT Cell; and 15 Pages, Groups and accounts linked to an Indian IT firm, Silver Touch. By Facebook's account, all three used fake or concealed identities to push political content. - **The differences.** Facebook's attribution in the ISPR case reached employees of a state body. EU DisinfoLab's reached a private group and a news agency, and stopped short of the state. The ISPR and Congress networks worked mainly on one platform's pages and accounts. Indian Chronicles worked mainly through websites, NGO accreditations and a newswire. It aimed at EU and UN decision-makers and at readers of Indian news. - **Across blocs.** The Russian Internet Research Agency pages shown above posed as American community groups. Indian Chronicles posed as local newspapers and civil-society groups. In both, borrowed local identity carries a message from elsewhere. [Matryoshka's midterm clips: borrowed faces and a borrowed logo](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/matryoshka-midterm-clips/) (Russia-aligned) pasted a CNN logo onto clips, a borrowed-masthead move like *EP Today*'s borrowed EU name. [The Hanover Institute: reports written for chatbots to cite](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/hanover-institute-chatbots/) (Israel) used a think-tank name, but there the state client is on the record in FARA filings; in Indian Chronicles no state client is. ## Positions on the record - **Government of India:** the Ministry of External Affairs said India does not practise disinformation, and pointed to Pakistan as the source of fabricated dossiers and fake news (Tribune India, 11 December 2020). - **Government of Pakistan and Pakistani media:** Pakistan's Foreign Office rejected India's denial, and Pakistani outlets presented the report as an exposé of Indian lobbying against Pakistan (Dawn; Geo, December 2020). - **EU DisinfoLab:** the operation is run by the Srivastava Group and amplified by ANI. The researchers made no formal attribution to the Indian government or intelligence services. - **ANI:** its editor, Smita Prakash, wrote on Twitter on 11 December 2020 that the report was an attempt by "Pakistan and its proxies to hurt ANI's credibility" (Scroll.in; Global Voices). - **Srivastava Group:** EU DisinfoLab and the BBC reported that the group did not respond to their requests for comment (Scroll.in). - **What is documented:** the sites, domains, shared hosting and New Delhi address; the revived NGO accreditations; Sohn's name used after his death; ANI's repackaging of network content; the MEA statement; use of the report by Pakistan's government and media and by China's state media; and Facebook's April 2019 removals of Pakistani and Indian networks. - **What is not shown / disputed:** - who funded the operation, and whether any state body directed it; - how far readers were actually persuaded; - how many of the MEPs who wrote op-eds or travelled knew who was behind the outlets; - the country count (119 in EU DisinfoLab's summary figures, 116 in some other accounts). This page makes no finding on the underlying India-Pakistan disputes the content addressed. ## Same-method test Swap the flag and the finding stands. The U.S. Central Command sites in [CENTCOM / Pentagon “gc_” newsroom network](https://propagandaarchive.org/campaigns/centcom-gc-network/) present themselves as independent regional newsrooms, and their government funding is disclosed only on an About page. Russia's Internet Research Agency ran fake American community pages. A Pakistani, Chinese or Western network that revived dead NGOs to speak at the UN, listed a dead scholar at its events, and fed its op-eds to a national newswire would be tagged the same way. The difference is attribution. The CENTCOM and IRA cases name a state or state-linked principal. Indian Chronicles, as documented, names a private group and a news agency. ## How to spot it - Check a "local" outlet's domain registration, hosting and masthead. Clusters of look-alike titles on shared servers are a warning sign, and so is a revived name of a defunct paper. - When an NGO speaks at the UN, look up its accreditation date and its recent activity. An accreditation from decades ago plus a sudden burst of activity is worth a second look. - When a newswire quotes an "EU" or "European" outlet, open the source. Look for named staff and an address, and check whether the byline belongs to a real, living person. ## Images | Image | Source | Licence | | --- | --- | --- | | Mechanism diagram (above) | Drawn for FRAME from the sourced facts on this page (`make_diagrams.py`) | CC BY 4.0, FRAME | | European Parliament buildings, Brussels (2016) | [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EU_Parliament_-_Brussels_2016_01.jpg), Jordiferrer | CC BY-SA 4.0 (960px thumbnail, unmodified); Belgian freedom of panorama covers the building | | *Russian Ads on Facebook* (2018 exhibit) | FRAME gallery | Public domain (U.S. government work) | ### Image gaps - **Screenshots of *EP Today*, *EU Chronicle* and the look-alike local sites.** Not included: the sites' text and design are not openly licensed, and FRAME does not host copyrighted screenshots. - **Figures from the EU DisinfoLab reports (network maps, hosting charts).** Not included: no open licence could be confirmed, and disinfo.eu could not be reached from the environment used to build this page. **Fillable** if EU DisinfoLab states or grants an open licence. - **The Palais des Nations, Geneva (seat of the Human Rights Council sessions).** No clean exterior image was found in the time available. The candidate files had an unrelated artwork (*Broken Chair*) in the foreground. **Fillable** from Commons. - **Louis B. Sohn.** No openly licensed portrait was found. Using his photo could also repeat the impersonation. ## Sources - [ThePrint, October 2019: several European parliamentarians visiting Kashmir are from right-wing, anti-Islam parties](https://theprint.in/diplomacy/several-european-parliamentarians-visiting-kashmir-are-from-right-wing-anti-islam-parties/312599/) - [EU DisinfoLab, "Indian Chronicles: deep dive into a 15-year operation targeting the EU and UN to serve Indian interests", December 2020](https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/indian-chronicles-deep-dive-into-a-15-year-operation-targeting-the-eu-and-un-to-serve-indian-interests/) - [EU DisinfoLab, *Indian Chronicles* summary (PDF), December 2020](https://www.disinfo.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Indian-chronicles_SUMMARY.pdf) - [EU DisinfoLab, "Indian Chronicles: a recipe for how to set up a fake local media with fake journalists"](https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/indian-chronicles:-a-recipe-to-set-up-fake-media-and-fake-journalists) - [EU DisinfoLab, "Uncovered: 265 coordinated fake local media outlets serving Indian interests", November 2019](https://www.disinfo.eu/publications/uncovered-265-coordinated-fake-local-media-outlets-serving-indian-interests/) - [Newslaundry, 14 November 2019: "'Indian influence network' runs 265 fake media outlets across 65 countries: EU Disinfo Lab"](https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/11/14/265-fake-news-sites-across-65-countries-managed-by-indian-influence-network-eu-disinfo-lab) - [YaleGlobal Online: "Fake Media Outlets on India Topics: EU DisinfoLab"](https://archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/fake-media-outlets-india-topics-eu-disinfolab) - [The Wire, November 2019: "Network of 265 Fake Media Outlets Linked to Group Sponsoring MEPs' Kashmir Visit"](https://thewire.in/world/mep-kashmir-visit-fake-news) - [Scroll.in, November 2019: group that sponsored MEPs' travel to J&K linked to India-based fake news network](https://scroll.in/latest/943651/group-that-sponsored-meps-travel-to-j-k-linked-to-india-based-global-fake-news-lobby-network-ngo) - [Newslaundry, 7 November 2019: "Remember Madi Sharma, whose obscure NGO sponsored European MPs' visit to Kashmir? She's also into lobbying"](https://www.newslaundry.com/2019/11/07/remember-madi-sharma-whose-obscure-ngo-sponsored-european-mps-visit-to-kashmir-shes-also-into-lobbying) - [Al Jazeera, 11 December 2020: "EU NGO report uncovers Indian disinformation campaign"](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/11/eu-ngo-report-uncovers-a-15-year-disinformation-campaign) - [The Diplomat, December 2020: "EU Non-Profit Unearths Massive Indian Disinformation Campaign"](https://thediplomat.com/2020/12/eu-non-profit-unearths-massive-indian-disinformation-campaign/) - [Scroll.in, December 2020: "What the EU NGO report claiming to have uncovered a 15-year Indian disinformation campaign tells us"](https://scroll.in/article/980833/what-the-eu-ngo-report-claiming-to-have-uncovered-a-15-year-indian-disinformation-campaign-tells-us) - [Global Voices, 24 December 2020: "European NGO uncovers 15-year Indian disinformation campaign"](https://globalvoices.org/2020/12/24/european-ngo-uncovers-a-15-year-indian-disinformation-campaign/) - [The Quint, December 2020: "ANI Boosted Huge Global Network of Fake Media Websites: Study"](https://www.thequint.com/news/webqoof/ani-srivastava-group-used-disinformation-to-aid-government-study) - [The Caravan, December 2020: "ANI, Srivastava Group named in massive EU disinformation campaign"](https://caravanmagazine.in/media/ani-srivastava-group-named-in-eu-disinformation-campaign-to-promote-modi-govts-interests) - [Tribune India, December 2020: "Delhi think tank led disinformation drive: EU NGO"](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/delhi-think-tank-led-disinformation-drive-in-eu-ngo-182459) - [Tribune India, 11 December 2020: "No role in disinformation campaign: MEA"](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/no-role-in-disinformation-campaign-mea-183119) - [The Wire, December 2020: "'Disinformation Op': India Responsible Democracy, Doesn't Practice Such Campaigns, Says MEA"](https://thewire.in/south-asia/european-union-disinformation-india-pakistan-ani-srivastava) - [Dawn, December 2020: "Disinformation network: FO hits back at India's denial following exposé"](https://www.dawn.com/news/1595361) - [Dawn, December 2020: "Indian network lobbying against Pakistan exposed"](https://www.dawn.com/news/1594928) - [Geo News, December 2020: "Uncovered: India's 15-year information warfare operation to internationally malign Pakistan"](https://www.geo.tv/latest/323352-over-750-india-backed-websites-working-to-defame-pakistan) - [The News (Pakistan), December 2020: report summarising the BBC's coverage](https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/756806-bbc-denudes-india-s-fake-media-outlets-to-discredit-pakistan) - [Islamabad Policy Research Institute: "The 'Indian Chronicles': A Modern-day Propaganda Machine"](https://ipripak.org/the-indian-chronicles-a-modern-day-propaganda-machine/) - [Global Times, December 2020: "Indian company backed by right-wing European forces has churned out propaganda against Pakistan and China for 15 years"](https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1210181.shtml) - [Nathaniel Gleicher, "Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior and Spam From India and Pakistan", Facebook Newsroom, 1 April 2019](https://about.fb.com/news/2019/04/cib-and-spam-from-india-pakistan/) - Gallery: ['Russian Ads on Facebook' (House Intelligence Committee exhibit)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ira-facebook-ads-hpsci-2018/). Related cases: [CENTCOM / Pentagon “gc_” newsroom network](https://propagandaarchive.org/campaigns/centcom-gc-network/), [The Hanover Institute: reports written for chatbots to cite](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/hanover-institute-chatbots/), [Matryoshka's midterm clips: borrowed faces and a borrowed logo](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/matryoshka-midterm-clips/).