Narratives, Information Disorder and Strategic Communication: The Case of EU Disinfo Lab and Pakistan’s Policy Response

A narrative is a story, a story that resonates with people. We identify with the stories that are contextualized in some sort of believability and relevance. The more the stories are embedded in our frame of reference, the more we find them acceptable, tolerable, normal. When it comes to strategic communication or Strat comm, leading the narrative means leading the spectrum of lobbying, policymaking, influence, and information warfare. The impact of personalized message constructions with the continuously evolving digital public sphere is enormous. Proactive engagement in disseminating relevant and timely information can help people in making value-based and informed decisions. However, if manipulated, this information can also be used to mislead them. “Indian Chronicles” is an extraordinary example to understand how strategically designed narratives were used to mislead the international community against Pakistan.

In 2019, the EU Disinfo Lab published a preliminary report on a massive operation that targeted international institutions to serve Indian interests. This operation was named “Indian Chronicles” 1. The detailed report shared in December 2020 2, unraveled the astonishing 15-year long operation which targeted European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) to lobby against Pakistan. Dead media, dead people, dead think tanks, and NGOs were resurrected, to be used as a coordinated effort to discredit Pakistan and China, however, the prime focus of this operation remained on Pakistan. The fake organizations and individuals were given a platform at United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to speak about the violation of minority rights in Pakistan. The whole effort not only maligned Pakistan’s name but also undermined the operation and integrity of UNHRC. This had severe consequences for the authentic human rights agenda of this organization given the fact that without any verification this platform was made available to fake entities and persons for their propaganda. As a communication scholar, I was intrigued to investigate this campaign by examining how influential it was and how well the Pakistani state responded to this operation.

Let’s begin with the impact of this influential campaign. Nimmo 3 designed a framework for measuring the impact of influence operations (IO), called the breakout scale. In this scale, the impact of the IO is measured through the number of online platforms targeted by the campaign, presence of online breakout, cross-medium breakout (web, TV, radio, printed news), celebrity amplification, and policy response or call for violence. Based on how many elements were found in the IO, the operation was categorized from category 1 to 6, where category 6 remained the highest in terms of the impact. The extent of influence of Indian Chronicles categorized it as a category six campaign since it included all the elements of the breakout scale.

The Indian Chronicles resurrected Professor Louis B. Sohn a prominent figure in human rights who died in 2006. A domain was registered with his name after his death and was consistently used as a propaganda tool against Pakistan. Several other identity thefts were observed including the name of Martin Schulz, former president of the European Parliament, and the photo of James Purnell, a former UK government minister. Additionally, 10+ UN Human Rights Council accredited NGOs which were mostly resurrected, were used. 750+ fake media outlets covering 119 countries and 550+ domain names registered to further the Indian agenda. The fake news of these fake platforms was laundered by Asian News International (ANI), the Indian news agency. When published at ANI the fake content was picked up by news aggregators like Yahoo and got wider amplification. This campaign is a classic example of the contamination of the information environment. It showed how the information was used out of context and/or weaponized to use against Pakistan. Analyzing Indian chronicles through the lens of information disorder provides an insight into communication aspects of this influence operation.

The pollution of the information environment is called information disorder. The term information disorder encompasses misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information, also known as types of information disorder. These types are categorized based on their falseness and/or intent to harm 4. If we talk about the first type, misinformation, it includes unintentional mistakes such as inaccurate photo captions, dates, statistics, translations, or when the satire is taken seriously. Here the intent to harm is not the direct focus of the false content. The second type is disinformation where the fabricated or deliberately manipulated audio/visual content is created to inflict harm. The intentionally created conspiracy theories or rumors are also part of disinformation. The third type is mal-information which refers to the deliberate publication of private information for personal or corporate rather than the public interest. There can be a purposeful change of context, date, or time of genuine content. The Indian Chronicles is a disinformation operation based on its falseness and intent to harm. Considering the extent and scope of this operation, the question remains about how Pakistan handled the whole situation. Let’s look at it through the lens of strategic communications.

Strategic communication works at the proactive and reactive levels. The proactive level, as the name suggests preempt a crisis and consistently engages in communication interventions to build resilience against false information. The reactive level, however, comes in place when an event or crisis has already happened and we have to deal with it. The case of Indian Chronicles showed that at the strategic communication level we failed to engage in proactive communication options. We failed to identify this operation for 15 years. Maybe we would not even know about this whole operation if it were not for EU DisInfo Lab. Moreover, we did not create an atmosphere where network building or counter branding would support our international image and foreign policy. So, the proactive intervention option was already lost.

Considering our failure to tactically and strategically use communication strategies at a proactive level, it is important to analyze how did we use this troubling and bewildering revelation when we came to know about this. How did we react?

The reactive communication options in strategic communication focused on debunking, counter-narrative, crisis communication, and policy response 5. Let’s look at it one by one through the example of Indian Chronicles.

1. Debunking

It requires leading with truth and pointing out false information. This part was already done by DisInfo Lab. At the local level, the discussion on Indian Chronicles was kept alive for roughly about a month after the discovery. The Twitter trends on the issue helped in shutting down fake websites operating within different countries. Although it was an informal engagement, the social media discourse helped the cause.

2. Counter Narrative

When the Indian Chronicles report was made public, despite it being discussed in TV shows of Urdu language Pakistani news channels it was required that the Pakistani state voice its concern on international platforms. The state should have used its international English language newspapers intelligently to tell our story by using the evidence of the report. However, the data of the top three international newspapers of Pakistan showed a very lukewarm response. From December 2020 to May 2021, The News International published a total of 87 items including editorials, news stories, and op-eds. This number was 52 for Dawn newspaper and 25 for The Express Tribune if we look at the data from December 2020 to September 2021. The data included all the items even if they mentioned Indian Chronicles indirectly. Pakistani media did not pick up the discussion of social media to enhance the debate on cross-medium platforms.

Now the question begs that if the propaganda was targeted at the international community were we able to engage with that community with counter-narratives? Unfortunately, no.

The involvement of the government in engaging these newspapers was restricted to press releases and Pakistan’s response to Indian falsehood with the truth, by engaging positively with the international community 6, was lukewarm at best. So where was the strategy or policy? No clarity on this aspect. Just a tweet from Prime Minister Imran Khan would not cut through 15-year targetted propaganda 7.

3. Crisis Communication

Crisis communication requires the government to engage effectively with media and also by involving the community and different stakeholders. It was required that we engaged in the detailed investigation of this whole pandora box and identified specifically as to what places it influenced perceptions. The extent of the damage is still unknown. We needed to have research initiatives that would analyze all of the data and build our narratives that are available on multi-platforms and act as a debunking tool. However, we did nothing of this sort.

4. Policy Response

On January 5th, 2021, Chairman Senate Rahman Malik moved a bill in a Senate committee meeting to ask the government to move to Interpol against Indian Chronicles 8. The resolution was passed by the Senate Committee on the Interior but there was no follow-up on what are the updates regarding this bill.

Currently, the government is working on curbing fake news and disinformation on the digital platform but the focus of entire policymaking and regulations is on policing of digital spaces in Pakistan. There is no policy or mechanism to counter digital assaults such as the Indian chronicles. The fact-checking initiatives of the government package the information in a highly politicized manner which loses the impact of the whole process. At the private level, we are just left with AFP fact-checking and Soch initiative which may not be enough to deal with the current environment of information disorder.

Failing the Influence and Information Warfare

The changing communication environment requires a proper communication strategy so we can deal with discrediting campaigns at the proactive and reactive levels. Indian Chronicles is just one such example of how we missed the opportunity to use important information to improve our national and international perception. There are many more examples where we failed to use evidence to support our national narrative around Kashmir. Recently, the Critical Gender Studies Program of the University of California disaffiliated Dr. Saiba Varma, an Associate Professor in the Anthropology Department and a former CGS Executive Committee member and Faculty Affiliate 9. The reason was a serious ethical and political breach in her research. Particularly, she was found to be dishonest with Kashmiri subjects in her research based on Kashmir. She was the daughter of a RAW officer and is accused of hiding her background from the trauma patients. She is also accused of using her father’s connections and gaining special access during her research. Have we used this story to highlight how at the academic level research is being used to serve as a propaganda tool? No, we have not! We also missed underscoring how Indian RAW is forming Tehrek-i-Taliban India to shield state terrorism against Kashmiri Muslims 10.

At the content creation level, we failed miserably. We are unable to create counter-content to Indian propaganda through entertainment content. We also failed to create entertainment content to counter the negative image of Pakistan. The entertainment content created by ISPR with identifying logo serves more negatively suggesting every second that it is not a story but propaganda. Meanwhile, India is using all the available options to directly and subtly influence the mindset of the international community. The TV series available on Netflix, Bard of Blood has an above average rating on IMDB. 61.4% of the reviewers rate it higher than 8 ranks making it a good recommendation if someone is interested in watching a Political espionage thriller. The TV series, now renewed for the second season, negatively portrays Pakistan’s stance in Baluchistan. There are many other examples to quote but let’s wrap up here.

The Way Forward

Knowing where we lack helps in improving that aspect. Learning from history and missed opportunities provides us the knowledge to plan our strategy. Here are a few recommendations in this regard:

Firstly, we need to have pre-bunking and debunking initiatives at multiple levels: namely through government, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), news media, and non-profit entities. Disinformation dealt with at the government level should be without politically charged framing. Such framing gives the impression that it is just the voice of the incumbent government and not an issue integral to the country. To avoid conflict of interest, IGOs and NGOs are the better options. EU Disinfo Lab is one such example of IGO, the platform developed by the European Union to counter disinformation. Non-profit and non-governmental organizations are also very relevant in combating this issue. Duke University’s Reporters’ Lab 11 identifies 300 fact-checking initiatives across the world. In Pakistan, two platforms are recognized in this regard, one is the non-profit initiative Soch Fact Check 12 and the other one is related to the news organization, AFP Fact Check Asia (Pakistan)13. We need to have more initiatives to deal with information disorders within and outside the country.

Secondly, there is a need for a dedicated policy and analysis wing with proper budget allocation to focus on the analysis of historical and current data to map a plan for the future. We need to engage academia in research and policy analysis which helps us in making better decisions. Understanding and theorizing our system and processes helps us in identifying our long-term strategic goals. Foresight is not possible without awareness based on historic and current insights. We keep on engaging in a reactive response. Always waiting for something to happen and try to manage that. This is the time we need to have more of a combination of proactive and reactive responses. Proactive by identifying the issues beforehand, the reactive is to have a proper crisis response where facts are used to share our strategic narrative.

Thirdly, we need to invest in creative content creation. People identify with stories so we should be good at telling the stories. The entertainment and journalistic content, if well developed and packaged, can do wonders in terms of its influence and impact. Considering that different target audiences exist on different platforms, more focus should be on narrowcasting (delivery of information to a limited target audience to make it more focused and relevant), content quality, content richness (using multiple communication options like short films, web series, video games, interactive content, e-marketing to name a few).

Fourthly, government officials need proper training on handling the media during a crisis. They need to understand the newsworthiness aspect of an issue and/or event so they can build a proper narrative while handling them. In policy design, the communicative aspect of the policy should be considered, wherever possible. The communicative aspect of the policy helps in understanding how the policy will be shared? How the response of people around the policy needs to be addressed? There should be a proper toolkit for combatting information disorders so they can preempt their response properly. The public relations and information sharing process in the current form is insufficient to meet the changing demands of information verification and dissemination.

Lastly, we need to focus more on fact-checking trainings for the general public and journalists. Media literacy trainings at schools and college levels can be used to train students as to how they can distinguish facts from fiction. Regarding journalists’ training fellowships can be one way. Trust Fellowship 14 is an initiative by Kalam, an affiliate of Agahi Foundation which organizes annual journalists awards in Pakistan, is focused on training journalists to create trusted narratives and build trust in journalism.

About the Author

Najma Sadiq (Ph.D.)

The author is an associate professor and head of the Mass Communication department at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). She can be reached at [email protected]

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