Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
As social media is now a rage among citizens, a few charlatans have turned it into a lucrative business by misusing the platform for maligning companies and elite in the society. There is no dearth of talented youth who for quick money are at beck and call of people who use them to hilt for defaming their rivals. Cyber Cells of State Police are now actively engaged in filtering out such malicious content and isolate the dark figures of the net and expose them. This phenomena has gained currency in dark net and is termed as Cyber Supari, said the police officials
Speaking on the condition of anonymity stated that people have in fact formed companies and many of them have flourised right here in city and raking in moolah. The most easy target are politicians as for them image is their biggest asset and rival are commissioning fake videos and photshopped images. These firms are even lodging fake complaints on social media accounts against companies that are to be targeted. These firms have inorganic base of followers on social media platforms who are getting paid for following instructions of these firms and helping in actively spreading the defaming content on social media, the official said and added that they are trying to stamp out Cyber Supari but having difficulty as rumours gain acceptance in our society very fast.
The illegal business has gained currency in recent years and they are using Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApps and other social media platforms to further their cause. They have chains of WhatsApp groups in which they post a fake video and particular messages against their target. Then group members (paid members of the firms) make the video and prepare messages that go viral in other groups in no time.
The officer claimed that such campaigns can be easily identified if one observe the patterns of the messages being circulated on the social media platforms. The firms are paying Rs 60 paise per message to their paid members.
In businesses where competition is now very intense, the social media platform are now a major cause of worry. As there is no policing of these platforms in the country. Therefore anyone can misuse the media and get away. These companies are using fake social media accounts to run such campaign, he said. Three major companies were targeted by such groups in the recent past that resulted in them closing down their business.
No twitter a campaign is started against a particular person or company on a particular subject on a large extent. Very soon the subject starts trending as it does not take long for 'bots' to lap and start spreading the falsehood in the digital world. Soon after, common users of Twitter too joined them and the count of tweets with a particular hashtag zooms.
This is turn is not very good for flourishing economy like India as now a days Start-ups boom has become a norm. And established firms may adopt this short cuts of using 'bots' to take out fledging companies before they become dangerous for their business.
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