The EU DisinfoLab once again put exposed Indian news agency ANI (Asian News International), two years after publishing an investigative report on the Indian news agency, for allegedly using information from “non-existent” sources and ghost “experts” to propagate the anti-Pakistan/China agenda.
The Brussels-based NGO called EU DisinfoLab which specializes in combating disinformation campaigns released a new report on Thursday titled, “Bad Sources: How Indian news agency ANI quoted sources that do not exist”.
“Our latest investigation into how Indian news agency ANI repeatedly quoted non-existent bloggers, experts, journalists and think tanks spreading anti-Pakistan/China narratives in India,” said EU DisinfoLab.
According to the report, several Indian publications had reprinted ANI stories that contained references to groups and personalities that were supposedly fabricated, but neither ANI nor other Indian publications provided any comment to EU DisinfoLab regarding the matter.
The probe focuses on several non-existent entities, bloggers, and journalists who are frequently cited by ANI.
Report findings:
- ANI has been repeatedly quoting a think tank that was dissolved in 2014 and therefore no longer exists.
- ANI has been using quotes from a journalist, as well as from several bloggers and supposed geopolitical experts, who do not exist.
The latest report is the third installment in a series of reports published in 2019 and 2020 that examined an Indian influence network purportedly operated by the Srivastava Group, a Delhi-based organization that uses fake NGOs and experts, and is allegedly bolstered by ANI’s amplification.
We spent a considerable amount of time trying to get in touch and find any trace of the existence of the BS personae listed below. We found none. 7/N pic.twitter.com/L7IBnh7wB0
— EU DisinfoLab (@DisinfoEU) February 23, 2023
“A think tank [IFFRAS] that we had previously linked to the Srivastava group and that was legally dissolved in 2014, is now quoted about twice a week by ANI,” said the report published by the DisInfoLab.
“The think tank’s website falsely mentions real Canadian university professors as participants in a conference that they never attended, even concocting false quotes by these academics,” it said.
In its earlier reports, the DisInfoLab had said ANI “regularly quoted the defunct ‘EP Today’ and ‘EU Chronicles’, two fake media outlets supposedly specializing in EU affairs that were, in fact, created to push anti-Pakistan/China narratives in India”.
ANI is a significant player in India’s information landscape and supplies content to numerous reputable media outlets in the country, including The Print and Business Standard. ANI’s stories are also featured on popular digital platforms such as Yahoo News, allowing the news agency to disseminate news to millions of Indians through its vast network.
The report also noted that ANI had previously been accused of reporting the Indian government’s ‘version of truth’ by the independent magazine The Caravan.
ANI response
ANI editor Smita Prakash called the DisinfoLab report “defamatory and false”, adding said that ANI will “continue to report on atrocities” in Pakistan and China.