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India’s internet war
India’s internet war
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Sous-titres (232)
0:00
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is
0:02
cracking down on the recent Gen Z
0:04
cockroach party protests.
0:07
>> We are witnessing a massive crackdown on
0:10
student [music] activists across the
0:13
country.
0:13
>> Police and states governed by Modi's BJP
0:16
have reportedly arrested over 100
0:18
students in the days since the protest
0:19
was officially called off. An online
0:21
movement with one of the most unusual
0:24
names in politics, the cockroach jantaa
0:26
party took to the streets of New Delhi
0:28
in protest and helped [music] force
0:30
India's education minister, a man who is
0:32
one of Mod's top advisers to resign. It
0:36
was a big win for the social media
0:38
fueled youth movement. But it may come
0:40
at a cost. Prime Minister Modi was one
0:42
of the first Indian politicians to make
0:45
social media central to his political
0:47
strategy.
0:47
>> Modi was so politically savvy. He
0:50
understood the intrinsic power of these
0:53
tools [music] well before everybody
0:55
else.
0:55
>> Now in the wake of the cockroach party
0:57
protests, India's government is
0:59
censoring social media, removing posts
1:02
related to the cockroach genta party
1:04
[music] and their success.
1:05
>> Social media has been the only avenue
1:07
that that people have had to voice their
1:10
discontent, disagreement and and and
1:13
criticism of the government. The same
1:16
internet that fueled Prime Minister
1:18
Mod's rise to power is increasingly
1:20
being used [music] to control a movement
1:22
challenging his government.
1:25
In 2014, Narendra Modi was elected to be
1:28
the prime minister of India, having
1:30
campaigned on a platform of economic
1:32
growth and anti-corruption. And he was
1:34
able to get this message out using what
1:36
was then a cutting edge tool, the
1:38
internet. In 2014, it was doing simple
1:40
things like uh creating mass registries
1:44
of people's cell phone numbers and
1:46
communicating with them via SMS. These
1:49
are things that are kind of common place
1:50
in America, but in 2014, they were they
1:52
were quite new. And then in the 2019
1:54
election, he doubled down on this
1:56
strategy. [music]
1:56
>> He said that it is the twoth election of
1:59
2019 is going to be fought on mobile
2:01
phone.
2:02
>> Today, Prime Minister Modi has the
2:04
largest social media following of any
2:06
world [music] leader currently in
2:07
office. So of course nowadays if you if
2:09
you look at any political party in India
2:11
they [music] will be using a variety of
2:13
social media tools but they've all been
2:14
kind of playing catch-up to where Modi
2:16
[music] Modi was.
2:17
>> Now in 2026 there's growing
2:19
disillusionment with the promises that
2:21
Prime Minister Modi made and it all came
2:23
to a head after a leaked exam.
2:25
>> In India every person who aspires to go
2:29
to college or to finish high school even
2:31
needs to pass a centrally administered
2:33
exam. What happened in this particular
2:35
case was the exam paper was leaked in
2:37
advance which forced the authorities to
2:39
call off the exam to postpone it
2:41
reschedule it for a different time.
2:43
India has seen dozens of national and
2:45
state exams canled anulled or
2:47
reconducted because of leaks or other
2:49
breakdowns in the testing system. This
2:51
latest example led to widespread outrage
2:53
and even suicides. And this is happening
2:56
in a time where nearly 40% of graduates
2:58
between 15 and 25 years old in India are
3:01
unemployed making these exams crucial to
3:04
any chance of securing a stable future.
3:06
I think a lot of young Indians have been
3:07
kind of uh led to believe this gospel of
3:10
of meritocracy that if they work hard
3:13
and they study hard and they do well on
3:15
these exams, they'll get a place at a
3:18
college and that will allow them to get
3:20
a well-paying job and become sort of
3:23
part of this kind of, you know,
3:24
aspirational middle class or upper
3:27
middle class. The fact that, you know,
3:28
these exams don't work the way they
3:30
should. The fact that there are not
3:31
enough jobs being created. fact that
3:33
even if you're lucky enough to get a
3:35
job, it may not pay what you think
3:37
you're worth. There have been this kind
3:38
of this gathering this sense of
3:40
frustration amongst kind of India's Gen
3:43
Z.
3:43
>> There are youngsters like cockroaches.
3:45
They they they don't get any employment.
3:48
They don't have any place in profession.
3:49
>> This comment from India's chief justice
3:52
in May of 2026 landed poorly with
3:55
India's already frustrated youth. It
3:57
became the catalyst that launched the
3:59
satirical social media account for the
4:01
cockroach jenta party or the cockroach
4:03
people's party and it went viral. The
4:05
Instagram account for the cockroach
4:07
jantaa party gained over 26 million
4:09
followers. That's a quarter of the
4:11
number of Instagram followers Prime
4:13
Minister Modi has. Tech and social media
4:15
and politics has been a mainstay of
4:17
Indian campaigning elections for at
4:20
least a dozen years. But we haven't
4:22
really seen this kind of very you know
4:25
young slick AI infected kind of viral
4:29
memes play such a central role in kind
4:33
of mass politics. So this was I think an
4:35
inflection point and you know it was it
4:37
was a kind of poignant one because here
4:39
you have a ruling party a government
4:41
which has had such a large technological
4:44
advantage over the opposition over its
4:46
opponents being kind of outsmarted
4:49
outplayed by a leaderless
4:52
brand new group of kind of dilotants who
4:55
are protesting but who are very
4:57
conversant in the current technology.
5:00
This kind of played out like a David
5:02
versus Goliath story.
5:03
>> Despite attempts by Mod's government to
5:05
shut down internet and cell phone
5:07
service to curb the protests, the
5:09
cockroach genta party succeeded in
5:11
forcing one of Mod's closest ministers
5:13
[music] to resign. But this rare
5:15
concession appears to have prompted a
5:17
broader crackdown. It's the latest move
5:19
from a government that has become
5:21
increasingly restrictive of free speech.
5:23
Over the last uh 5 years, the Indian
5:26
government has built uh what I call the
5:29
infrastructure for censorship and
5:30
[music] they've created a criminal
5:32
liability uh for social media platforms.
5:35
Uh in that an employee of let's say a
5:37
company like Facebook or Twitter can be
5:39
sent to jail if [music] they don't
5:41
comply with orders from the Indian
5:42
government. Following the protests,
5:44
Delhi police filed charges over social
5:46
media posts they deemed derogatory,
5:49
malicious and defamatory, demanding that
5:51
platforms take them down as well as
5:53
providing the information of the users
5:55
and police used AI powered facial
5:58
recognition software [music] to identify
6:00
protesters.
6:00
>> Some of the protesters are still in
6:02
jail. Freedom of speech is suffering.
6:04
>> Hi friends.
6:05
>> Prime Minister Modi has made it clear
6:06
that [music] he is not accepting this
6:08
movement's criticisms of his government.
6:10
In a recent Instagram video, he told the
6:12
CJP that abuse solves nothing and that
6:15
he forgives the misguided protesters.
6:17
>> I think the legacy of uh the cockroach
6:21
party protests is going to be that it's
6:23
going to lead to [music] the the
6:25
strengthening of censorship laws in
6:27
India
6:28
>> and this isn't exactly new in Indian
6:30
politics.
6:30
>> Uh every government tries to censor
6:32
social media in India. Every government
6:34
tries to suppress uh criticism uh and
6:37
and the media in India. The question is
6:40
how much further will Mod's government
6:42
go to censor its people and restrict
6:44
[music] free speech
6:45
>> and they're going to try and evolve
6:47
mechanisms to try and ensure that this
6:49
never happens again.
6:50
>> The real success of the cockroach jenta
6:52
party may be how it pushed new issues to
6:55
the forefront of Indian politics.
6:56
>> I think one of the puzzles for people
6:58
who studied Indian politics for a long
6:59
time is why haven't basic human rights
7:02
like health and education kind of been
7:04
on the political agenda? And you know, I
7:06
think one legacy is that these protests
7:08
have really made those issues mass
7:11
issues.
7:12
>> I feel like the older generations had
7:13
kind of accepted the fact that this is
7:15
just how the country works and learned
7:17
to live with it. But I like the fact
7:20
that kids are not willing to stick with
7:22
that.
7:23
>> They could start to drive party
7:25
platforms, what politicians talk about,
7:27
what voters demand. And I think, you
7:29
know, if that were to happen, uh that
7:31
would be just a massive sea change.
7:38
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