The effect of this orchestrated online hate campaign is multi-faceted and deeply damaging. Socially, it fosters an environment of fear and distrust, further polarising communities and entrenching existing prejudices. The constant barrage of hateful content online normalises discrimination and can incite real-world violence and ostracisation. This digital propaganda effectively weaponises social media, turning it into a platform for disseminating prejudice and enacting a form of collective punishment due to stereotypes.

In Dombivli, protesters called for economic boycott of Muslim vendors

While a protest was organised in Dombivli city of Thane district ostensibly to condemn the Pahalgam terror attack, disturbing elements within the gathering have surfaced, raising serious concerns about the underlying motivations and potential for communal incitement. A video from the event reveals a man addressing the assembled crowd, and instead of solely focusing on denouncing terrorism, he openly called for the economic boycott of non-Hindus within the area. This inflammatory rhetoric specifically targeted the livelihoods of fruit sellers and local vendors, effectively painting an entire community with the brush of suspicion and demanding their economic marginalisation.

This shift in focus from condemning a specific act of violence to targeting an entire religious demographic for economic strangulation is deeply alarming. It highlights how events intended to express national solidarity and condemnation of terrorism can be hijacked by individuals seeking to propagate divisive agendas and incite discriminatory practices against minority communities, turning grief and anger into tools for economic coercion and social exclusion within the local sphere of Dombivali.

The insidious nature of online hate lies in its ability to spread rapidly and anonymously, leaving a lasting scar on the social fabric and hindering any prospects of reconciliation and understanding.

Nine BJP workers booked for ‘abusing, assaulting’ Muslim hawkers in Dadar

Similarly, Mumbai police have registered a case against nine BJP workers, including Akshata Tendulkar, president of Mahim Assembly, for allegedly abusing and assaulting Muslim hawkers in the Dadar market area, following a complaint filed by hawker Saurabh Mishra. The case is being handled by the Shivaji Park police.

The Indian Express reported that the incident happened on Thursday evening. Tendulkar and his eight associates reached Dadar market area opposite Rangoli store and allegedly asked hawkers if they were Muslims, the complaint read. Mishra added that they assaulted one of the Muslim workers who work under him.

“They asked my worker Sofiyan Shahid Ali his name and then abused and assaulted him. When Ali ran away from the place, they chased him and again assaulted him,” Mishra said

In a separate account, Tendulkar, speaking to a news channel, defended the group’s actions by asserting they were pressing for police intervention against alleged Bangladeshi nationals using forged Indian documents. He claimed that their repeated complaints about illegal immigrants selling produce in the area had been consistently ignored by law enforcement.

“We had requested police to take action against those Bangladeshi nationals who have created fake Indian documents and were selling fruits and vegetables as hawkers. We and local residents were angry over the matter. Local residents were asking us what the BMC and police are doing? On Thursday we had gone on a round to check where all Muslim people works and what (solution) can be done” Tendulkar said, reported the Indian Express.

DCP Zone 5 Ganesh Gawde stated that the Shivaji Park police station has registered a case against the nine accused under sections 189(2), 191(2), 115(2), 351(2), and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as sections 37(1) and 135 of the MP Act. He confirmed that the investigation into the matter is currently underway

BJP’s national spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla, offered a similar narrative, using the same platform to urge a different kind of boycott. He took to X, stating, “Dear Hindus Jaat ke naam pe batoge, Toh Dharm ke naam pe katoge Telling you this as an Indian Muslim, Jo tumhe jaati me baante – take a pledge to boycott such people forever #PahalgamTerroristAttack.”

Dear Hindus

Jaat ke naam pe batoge
Toh Dharm ke naam pe katoge

Telling you this as an Indian Muslim

Jo tumhe jaati me baante – take a pledge
to boycott such people forever #PahalgamTerroristAttack

— Shehzad Jai Hind (Modi Ka Parivar) (@Shehzad_Ind) April 23, 2025

Muslim worker removed from temple job by right-wing group

In a disturbing manifestation of the heightened communal tensions, a Muslim youth named Shahid reportedly faced the abrupt termination of his employment at a temple. The sole reason cited for his dismissal was his religious identity, with the tragic incident in Pahalgam being used as a pretext. Shahid’s case starkly illustrates the insidious reach of communal prejudice, where an individual’s established work within a place of worship became irrelevant in the face of generalised suspicion directed towards an entire community.

A user while sharing the video of incident, wrote o X that “Hindus are no longer in a mood to tolerate. After #PahalgamTerrorAttack, an economic boycott has begun, removing them from business and labour roles. Finally, Hindus are uniting”

Hindus are no longer in a mood to tolerate. After #PahalgamTerrorAttack, an economic boycott has begun, removing them from business and labour roles.

Finally Hindus are uniting pic.twitter.com/E6CylqrTlj

— Voice of Hindus (@Warlock_Shubh) April 24, 2025

Indore doctor refused to treat a Muslim patient in response to the Pahalgam attack

The ripple effects of the Pahalgam terror attack tragically extended into the realm of healthcare, as evidenced by a deeply concerning incident in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore. Dr. Neha Arora Verma, a medical professional, reportedly refused to treat a Muslim patient, explicitly citing the terror attack as the reason for her denial. The doctor went so far as to share a screenshot of her message, in which she callously informed the Muslim woman, “I’m sorry, we are no longer taking any patients at our centre.”

This act of blatant discrimination, seemingly motivated by collective punishment and prejudice, highlights the dangerous ways in which fear and communal animosity can permeate even essential services like healthcare.

In #MadhyaPradesh‘s #Indore, a doctor refused to treat a #Muslim patient in response to the #PahalgamTerrorAttack.

Dr. Neha Arora Verma shared a screenshot of her message in which she declined to consult a Muslim woman, stating, “I’m sorry, we are no longer taking any patients… pic.twitter.com/H9i2twYiE7

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) April 28, 2025

While Dr. Verma subsequently deleted the post, the initial message served as a stark and disturbing illustration of how the aftermath of a terror attack can be shamefully exploited to deny fundamental rights based solely on religious identity, further fracturing the social fabric of the community.

Hate banners surface in Punjabi Bagh calling for economic boycott

Shockingly, hate-filled boycott banners have surfaced in Punjabi Bagh, openly targeting an entire community and inciting economic ostracisation. This blatant display of prejudice, in a public space, sends a chilling message, fostering an atmosphere of fear and distrust. The banners represent more than just isolated incidents; they are a symptom of a larger, more insidious problem.

Adding fuel to the already raging online propaganda advocating for the economic boycott of Muslims in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, a right-wing organisation identifying as Sanatan Hindu Ekta Vichar Manch amplified this divisive rhetoric on X. Their post explicitly called for a sweeping boycott, urging followers to “Boycott everything from which even one rupee goes to terrorists or has the possibility of going,” before listing a wide array of targets including “Films, Tourism, Hotel business, Street vendors, Shops, Building material, Anything at all.”

हर उस चीज का वहिष्कार करो जिसमें से एक रुपए भी आतंकियों को जाता हो या जाने की संभावना हो
चाहे फिल्म हो
पर्यटन हो
होटल व्यवसाय हो
रेहड़ी पटरी हो
दुकान हो
बिल्डिंग मैटर हो
।
कुछ भी हो #BoycottDotandKey #छलनी_हिंदू_आत्मा#PahalgamTerroristAttack pic.twitter.com/i3HlSaGzNG

— सनातन हिंदू एकता विचार मंच (@SanatnEktaMunch) April 24, 2025

Inflammatory Speech by VHP leader in Alibaug

Chetan Patel, the Raigad district president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), delivered a deeply troubling speech during a gathering in Raigad, Alibaug. In his address, Patel called for the social and economic boycott of Muslims, labelled secular-minded individuals as “worms” who must be crushed, and encouraged the use of violence and public humiliation against those advocating communal harmony. Referring to the situation as a “dharma yudh” (religious war), he invoked dangerous communal imagery, urging Hindus to tighten economic controls and sever ties with minorities. His statements not only vilified an entire community but also encouraged vigilantism and collective punishment, striking at the very foundations of India’s constitutional commitment to secularism and equality.

Following the circulation of the video on social media, several concerned citizens raised complaints against Patel, highlighting the incendiary and divisive nature of his remarks. In response to mounting backlash, Patel issued a video apology, attempting to limit the scope of his comments by claiming they were directed solely at those supporting terrorism and foreign forces. He further stated that his intention was to preserve communal harmony in Alibaug. However, his original speech remains deeply problematic: it normalised hate speech, promoted unlawful actions like economic boycotts and violence, and severely undermined efforts to foster peace and unity. Even the subsequent apology fails to meaningfully address the dangerous consequences of the original call to action, which risked legitimising discrimination and communal violence in an already volatile environment.

Transcript of the violent derogatory speech:

“In Alibaug, the town of ‘dead’ Hindus, to see so many of you gathered, I feel happy. Every time, instead of acting, we sit at home and curse some Salim, Maqdoom, or whoever, blaming them. Don’t blame them. Spot and single out the ‘secular worms’ among us, in our society, in your society — get them, crush them.”

“These are the people who have taken on the mantle (the vakalatnama) and constantly say, “All Muslims are not like this,” and so on. Catch hold of them and ask them: who gave you this vakalatnama? If we want this to end, we must first crush these ‘secular worms’ among us. Single them out. Socially boycott them. If they are making these arguments anywhere, slap them, fling cow dung on them. This has to stop. Until this stops, such incidents will continue happening.”

“Most critically, cut off their economic lifeline. This started during the Nagpur riots. Things in Nagpur are hawa tight (they have been taught a lesson). It has started in Nashik too. I know that in Alibaug squeezing them economically is tougher, but we must try and crush them economically.”

“Every rupee you spend on their business will be used against you. No one was asked over there whether you are Agri, Mali, or of any particular caste. They were simply asked to read the kalma, their pants were stripped, and then they were shot dead. They attacked only Hindus. Make them feel ashamed.”

“From tomorrow itself, when you are purchasing anything, at least practice an economic boycott. (Claps from five or six people.) Ask the names of those you are buying from. Until this starts, every month we will be meeting here for a shradhanjali (condolence meeting).”

“If we want to escape this cycle, economic boycott is the way. Every path has its method — not every person needs to brandish a sword. This should not be announced publicly, but it must sometimes be said. All of you assembled here — spread this message to your neighbours.”

“Purchasers too: look at whom you are buying from. If he is giving it for two rupees less, why can’t you? Start this. Tighten their economic strings. Squeeze them. Start now.”

“Cursing PM Modi or any Prime Minister or Home Minister every morning is not enough. This is a dharma yudh (religious war). Understand the 350-year-old history. Stand united, or else we will be chopped like potatoes and onions!”

“Forget brotherhood and harmony. A person who is not a brother to his own cousin sister, how can he be a brother to you?”

“Be ready for war. Economic boycott is the only way.” (Claps; around 15 onlookers present.)

Transcript of the apology:

“Namaskar. Jai Shri Ram. A video of mine has gone viral on social media. In order to prevent any misuse or misunderstanding, I wish to clarify that my words and opinions were not directed against any patriotic Indian citizen. They were aimed solely at those who, directly or indirectly, support the heinous act that took place in Pahalgam on April 22. My words were against those forces — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or individuals associated with them — who should not be economically empowered. In my peaceful Alibaug, nothing should happen to disturb political, communal, or inter-religious harmony. It is with this intent that I am issuing this second video statement. If any Indian citizen’s religious sentiments have been hurt by my previous statement, I sincerely apologise. Jai Hind.”

The digital firestorm following the Pahalgam terror attack has tragically ignited real-world flames of discrimination. Online calls for economic boycotts against Muslim businesses, amplified by right-wing groups and reflected in localised protests like the one in Dombivli, have chillingly materialised into tangible acts of prejudice. The assault on Muslim hawkers in Dadar by BJP workers, explicitly targeting their religious identity, and the discriminatory dismissal of a Muslim youth from his temple job, alongside the denial of medical care to a Muslim patient in Indore, paint a grim picture of collective punishment and eroding social trust.

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The post Echoes of Hate: Online anti-Muslim hate spreads against Muslim businesses and workers after Pahalgam attack appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The United Nations (UN) marked the first-ever International Day to Combat Islamophobia with a special event on March 15, where speakers upheld the need for concrete action in the face of rising hatred, discrimination and violence against Muslims. On this day, it is important to highlight the need for making concrete and conscious efforts in curbing anti-Muslim hate online. In latter half of last year,a report was released which contained worrying trends and numbers of digital islamophobia.A study on the issue of ‘Islamophobia in the digital age: A study of anti-Muslim tweets’ was conducted by the Islamic Council of Victoria, and a report containing their key findings and recommendations had been published.  In the said report, the research that was conducted indicated that Islamophobia is more prevalent on the web than it is in real life.The report had stated that according to experts, this growth in digital Islamophobia is fuelling a vicious cycle whereby online expressions of hate incite offline attacks on Muslims, which in turn provoke more online hate. Despite the apparent severity of rising digital Islamophobia, there has been relatively little research into its prevalence and causes, and through this said report, an attempt had been made to change that.

Key Findings of the Report:

The data in the said report had been harnessed using cutting-edge machine learning techniques to automatically identify hateful content. As per their investigation, it had been revealed that there were at least 3,759,180 Islamophobic posts made on Twitter between 28 August, 2019 and 27 August, 2021. Even more concerning, however, wastheir discovery that only a mere 14.83% of anti-Muslim tweets end up being removed. The report provides that even after close to a year, 85% of hateful tweets were still online

The researchers in the said report revealed that a strong correlation existed between spikes in hate and newsworthy events related to Islam, particularly protests, terrorist attacks and eruptions of conflict in the Muslim world to the islamophobic comments made by leaders of the countries. In reference to this, it was provided in the report that the third-largest spike in Islamophobic tweets was observed on February 25, 2020, which was found to be the result of hateful remarks made by leaders of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Muslim protesters of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Further in their report, it was also discovered that nearly 86% of geolocated anti-Muslim posts originated in just three places: India, the US and the UK. With regard to India, the report provided that link to the rampancy of Islamophobia can be made to the fact that the BJP is currently in power. Indeed, from the BJP’s refusal to condemn Ranjeet Bahadur Srivastava’s assertion that ‘the party will bring machines from China to shave 10–12 thousand Muslims and later force them to adopt Hindu religion’ to their passing of a law that discriminatorily deprives Muslim refugees of a pathway to citizenship, there are an endless number of examples of how the BJP has actively normalised hatred towards Muslims such that 55.12% of Islamophobic tweets now originate in India, the report stated.

Discussing the case of the US, the report stated that even although Islamophobia had long been a problem, it was found that it was dramatically exacerbated by the racist, conspiratorial and inflammatory rhetoric employed by Donald Trump. The instance of Trump’s response to the assassination of Qasem Soleimani was noted in the report, which had triggered a massive spike in hate on January 3, 2020, with some 9,302 anti-Muslim tweets being made that day. It was also reported that Trump ranked as the third most frequently mentioned user in Islamophobic posts, a great many of which were focused on defending his ban on Muslim immigration, in addition to forwarding his theory that the Democrats were collaborating with ‘the Islamists’ to take over the West.

The report also observed the most common themes in Islamophobic tweets, the most prevalent of which were:

• The association of Islam with terrorism: According to the report, the problem with using terms, such as jihadi, Islamic terrorist, Pakistani, islamist, islamofacist, etc., is that they imply that Islam is in some way connected to terrorism, or at the very least, that the Islamic faith of terrorists is relevant to their actions. And thus, just as their use has grown amongst public officials and news media, so too has that perceived link between Islam and terrorism, leading to the present state of affairs where ‘kill’, ‘attack’ and ‘jihad’ are all some of the most frequently used terms in anti-Muslim tweets
• The depiction of Muslim men as perpetrators of sexual violence:The report provided insight into another major trope observed in Islamophobic tweets, which was the depiction of Muslim men as perpetrators of sexual violence. This usually occurred through the propagation of the ‘love jihad’ theory – defined by Iselin Frydenlund and EvianeLeidig as the ‘conspiratorial notion that Muslim men strategically allure and entrap [typically South Asian] non-Muslim women with the intent to marry and convert them to Islam as part of an Islamization project’.According to the report, the popularity of this theory was such that ‘lovejihad’ ranked as the most frequently used hashtag in Islamophobic tweets, a finding we largely hold the BJP responsible for. Indeed, rather than attempting to dispel the hateful myth, the BJP has effectively endorsed it by, inter alia, passing new ‘love jihad laws’ that criminalise forcible conversions via marriage, the report had stated.

Recommendations given in the report:

The report concludedfrom these findings that radical changes are necessary to both Twitter’s moderation policies and online safety law, without which it is all the more likely that the problem of digital Islamophobia will grow to a point of intractability. Some of the recommendations provided are as follows:

• For Policymakers:

The report recommended that the needs for imposing a statutory duty of care on social media platforms to protect users from Islamophobia as well as introduce penalties for platforms that fail to act to prevent the mass dissemination of anti-Muslim content.

For the Indian government, the report suggested that work towards combatting Islamophobia should be done in understanding that anti-Muslim content produced in India is contributing to the radicalisation of far-right extremists in the West in a vicious cycle of affirmation and amplification.

• For Twitter:

The report suggested that twitter should discontinue the policy of not screening tweets, and instead begin developing new capabilities for the automatic detection and removal of hateful content. Additionally, it is recommended that they should establish an independent oversight body comprised of experts in Islamophobia to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of moderation policies.

The full report can be read here:

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Maharashtra: The new breeding ground for hate, oaths of allegiance to the Constitution brutally violated

The post India tops online anti-Muslim hate posts, 3rd largest spike in Islamophobic tweets: 2022 Report appeared first on SabrangIndia.

After coming in for scathing criticism for allowing hate to proliferate on its platform, Meta, the rebranded parent company of the popular social media site Facebook, has now announced that it is taking several initiatives to combat hate during the ongoing elections in India.

“With the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur starting February 10, we are sharing an update on how Meta is prepared to protect people and our platform during this period,” said Meta in a blog post on Thursday, the day the first phase of elections began in Uttar Pradesh. “We have a comprehensive strategy in place for these elections, which includes detecting and removing hate speech and content that incites violence, reducing the spread of misinformation, making political advertising more transparent, partnering with election authorities to remove content that violates local law and helping people make their voices heard through voting,” said the social media giant.

SabrangIndia and our sister organization Citizens for Justice and Peace have repeatedly brought to light several instances of hateful and inflammatory content being allowed on the platform in the past. Journalist and activist Teesta Setalvad has explained how Facebook may have been both, a beneficiary and an offender in India’s ecosystem of hate. We have also written to Facebook bringing to light such instances in the past, particularly cases like that of Ragni Tiwari and Deepak Sharma, but it has rarely led to any action.

Facebook has been facing heat ever since it was revealed that it was used to spread hate against Rohingya refugees, and then more recently when whistle-blowers like Sophie Zhang made a series of allegations of the company bending the rules to suit the ruling regimes in valuable markets like India.

“FB feels no responsibility to protect democracy and clean clutter. Politicised decision making was largest in India. When they caught Facebook accounts manipulating Indian politics, they promised to take action. But when they realized the hate came from a BJP MP there was radio silence,” Zhang had said during a recent webinar where Indian and international rights organisations once again urged Meta to release the Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) on India report.

Facebook, that has hitherto appeared to have done very little to curb the spread of communal and caste-based hate, often taking no action against serial hate offenders who abuse its platform to create and share inflammatory content, is now saying that it has a proper plan of action in place to tackle such content. “Meta has been preparing for these elections in India; we have a comprehensive strategy in place to keep people safe and encourage civic engagement,” said Meta, adding, “We’ll be activating our Elections Operations Center so we can watch out for potential abuses that could emerge across the platform related to these elections. That way we can respond to them in real time.”

Meta further explains, “We’ve made significant investments in teams and technologies to keep hate speech, misinformation and other forms of harmful content off of the platform. In addition to ramping up our regional language support, we are giving funding support to our fact-checking partners to deliver training programs for the public and journalists on tools and techniques to verify election information and stories.”

Meta has not only increased its investments into combating hate, it also claims to have improved its mechanisms for spotting hate in multiple languages. “We’ve invested more than $13 billion in teams and technology. This has allowed us to triple the size of the global team working on safety and security to over 40,000 including 15,000+ dedicated content reviewers across 70 languages. For India, Meta has reviewers in 20 Indian languages,” said Meta, further explaining, “If a piece of content violates our policies against hate speech, we remove it using proactive detection technology or with the help of content reviewers. If it doesn’t violate these policies, but can still lead to offline harm if it becomes widespread, we demote it so fewer people see it.”

Facebook had also come under fire for its dodgy Community Standards and how they were applied differently in different circumstances, with many people often complaining how despite complaining to the social media platform, hateful content flagged by them was not taken down. But now, Meta says that now “under our existing Community Standards, we remove certain slurs that we determine to be hate speech. We are also updating our policies regularly to include additional risk areas. To complement that effort, we may deploy technology to identify new words and phrases associated with hate speech, and either remove posts with that language or reduce their distribution.  We also take down accounts of repeat offenders or temporarily reduce the distribution of content from such accounts that have repeatedly violated our policies.”

It further claims, “We’ve made significant progress. The prevalence of hate speech on the platform is now down to just 0.03%.” But the proof of the pudding lies in the tasting, and Meta can rest assured that CJP and other human rights organisations will watch them closely till the conclusion of these elections, and even after that to monitor if they do indeed walk the talk.

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The post Facebook’s plans to curb online hate during Indian elections: Too little too late? appeared first on SabrangIndia.