Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a few weeks before the first ballot for the Indian election of this year, and he was rubbing shoulders with people in Delhi who had been known as” BeerBiceps” and” Curly Tales.”
These celebrities were playing a significant role in reaching the younger, indifferent, and disillusioned as politicians battled it out for India’s billion vote.
However, some people celebrate the media’s democratic revolution, a place where anyone can freely express their opinions, but others paint a lighter picture, one where threats are frequent and the truth can be put off for the right pay check.
A decade ago, you may have struggled to find anyone calling themselves an “influencer”.
But then, says Vinay Deshpande, inc- creator of Rajneethi, a social management specialist firm, “it’s become a profession”.
” I know a lot of teens who work from home and make income.”
Pocket money underplays the earning ability fairly, however. At the lower end, people may cost around 2, 000 rupees ($ 24, £19 ) a day, but major influencers can take in about 500, 000 pounds for a post- similar to the monthly salary of someone in best- level management.
The father of the Ranting Gola network revealed to the BBC that election administration firms and political parties had offered” 100, 000 to 500, 000 pounds for a second battle.”
It is no small amount- but then, it could turn the tide in a candidate’s favour.
By promoting content through a curated list of local influencers with a small but active following, Mr. Deshpande claims they have assisted an opposition candidate win an assembly election.
According to Mr. Deshpande,” social media content is powerful and can influence how someone feels about a problem.” He continues,” It gives a belief or opinion social weight,” but this can cause people to not be critical of an issue.
Preethi Aggarwal, 25, is one of those who turns to apps like Instagram, YouTube and Twitter to help her understand the news.
Like thousands of others, Ms. Aggarwal follows a number of “political influencers” or people who “really understand what’s going on” on social media.
” News can get boring and complicated sometimes. I think these people]influencers ] make it fun and easier to understand”, she says, adding the context and their own perspective help her form her opinions.
But the problem is, whose perspective is she getting?
Samdish Bhatia, a YouTuber, discovers that numerous politicians have reached out to him, especially in the months leading up to this election, and offered him millions of rupees to speak with them.
He claims that they wanted me to ask questions in advance or have the video approved before it was published. He further states that he “likes to maintain editorial control” when he declines the offers.
According to Joyojeet Pal, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, the trend for longer-form, slightly chummy interviews, in which politicians are asked to show off their human side, is particularly vulnerable to management.
” Many of these interviews are carefully managed by politicians”, Mr Pal says.
A gentler approach to questioning can blur the distinction between an interview and a promotion, according to Mr. Pal.
” If your questions are n’t holding power to account, then the interview just becomes a platform for easy publicity”.
However, Mr. Pal believes that this is just one of the issues he encounters with social media politics.
In a recent research paper, he examined some of India’s top influencers and who they interviewed, finding BJP leaders were featured more often than opposition leaders.
His research also revealed that there has been a decrease in the number of accounts posting content that criticizes the current government overall in comparison to the increase in BJP-positive content.
According to Mr. Pal,” This suggests that there is a growing hesitancy among people to openly criticize the government,” while there appears to be more confidence in presenting polarizing content or material that supports the government’s ideologies.
” And this is dangerous for democracy”, he adds.
Supporters of the opposition certainly suggested that they were employed in a hostile environment.
In order to avoid repercussions from the government, some people who post content that criticizes the government spoke to the BBC for this article. Additionally, they use pseudonyms to control their channels.
The Ranting Gola claimed to frequently receive threatening or abusive comments from Instagram users, despite the platform not having provided her with a justification for it.
She also stated that she would never reveal her identity to the BBC.
The BJP government has refuted claims that it has resisted dissent and free speech.
Even BJP supporter Sham Sharma, a YouTuber, claimed that Indians may struggle with free speech.
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Opposition parties are targeting voters in what they perceive as a challenging environment despite these concerns.
Supriya Srinate, the party’s social media head, claims that” the mainstream media has been taken over by the BJP.”
Influencers, Ms Srinate argues, are a good way to reach voters as a result of these alleged hurdles, explaining the Congress has been working with “volunteers” who believe in the party’s ideology and want to share its work on social media.
Former Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP ) political advisor Ankit Lal acknowledges how influencers have aided in the development of the media landscape.
Former journalist Akash Banerjee, who runs the YouTube channel The DeshBhakt, claims that influencers can push boundaries even more than traditional media can.
He cites the video ‘ Is India becoming a dictatorship?’ – created by well-known German-based content creator Dhruv Rathee, who directly criticizes the government and has been viewed on YouTube for about 24 million times. The video has n’t yet received a response from the government.
” After the video, the term’ dictatorship’ has popped up more in conversations, and this is something that has never happened before”, Mr Banerjee says.
” We may not be able to check whether it’s really raining, but we owe it to the people of the country to take a look outside the window and inform them that dark clouds are brewing so they can vote,” the statement reads.
