New Delhi: The government has stepped up its response to viral videos linked to the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar. Delhi Police has placed three private digital marketing and social media management firms under scrutiny. In addition, investigators are examining the role of more than 100 YouTubers in connection with the case.
Which companies are on the radar?
Three major private digital marketing and social media management companies have come under the radar of Delhi Police in connection with the viral video of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar. The role of over 100 YouTubers is also being investigated.
The documents and activities of these companies are being examined. The police are investigating whether the disputed video was deliberately made viral and widely distributed as part of a specific toolkit or PR strategy.
Will they issue notices?
More than 100 YouTubers have also been placed under investigation. The police are conducting a thorough investigation into the documents, server logs and internal activities of these companies.
It is believed that notices may soon be sent for investigation to senior executives and some management personnel of all three companies, as well as some YouTubers.
What is the reason for the investigation?
Preliminary technical investigations have led police to suspect that the controversial video of a girl was not a random or sudden viral video. Police suspect that the video was uploaded to social media at the right time as part of a specific toolkit or PR strategy and was widely circulated by manipulating the algorithm.
Therefore, this case is being investigated thoroughly. The threads of this case have now also been linked to Mumbai.
The investigating agencies are also probing information related to a major Mumbai-based influencer marketing agency and its creator network. It is also being investigated whether several small and large social media influencers and YouTubers associated with this agency were specifically activated to gather crowds and make the atmosphere more aggressive during the protest at Jantar Mantar.
However, the exact truth of the matter will come out only after the technical investigation is completed. The police have taken a stand that they will not support any digital syndicate that campaigns against the peace and order of the country and against those in high positions.
What about funding network investigation?
Delhi Police is also investigating the financial transactions in the entire case. They are investigating where the money came from to give the protest such a sudden boost on social media and to provide work to the companies.
Meanwhile, a student from IIT Patna has filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding the formulation of a uniform standard operating procedure (SOP) for crowd control during agitations or protests.
The petition filed in the Supreme Court also demands that it be made mandatory to put a ‘name badge’ on the uniform of the police deployed during the protest to make their identity clear.
Petitioner Toshiva Yadav has claimed in the petition that she was injured in police action during the ‘Sansad Chalo’ protest held in New Delhi on July 20 over the paper leak issue.
