In February 2026, Bharat witnessed an unprecedented surge of disinformation campaigns circulating across multiple social media platforms, primarily originating from foreign media portals and international influencer accounts. These campaigns sought to distort facts, manipulate public sentiment, and project misleading narratives on political leadership, military operations, public health, and communal harmony. With the proliferation of AI-generated content and digitally manipulated media, the risk of foreign misinformation undermining domestic stability has escalated significantly.
Several of the fabricated narratives during this period targeted the highest echelons of political leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and key Union ministers, portraying them in misleading or outright false contexts. International relations and defence partnerships were deliberately misrepresented, often involving fabricated videos or doctored images of global leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, to create the illusion of diplomatic tension or criticism.
Military and security-related misinformation also gained traction, with multiple viral posts falsely claiming attacks, ambushes, or casualties involving Indian Army, CRPF, and other security personnel in Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, and other sensitive regions. Videos were frequently recycled from unrelated past events, deliberately misdated, or digitally altered to maximize impact, creating a false sense of...
In this first session of ITIC UK 2026, Nicola Smith, Gary Sommerford, and Simon Cook discussed the emerging trends in travel insurance fraud, and how to combat it. Marc Banting, ITIC Chief Operat...
