Misinformation & Pegasus Project: Case study of India

Abstract

This thesis analyses the mainstream media's reporting around Pegasus spyware in India and the subsequent formation of revisionist networks showing solidarity with news circulated by mainstream media on social media. This research on news media coverage of misinformation spread around Project Pegasus in India classifies and clusters misinformation supplied by the mainstream media through their reporting. Next, the thesis explores the emergence of revisionist social media networks from such coverage as a response to the call to action in the mass media. The case study method allows the author to offer focused insights into the misinformed mass media's coverage of the issue. K means clustering is used to identify different narratives in the news report dataset, followed by text mining using Voyant Tools to summarise the narratives. Social Media Analysis is done to identify and bring forth the revisionist hashtags deployed by the mainstream media to further their narrative. The findings of the project highlight that considerable parts of the population are aware of notable misinformation around Pegasus spyware. However, this understanding did not translate into the call for action by the media houses across social media (Twitter). The weak correlation between Indian media reports and social media...