[Air-L] Report launch and discussion: WhatsApp Vigilantes

[Bhat2,R (pgr)]

Apologies for cross-posting


LSE Media and Communications

Report launch and discussion: WhatsApp Vigilantes: An exploration of citizen reception and circulation of WhatsApp misinformation linked to mob violence in India


by Shakuntala Banaji and Ram Bhat
with Anushi Agarwal, Nihal Passanha and Mukti Sadhana Pravin


17th October 2019, 18.00 – 19.30
Thai Theatre, New Academic Building (NAB), LSE

followed by a reception

This discussion, chaired by Dr. Omar Al-Ghazzi, invites responses to new research conducted on WhatsApp forwarding of misinformation and mob violence in India. The abuse of applications such as WhatsApp to spread fake news, misinformation and disinformation has had dangerous consequences for hundreds of vulnerable groups, and nowhere more so than in India. Hundreds of people in the last five years have been publicly lynched to death, leading to the phrase ‘WhatsApp Lynchings’. Since October 2018, Dr. Shakuntala Banaji and Ram Bhat have been working with field researchers in India conducting qualitative research in four large states, interacting with more than 275 people in focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and reviewing more than 1000 messages on WhatsApp to produce typologies both of Indian disinformation/misinformation and of the users most likely and least likely to forward these messages. The discussion will include a presentation of the findings, comments from our expert audience and responses.


Further details about the research study are available here<http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/research/research-projects/whatsapp-vigilantes>. We expect the event to be heavily over-subscribed and seats are limited, so please confirm your participation at the earliest. You can RSVP to Harshita Murarka, H.Murarka at lse.ac.uk<mailto:H.Murarka at lse.ac.uk>, who will let you know if we are out of space.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Dr. Shakuntala Banaji (S.Banaji at lse.ac.uk<mailto:S.Banaji at lse.ac.uk>) and Ram Bhat (R.Bhat2 at lse.ac.uk<mailto:R.Bhat2 at lse.ac.uk>)