New generation IT services such as cloud computing, apps and enterprise mobility are passé . Now, some Indian IT companies have invented a newer product, “online reputation management services”! In simple terms, the online reputation of a person or organisation can be built or destroyed, all for money.

In an undercover operation — codenamed Operation Blue Virus — Cobrapost exposes about two dozen IT companies across the country which are into the shady business of reputation management on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. The clients being served by these companies include corporate houses, NGOs, scam-tainted senior government officials, politicians and political parties.

Some unethical operations

Some of the reputation management services that these IT companies offer to politicians are:

Generating fake-following for the concerned politician’s Facebook page by creating fake profiles or buying likes from the community of netizens.

Creating a good fan-following on Twitter by buying packages of followers.

Giving negative publicity for the concerned politician’s opponent by adopting methods that are not necessarily ethical or legal.

Posting negative content online from countries such as the US or Korea to avoid being detected.

Using locally assembled computers for negative campaign and destroying them after the completion of the project. The companies work with offshore IPs and servers to ensure that the source of online content cannot be traced. They also hack into the computers of other individuals for posting defamatory content using their IPs. Internet-based messaging system is used to circumvent TRAI regulations on mass messaging. To mask the identity of the sender, the companies use short codes instead of actual phone numbers.

Creating fake profiles of a minority community to engage them and change their views about the concerned politician and his party.

Placing at the disposal of the concerned politician an in-house database of voters, categorised according to their vocation, area of residence, age, income level and religion.

Ills of social media

According to some reports, a significant income of IT companies in Bangalore comes from this kind of online reputation management services for political parties. Many of these services constitute a crime under the ambit of existing laws such as the Indian Penal Code, the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

While a thorough investigation into the functioning of such IT companies is warranted, the government authorities must also put in place a comprehensive mechanism to tackle the ills of social media — which are largely unregulated — without impinging on freedom of speech.

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