Indian consultants run hidden social media operations for overseas elections

Indian political consultants and content creators are supplying covert social media services for overseas election campaigns, according to an Al Jazeera report that traces operations from Kenya to the United States. Interviews with nearly a dozen consultants describe an industry in which controversial material circulates through accounts that obscure their identities and make coordinated political messaging look independent.

Ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3, researchers identified Indian accounts distributing videos supporting particular campaigns. Antibot4Navalny, an anonymous group investigating online influence operations, said at least 28 accounts on X shared videos backing Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, attracting more than seven million views. Al Jazeera found that at least 15 operated from India. Stevens lost the August 4 primary to Abdul El-Sayed. Clemson University researchers also identified similar activity supporting her campaign.

The report describes how such work was carried out during William Ruto’s successful 2022 presidential bid in Kenya. Rajan Kumar, a digital content creator working from an unfurnished Ahmedabad flat, said he produced posters and edited videos for about $7 a day. His material appeared on concealed accounts rather than Ruto’s official campaign channels. He said assignments sometimes required as many as 100 pieces of content in a day.

Kumar told Al Jazeera that the work included editing opponents’ speeches to distort their meaning and producing posters containing false claims about Ruto’s popularity and prospects. Assignments were coordinated through Telegram groups. Kumar said he had no direct contact with Ruto’s representatives and did not know everyone involved between the content creators and senior campaign officials. He described deleting conversations and frequently destroying SIM cards.

Consultants use several methods to distribute material considered unsuitable for official campaign accounts. These include taking control of existing unofficial pages, creating new accounts, repurposing pages or hiring access to them. An earlier Al Jazeera investigation before India’s 2024 national election found networks of pages available for purchase across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Meta prohibits trading accounts and using false or stolen identities. Meta and Google generally require political advertisers to verify their identities and identify who financed election advertisements, although requirements differ by country. Consultants interviewed by Al Jazeera said these rules were routinely breached, with virtual private networks and changes to accounts’ countries of origin helping operators overcome geographical restrictions.

The overseas market extends beyond Kenya and the US. Author Amogh Dhar Sharma said his research identified Indian consultancies working in Australia and Germany, while consultants reported work in Nepal and Sri Lanka. New Delhi consultant Tushar Giri said talks with representatives of a presidential campaign in Suriname in 2025 failed to produce an agreement.

Payments can be similarly difficult to trace. An anonymous consultant described foreign companies using nominal employment arrangements to channel money. Several consultancies also use hawala, an informal system that moves funds through brokers outside conventional banking channels. At least three consultants identified export businesses in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk market as a hub for such transactions.

Sharma, who studies Indian political consultancies, said the industry resembles an extension of the country’s outsourcing economy, with campaigns hiring outside firms for less transparent activities. He warned that the distance between campaigns and those running concealed promotions provides plausible deniability. Giri described the work more bluntly: “We are manipulating elections; there is no other way to say it.”