A day after The Washington Post carried out a hit job on Indian OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) handle ‘Disinfo Lab’, it has come to light that some of the outlandish claims made by the American newspaper bear an uncanny resemblance to conspiracy theories peddled by a Pakistani website.
In an attempt to de-legitimise ‘Disinfo Lab’, The Washington Post claimed on Sunday (10th December) that the OSINT handle is run by an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officer named Lt. Col. Dibya Satpathy.
Although it relied on word salad, insinuations, ‘source-based’ allegations and dubious ‘experts’, the American newspaper failed to provide any empirical evidence that could dispute any claims of ‘Disinfo Lab.’
Interestingly, a large part of the purported ‘investigation’ by The Washington Post on the Indian OSINT handle appears to be based on conspiracy theories peddled by a website named ‘Pakistan Defence.’
In an article titled ‘Disinfo Lab – A Disinformation Project of Indian RA&W’, published by the website in February 2022, a staff writer Amaa’n relied on outlandish claims made by ‘journalist’ Aveek Sen to draw links between ‘Disinfo Lab’ and Indian Intelligence.
The ‘Pakistan Defence’ article made references to Lt. Colonel Dibya Satpathy, Ajayendra Tripathi, and BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga – all of whom appear prominently in the propaganda piece of The Washington Post.
Aveek Sen – The primary source of disinformation
The Pakistani website presented the accusations of Aveek Sen, an abusive troll, as the ‘gospel truth.’
In the tweet from 2013 that went viral, Aveek Sen was seen quoting TimesNow, saying that Mamata Banerjee had called the Barasat rapists ‘CPIM supporters’. To that, Aveek Sen had responded saying “Its high time these cpm supporters rape Mamata!”
Prior to deleting his account, Aveek Sen had made several dergatory comments targeting women. A few of his archived misogynist tweets can be seen here –
In several of his tweets, Aveek Sen was seen referring to women as ‘prostitutes.’
Despite his questionable character and dwindling credibility, Sen’s misleading tweets on ‘Disinfo Lab’ became the primary fodder for both ‘Pakistani Defence’ and ‘The Washington Post’. Interestingly, he had also collaborated with the likes of propaganda outlets such as Newslaundry.
The uncanny resemblance between claims by ‘Pakistani Defence’ and The Washington Post
“And the making of Indian fake disinfo lab, copying the famous eu disinfo lab that exposed hundreds and thousands of fake Indian websites (By author Aveek sen),” read a line from the article on ‘Pakistan Defence.’
Coincidentally, a similar language is used in the report published by The Washington Post. “Another person, a former employee, said the Disinfo Lab named and modelled itself after groups such as the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and the EU DisinfoLab, a Brussels-based nonprofit that researches disinformation targeting Europe,” it claimed.
It claimed, “Some of the fronts, setup by Colonel Dibya Satpathy, per Aveek Sen’s revelation, include: Root N Wings Media, situated at B-3, Bali’s, Near BSES Office, Arya Samaj Mandir, Lajpat Nagar 2, Delhi. Flat A-20, Lajpat Nagar 3, near Ring Road, Delhi.”
Interestingly, the claims made it to the report of The Washington Post as well. “The Disinfo Lab, which at one point consisted of about a dozen private contractors working out of a four-story whitewashed building on a leafy street in New Delhi,” the leftist newspaper wrote.
In another paragraph, it said, “The office operated under the name Root and Wings Media.” Based on Aveek Sen’s tweets, the shady Pakistani website alleged that Lt. Colonel Dibya Satpathy had been campaigning against the country on the behest of R&AW and BJP.
Both websites targeted a social media company
OpIndia found yet another uncanny resemblance in the report of The Washington Post where it said, “The Disinfo Lab itself was headed by Satpathy, whose work has focused mostly on countering Pakistan.”
“The Disinfo Lab’s activities show how the online propaganda campaigns waged by the BJP and its allies have been expanding beyond their traditional, domestic aims of shoring up popular support and denigrating opposition parties — and now seek to influence attitudes far beyond India’s borders,” the American newspaper claimed in another part of the article.
Both The Washington Post and ‘Pakistan Defence’ made specific references to ‘Root Wings Media’ and characterised it as a ‘social media marketing company/ campaign agency.’
“The company has no more than ten employees, typical of an intelligence front,” the Pakistani website said. And this is what the American newspaper claimed – “The Disinfo Lab, which at one point consisted of about a dozen private contractors.”
Washington Post and Pakistan Defence ‘fixated’ on USCIRF criticism
Both The Washingon Post and ‘Pakistan Defence’ targeted targeted the ‘Disinfo Lab’ for exposing the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and its biased reporting on India, which is often used to cast aspersions on Indian democracy.
“Some of the investigative reports published by this website include one aiming to discredit the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom,” wrote ‘Pakistan Defence.’
“The Disinfo Lab often cites publicly available U.S. lobbying and campaign finance records and produces complex flowcharts to illustrate alleged relationships. But the group draws tenuous connections, claiming, for instance, that a USCIRF commissioner was influenced by Islamists because she once worked on a conservative fundraising committee alongside a lobbyist who went on to represent Muslim American groups,” claimed The Washington Post.
In February this year, OpIndia reported in detail about the ties of former USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava to far-left billionaire George Soros. We also exposed how the controversial body has relied on the dubious ‘Tek Fog’ story to make insinuations about India.
‘Pakistan Defence’ goes one step ahead
The Washington Post ensured to not include all conspiracy theories to set its ‘investigative article’ apart from that of ‘Pakistan Defence.’ The Pakistani website had even dubbed popular member and dermatologist Neelam Singh aka ‘The Skin Doctor’ as an aide to R&AW officer Lt. Colonel Dibya Satpathy.
“The Evil nexus of Col Dibya Satpathy Indian ex-military intelligence officer and bjp troll farms. To (sic) manufacture and spread propaganda and misinformation with the help of Major Neelam “Neel” Kumari alias “The Skin Doctor”, Major Gaurav Arya,” it claimed.
‘Pakistan Defence’ accused ‘The Skin Doctor’ of carrying out the ‘evil nexus’ of supposed ‘Disinfo Lab’ founder and Indian Intelligence officer
Other ‘sources’ of Washington Post
The Washington Post did not copy-paste the outrageous claims about ‘Disinfo Lab’ only from ‘Pakistan Defence’ but another Pakistani-based website named ‘Centre for Strategic and Contemporary Research (CSCR).
Interestingly, CSCR published another misleading piece on ‘Disinfo Lab’ a year before that of ‘Pakistan Defence.’ Habitual fake news peddler and anti-Hindu activist CJ Werleman had made similar insinuations about the Indian OSINT handle in February last year.
In November 2021, CJ Werleman had appealed to boycott Indian products to supposedly ‘save’ Muslims in India and Kashmir. Before that, he had tweeted a video of Pramod Muthalik, the chief of the Hindu activist group Shri Rama Sene, to allege that he called for violence against Muslims and the demolition of a mosque in Karnataka.
Earlier, he claimed Indians had destroyed a Muslim graveyard in Himachal Pradesh, which was also fake news. In August 2021 when the Islamist group Taliban took over Afghanistan, Werleman was caught spreading Taliban propaganda. In September 2021, he called for ‘regime decapitation’ strikes against India.
The Print, run by Shekhar Gupta had eulogised Werleman in a profile describing him as a ‘bigot-turned-crusader against ‘Islamophobia’ who is taking on the Indian state’.
Since every anti-India propagandist is a potential source of The Washington Post, there will surely be no dearth of more anti-India hit pieces ahead of the 2024 elections.
Response of Disinfo Lab on the Controversy
While hitting out at The Washington Post, ‘Disinfo Lab’ pointed out that the only difference in its article and past hitjobs against it is the addition of unnamed sources.
“The only ‘upgrade’ the WaPo did was to make this Pakistani allegation ‘anonymous’. And whatever is in addition to that is again attributed to ‘anonymous’ sources. Hence, literally, every fact claimed is ‘anonymous’. The report has more than 10 anonymous sources,” it added.
As pointed out earlier by OpIndia, The Washington Post failed to refute any assertions made by ‘Disinfo Lab.’ It also noted, “While, in their questions to us and other people, WaPo journalists have themselves noted that our claims are factually correct! (thanks for acknowledgement), they alleged that we make ‘tenuous claims’, and cited a few examples.”
While calling out the bluff of the leftist newspaper, Disinfo Lab concluded that The Washington Post is overrated. “It is not surprising that people who don’t understand OSINT are baffled by our reporting. It is especially hard for legacy media journos – Indian and foreign alike, who have known journalism only as handouts from sources. Agencies are overrated. OSINT is underrated,” it emphasised.