We need to talk about India more
Discover more from Anchor Change with Katie Harbath
We need to talk about India more
Choices the world’s largest democracy makes will have significant impact around the world
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It’s only the start of day three of a four-day week, and I’m already ready for the weekend. Long weekends are lovely, but then I try to cram five days worth of work into them. So I find myself overbooked, stressed, anxious, and getting up super early to write this newsletter because I just have to get it done. I’m also really excited about the topic - India.
Today, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Washington, DC, for a state visit. After Emmanuel Macron of France and Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, Modi is only the third world leader to be bestowed with a state visit and dinner by President Joe Biden.
Given this event, I thought this would be a perfect time to share a bit more about my experiences in the country and why I don’t think we pay enough attention to them.
But first - three pieces hot off the press. This morning the Meta Oversight Board overturned a decision by the company to originally leave up a post with language from a Brazilian general in the lead-up to the January 8th riots. In the decision, the Oversight board says:
“In response to a question from the Board, Meta said that it does not adopt any particular metrics for measuring the success of its election integrity efforts generally. Therefore, the Board finds that Meta should develop a framework for evaluating the company’s election integrity efforts, and for public reporting on the subject.”
Lots to unpack here, and if it weren’t for the Prime Minister’s visit, I’d probably change course to write about this, but instead, we’ll save it for another time.
Second, I have a new blog post up over at the Bipartisan Policy Center looking at the political policies of AI tools as of June 4. These are rapidly changing as platforms figure out what they want to do in this space, so the goal of this piece was to just give a snapshot in time of where they are now. A huge thank you to Ana Khizanishvili for her help in pulling these policies together. This, too, will be the topic of probably many future newsletters.
Third, my friends over at the Atlantic Council did the impossible and not only spun up a task force in five months to look at the trust and safety space online but also wrote an excellent report. You can check out the report on Scaling Trust on the Web here.
Ok, let’s go back to India.
I absolutely love India. My first experience with the culture was when a friend of mine married her husband, who is Indian. The first time I went to his parent’s house, I was given so much food I thought I would have to be carried out. I had never had Indian food before - not exactly a thing in Wisconsin - and I found the combination of flavors and spices enthralling.
For their wedding, they had two ceremonies - Hindu and Christian. For the Hindu ceremony I was dressed in a sari by all the aunties (that’s where I learned that when Indian aunties tell you to do something, you do it). This is me in that sari.
Fast forward to 2013, and I’m transitioning to my new role at Facebook to work on global elections. 2014 was another one of those years where a large number of countries were going to the polls - including India.
Facebook was still pretty small back then, employee-wise, and there was just one public policy person in Delhi. I went out in the Fall of 2013 to do some training with the various political parties. Everyone told me that it’s hard to explain the sensory overload in India until you experience it - and boy, were they right. It’s a lot. But I loved it.
From then until the end of 2019, I probably went to India at least twice a year and participated in two of their elections - 2014 and 2019. 2014 was the first election for India, where social media played a prominent role. Modi and the BJP - learning from President Obama’s 2012 victory - embraced social media. Rahul Gandhi - the Congress Party candidate - didn’t even have a Facebook page that election (much to my chagrin). This was still a period of time when the use of social media in politics was celebrated. People - and the world - were excited when Modi won.
Me at the Taj Mahal.
Ten years later, some things remain the same, and some are different. India will also be going to the polls in 2024. They are usually held in the spring and will be conducted over about two months with a handful of election days across the country. Results are announced a few days after the last polls close.
Once again, it will be Modi vs Gandhi. India does have some prominent third parties, such as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), that will play a role, but for the most part, it looks like Modi will easily win a third term.
It’s worth reading Modi’s interview with the Wall Street Journal ahead of his visit as well as this Axios piece that spells out the tech sector’s stake in the U.S./India relationship.
Here are some other things to keep in mind about why we should all care about what happens in India. A huge thanks to Shubhi Mathur for her help in pulling this together.
Why is Modi's Visit an interesting event for the world?
India is the most important US ally to counter the increasing Chinese influence in Asia. With a vocal Prime Minister and a foreign minister at its helm, India has made known to the world its border skirmishes with China in the past three years.
Indian Americans are the second largest immigrant voting group in the US, and their political weight is likely not lost on Biden.
Modi’s visit is followed by Rahul Gandhi, his key political opponent, who was on a 3-city tour in the US last week but got very little - if any attention from the DC press corps.
This event is further complicated by Human Rights groups protesting the Biden administration’s too-friendly approach to the Hindu Nationalist Party (Bhartiya Janta Party), which Modi is a part of. India’s rank has recently dropped on multiple religious and human rights indices (which the Modi government claims is ‘Western propaganda’).
There is also much anticipation of technology exchange between the countries. While the US is eager to wean off its dependency on Chinese manufacturing, and developing resilient supply chains, India wants to become the manufacturing hub of Asia, especially in the semiconductor industry. The Government of India is offering a flurry of incentives for the semiconductor industry and the automotive industry to set up shop in the country, and Modi’s visit is anticipated to push that agenda with the US Congress and the industry.
Things to watch out for in the Indian election:
Super-PACs are still new to India and in much of the non-western world. But Modi’s focus on using tech for better political messaging resulted in the creation of many American-style Political Action Committees. From using 3D holographic projections to reach out to the country's remotest corners to creating digital armies for targeted political messaging on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram, the Modi government has utilized social media to expand its reach.
For the 2024 elections, PACs in India are recruiting talent from the country's top engineering, policy, and MBA institutions - Institutions that have educated many of the Silicon Valley CEOs and top leadership.
In addition to tightening media censorship and freedom, a reported upsurge is expected in troll farms on Twitter and Meta platforms.
India has implemented new laws around social media that give the government more power over what can or cannot stay up on social media platforms. Twitter has been criticized for giving in to these requests. There is concern that this law could be used to silence minority voices.
India will be a huge election for tech platforms, and many will already have preparation efforts underway. Given the number of languages spoken and numerous cultural challenges, it is easily one of the hardest countries to prepare for. I’ll dig more into this in future newsletters - and hopefully podcasts - because it’s worth talking about more.
All of this is just scratching the surface of what is happening in India. For all of its increased importance to the world, I find that in the U.S., it doesn’t get the amount of attention that it deserves. It tends to fall through the cracks because it’s not Russia or China, nor is it a place that would normally qualify for USAID or other NGO funding for democracy-building efforts. However, the direction India chooses to go on any number of issues will have a huge impact globally that we need to be talking more about.
Bonus Content
Don’t forget that yesterday is when Trump theoretically could have started posting on Twitter again. Now we wait to see if he will. In the meantime, apparently, Musk and Zuckerberg agreed to a cage match last night. Didn’t have that one on my 2023 bingo card either.
What I’m Reading
Washington Post: Anyone can Photoshop now, thanks to AI's latest leap
New York Times: G.O.P. Targets Researchers Who Study Disinformation Ahead of 2024 Election
Time: Exclusive: OpenAI Lobbied the E.U. to Water Down AI Regulation
Washington Post: Facebook helped bring free speech to Vietnam. Now it's helping stifle it.
Journal of Democracy: Is India Still a Democracy?
Financial Times: The discreet US campaign to defend Brazil’s election
Rest of World: The slow decline of Meta’s Trusted Partner program
Tech Policy Press: What is Secure? An Analysis of Popular Messaging Apps
Calendar
🚨NEW 🚨
June 22, 2023 - FEC open meeting where they will consider rulemaking on use of artificial intelligence in campaign ads
August 21, 2023 - Meta responses to Oversight Board recommendations in Brazil election case due
Topics to keep an eye on:
TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped
June 22 - Bolsonaro trial starts
June 24 - June 30 - Aspen Ideas Festival
June 24, 2023 – Sierra Leone election
June 25, 2023 – Guatemala election
June 27, 2023 - SXSW Panel Picker Opens
July 10, 2023 - Trust and Safety Hackathon
July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon
Mid-July - Code of practice on disinformation platform reports due
July 2023 – Sudan election (likely to have further changes due clashes erupted mid-April, despite temporary humanitarian ceasefire,)
July 23, 2023 – Cambodia election
July 23, 2023 - Spain Election
August 10 - 13, 2023 - Defcon
August 23, 2023 - Zimbabwe Election
August-2023 – Eswatini election
August 23, 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate
August - End of UK parliamentary session. Must pass Online Safety Bill by then.
Mid-September: All Tech Is Human - Responsible Tech Summit NYC
September 19, 2023 - UN General Assembly high-level debate begins
September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum
September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference
TBD September: Atlantic Festival
TBD September: Unfinished Live
September 2023 – Bhutan election
September 2023 – Tuvalu election
September 9, 2023 – Maldives election
September 28-29, 2023 - The Atlantic Festival
September 30, 2023 – Slovakia election
September 2023 – Rwanda election
October 2023 – Oman election
October 2023 Poland election
October 8, 2023 – Pakistan election
October 10, 2023 – Liberia election
October 14, 2023 – New Zealand election
October 22, 2023 – Switzerland election
October 29, 2023 – Argentina election
October 2023 – Gabon election
October 2023 – Ukraine election
November 15, 2023 - Aspen Cyber Summit
November 20, 2023 – Marshall Islands election
November 29, 2023 – Argentina election
December 1-3, 2023: Build Peace 2023 Conference
December 20, 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo election
December 2023 –Togo election
2023 or 2024 – Peru election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Luxembourg election
TBD – Myanmar election
TBD – Spain election
TBD – Gabon election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Haiti election
TBD – Libya election
TBD – Singapore election
2024
January 2024 – Bangladesh election
January 2024 – Finland election
January 13, 2024 – Taiwan election
February 4, 2024 – El Salvador election
February 4, 2024 – Mali election
February 14, 2024 – Indonesia election
February 25, 2024 – Senegal election
February 25, 2024 – Belarus election
March 17, 2024 – Russia election
March 31, 2024 – Ukraine election
April 10, 2024 – South Korea election
April 2024 – Solomon Islands election
April 2024 – Maldives election
May 5, 2024 – Panama election
May 19, 2024 – Dominican Republic election
June 2024 – Mongolia election
June 6-9, 2024 - EU Parliament Elections
July 7, 2024 – Mexico election
July 15 - 18, 2024 - Republican National Convention
August 19 - 22, 2024 - Democratic Convention, Chicago
October 27, 2024 – Uruguay election
October 2024 – Mozambique election
October 2024 – Chad election
November 2024 – Guinea Bissau election
November 2024 – Moldova election
November 2024 – Romania election
November 5, 2024 – United States of America election
November 12, 2024 – Palau election
December 2024 – Croatia election
TBD – Algeria election
TBD – Austria election
TBD – Belgium election
TBD – Botswana election
TBD – Burkina Faso election
TBD – Chad election
TBD – Comoros election
TBD – Croatia election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Egypt election
TBD – Ethiopia election
TBD – Georgia election
TBD – Ghana election
TBD – Iceland election
TBD – India election
TBD – Iran election
TBD – Jordan election
TBD – Kiribati election
TBD – Kuwait election
TBD – Lithuania election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Mauritania election
TBD – Mauritius election
TBD – Montenegro election
TBD – North Korea election
TBD – North Macedonia election
TBD – Romania election
TBD – Rwanda election
TBD – San Marino election
TBD – Slovakia election
TBD – South Africa election
TBD – South Sudan election
TBD – Syria election
TBD – Tunisia election
TBD – United States of America election
TBD – Uzbekistan election
TBD – Venezuela election