Team Neemopani
Clickbait Diplomacy: How India’s YouTube Culture Fuels Anti-Pakistan Narratives for Views
In today’s digital age, platforms like YouTube have become powerful tools for shaping public opinion, allowing creators to influence how people perceive the world through the content they produce.
In India, a significant portion of YouTube content has turned its focus towards political topics, with India-Pakistan relations taking center stage. Many channels and creators primarily focus on pushing content that paints Pakistan in a negative light, often relying on clickbait tactics to draw in viewers. Their goal is to spread negative narratives, both nationally and internationally, by sensationalizing and distorting the facts to capture attention and drive engagement.
For example, some narratives are pushed through casual “weon” banter that might seem like news but is actually more about twisting facts to make Pakistan look bad. Is it real journalism, or just a subtle way of shaping biased narratives? Well, ultimately, it’s up to the viewers to decide.
Content creators are crafting videos that tap into nationalist sentiments, often framing Pakistan as a perpetual adversary. These videos frequently feature exaggerated or unverified claims, provocative language, and often misleading visuals to captivate viewers.
Whenever a terrorist attack occurs anywhere in the world, somehow Pakistan’s name manages to sneak into the headlines of Indian channels. Climate change issues get bizarrely linked to rising child marriages in Pakistan, and any internal turmoil is seized by Indian journalists as a chance to tarnish the reputation of the Pakistani army, portraying it as weak. This kind of content floods digital media platforms, and it’s no secret.
Indian YouTuber Dhruv Rathee produced several videos analyzing how Prime Minister Modi and his government use social media platforms, especially WhatsApp, to run strategic campaigns. These campaigns are designed to highlight conflicts and hardships between nations, portraying Modi as a heroic figure who offers solutions to problems that he and his administration have often created.
It’s crucial for both digital and mainstream content creators to understand the power and impact of shaping narratives through videos that distort the truth about prominent figures and nations. The India-Pakistan rivalry, both overt and subtle, has long been a hot topic. If misleading and hate-fueled content continues to spread, it will only strain relations between the two countries further and it is definitely something that could be avoided.
