UDUPA, S. (2024) SHADOW POLITICS: COMMERCIAL DIGITAL INFLUENCERS, DATA AND DISINFORMATION IN INDIA

This article builds on ethnographic research among an emergent group of self-styled political consultants and digital influencers in India to highlight the contours of what is defined here as “shadow politics” and its implications for disinformation research and policy. Shadow politics refers to the dual structure of “official” and “unofficial” streams of campaign organization that can integrate diverse influence actors with the party campaign system. Through data practices, a vast substratum of indirectly sanctioned influence operators is linked to the public campaign stream as a “shadow,” with incentive structures to “innovate” upon excitable and inflated content.

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