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1981
Governing Technologies
  • ISSN: 2516-3523
  • E-ISSN: 2516-3531

Abstract

In the digital era, communities with common interests interacting on social media often lead to varying mobilizations. Augmented with an imagined sense of community (nation), these interactions fuel ultra-nationalist sentiments. This leads to the production of communal violence that targets minorities. The increase in anti-Muslim reportage done by mainstream media in recent years has also legitimized the systemic othering of Muslims. Calls for violence and genocide against Muslims have now become the new normal in India. In this light, social media’s rise signifies a tectonic shift resulting in the creation of a majoritarian digital Hindu identity that facilitates the state’s goal of institutionalized hate. In this article, we try to evaluate how the democratization of social media platforms functions as a tool for political mobilization and how, when exploited by digital hate-driven communities, this results in violence against minorities. Through a comprehensive analysis of such digital assemblies in the Indian context, we seek to acknowledge this culture of hate that is taking digital India by storm.

© 2024 Intellect Ltd
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2024-10-31
2026-04-10

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/content/journals/10.1386/jdmp_00160_1
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): citizenship; communal violence; exclusion; Facebook; Hindutva; Islamophobia

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