Focus on 2024 · Global Voices Advox

Countries in the South Asian region. Image via Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CC BY-SA 4.0.

Home to 2.07 billion people, South Asian countries represent a quarter of the world's population. The region faces many challenges, including high population growth, rapid urbanization, high poverty rates and income inequality. Additionally, it is grappling with governance issues, such as the decline of democracy, rising authoritarianism and crucial elections, as well as economic problems like rising unemployment, rising inflation, increase in external debt, and many others.

While there have been many significant stories and developments in this region in 2024, Global Voices has been able to cover some aspects thanks to our dedicated community of writers and translators. Here's a summary of our coverage of South Asia in 2024, highlighting the various steps taken by several governments to expand their control over online spaces amid elections and political unrest.

A year of crucial elections

Several crucial elections were held in South Asian countries in 2024. On January 7, the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (AL) won a fourth consecutive term in unilateral elections, boycotted by the opposition and its allies. However, the new government was short-lived. Beginning in July 2024, a student-led uprising supported by hundreds of thousands of citizens opposed state repression and the authoritarianism of Sheikh Hasina's government. The escalation of unrest led to anarchy, leading to his resignation and departure from the country on August 5, 2024.

People applaud outside the Prime Minister's office after Sheikh Hasina's resignation. Image by Md Joni Hossain Via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Consult our special report: Unrest in Bangladesh

Pakistan's February 8 general election was considered one of the least credible elections of the year due to allegations of voter fraud, internet shutdowns and delays in announcing results. The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) formed a coalition government with several independent candidates, while independent candidates loyal to the former Prime Minister's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) imprisoned Imran Khan, formed an opposition alliance. The Election Commission of Pakistan revoked the PTI's election symbol in December 2023, forcing its candidates to run independently.

In June 2024, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Indian general election and Prime Minister Narendra Modi secured a third term, further consolidating his power.

Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front), became Sri Lanka's ninth executive president, winning the September 2024 presidential election.

Social media and cybertroops

In Bangladesh, more than 52.90 million social media users, mainly on Facebook, have become targets of political parties propagating their narratives. Through weaponized misinformation and disinformation, the ruling Awami League (AL) has highlighted the progress made under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, often using false articles and slandering the opposition, while the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was spreading stories that democracy was under threat, rallying its supporters to resist. authoritarianism.

In a Transparency report, Meta reported removing 50 Facebook accounts and 98 pages from Bangladesh in the first quarter of 2024 for spreading misinformation about the opposition. TikTok reported the removal of more than 2,300 accounts in Bangladesh in January alone for attempting to manipulate election narratives. In several cases, the use of AI and deepfakes has also been reported.

Protest by PTI supporters in London echoing Imran Khan's call for free and fair elections in Pakistan. Image via Flickr by Alisdare Hickson. CC BY-SA 2.0.

In Pakistan, political parties like Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League N (PMLN) have used social media for their election campaigns, which has had an impact significant on voters. Jailed leader of Pakistan and former Prime Minister Imran Khan was seen delivering speeches from his prison cell using artificial intelligence (AI).

With more than 800 million internet users, India leads the world in the use of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, prompting political parties to use social media influencers to amplify their messages. To appeal to a young and hyper-connected population, political parties mobilized thousands of influencers, including gamers, who were able to connect with diverse demographics. Various cartoons, memes and trolls were also used to promote different election narratives. The ruling BJP's IT cell had a history of using data analytics and social media strategies, as demonstrated in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Reports indicate the use of an app called Saral to collect detailed user data ahead of the 2024 elections.

Ahead of Sri Lanka's September 2024 elections, leading presidential candidates have widely used social media to run campaigns and political narratives focused on various issues and targets. Dr Sanjana Hattotuwa published an analysis using a dataset of over 4,000 tweets associated with presidential candidates Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW), Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) and Sajith Premadasa (SP), illustrating how social media shapes refined and ideal personalities. Although these characterizations can often be perceived as authentic, this portrayal risks being manipulative.

Sri Lanka has around eight and a half million Facebook users, many of whom use the platform to discuss elections, politics and candidates. Using Meta's new Content Library (MCL), Dr. Hattotuwa analyzed the three most popular posts and approximately 1,500 comments each from the official Facebook accounts of presidential candidates RW, SP and AKD over a period of 30 days. The analysis mapped how these candidates are perceived by their core fans, and the results presented insight into how contemporary political discourse is constructed.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in 2023. Photo by Bunty456 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Digital repression as a tool of authoritarianism

There were no major internet disruptions in Bangladesh during the January elections, except for a few website blockages. However, during the July protests, mobile internet was interrupted intermittently from July 16 until August 5, alongside the banning of several social media platforms. A complete nationwide internet shutdown occurred between July 18 and 23, accompanied by media blackouts that almost halted all communications with Bangladesh. These measures have had a negative impact online, as the spread of misinformation and disinformation has become endemic.

This year, Pakistan further tightened its restrictions on dissent and freedom of expression. Ahead of the February election, authorities imposed a series of internet shutdowns. Pakistanis have faced difficulty accessing the X platform (formerly Twitter) since the February elections, and in April 2024 the government admitted to banning the platform, citing national security concerns. In August, Pakistan deployed a national firewall to track, block or restrict content considered propaganda. As Pakistanis accessed blocked sites and platforms using VPNs, on November 16, authorities ordered the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to block unregistered VPNs in an effort to limit access to content terrorist, pornographic and blasphemous. As X users began to migrate to Bluesky, another social media platform, reports of that platform being blocked emerged in November.

Image by Giovana Fleck, used with permission.

An analysis by the Civic Media Observatory reveals how the Indian government has actively expanded its control over online spaces in recent years, using website blocking as a key strategy. A March 2024 report from digital rights group Geeks for Geeks said more than 55,000 websites had been blocked in the last decade, 48% of them under the IT Act. Targets included independent media, hate speech trackers and streaming platforms.

In January 2024, Sri Lanka introduced the Online Safety Act, which grants an online safety commission broad powers to define prohibited statements, recommend removal of content and disable access to violators. Amnesty International considered this a serious blow to freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.

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