you know, together as a little bit contradictory nature of these euro centric attitude and how these beliefs can be changed. stop filming on the 21st. to tell you the, you're watching the w news asia coming up today, a health check on india's information eco system. bodies, hindu nationalist are cracking down on critical news outlets while spreading this information on a massive scale. what's the message in this media offensive? also coming up the gang, a crisis in bangladesh, how the mosquito borne disease is hitting harder, and reaching farther than ever before. the

my name is melissa chan, thanks for joining us. we take a closer look at india today and the state of the countries information eco system . first, we have traditional media journalists and news rooms. and these institutions are under attack by prime minister and the random moody and his government. they do not like a criticism, neither does any government, but india is meant to be the world's largest democracy and a place that is supposed to welcome freedom of the press. yet, most recently, police rate was of journalists working for news. click a popular online news website, the reports on the failures and shortcomings of the moody government officers confiscated computers and phones and said the rates are part of an anti terror investigation. a journalist from across the political spectrum have come together and denounced the governments action. ok, so that is the state of the main stream media. the other half of india's

information eco system is about what happens on social media, on line. a recent investigation by the washington post exam and how hindu nationalist under moody had been using social media to advance their 80 ology and cement their power, writing quote. they have perfected the spread of inflammatory off and false and bigoted material on in industrial scale, earning both n b and condemnation beyond india as borders. for more. joining us in the studio is d w 's, michelle stockman. michelle, can you tell us out more about this washington post investigation? what do they mean when they talk about social media being harnessed by the government? well, right now, the indian government is led by the ruling b j. b party, which is a hindu nationalist party, which basically wants to make india into a hindu for state, even though one paper. it's a secular democracy. and so it's using social media to promote that agenda. and

what that looks like is basically just information that's sent out saying i'm talking about politics. i fear that basically a india is in do majority is in danger and will be saved. or if there's a beach, a p, lead government in office. and also that this information is largely targeting muslims and other minorities and people who are critical of the governments like journalists or civil society members. and what's up is a major platform that is used to spread this, this information. and i spoke to the washington post to leave a bureau chief jury, she and he spoke to me about what this operation looks like on what's up to get this test information out. and he spoke about one state election where the b j p had just a 150000. i shouldn't say just to it had a 150000 people on just what's up. and also they are working with 3rd parties,

quietly, tools that might be creating the students information, but to understand how this can be spread so far and so fast. but let's hear what he has to say and there were audio problems with it. so i put some titles on, but uh sorry, jerry, but here you go. let's listen to what you had to say to the inside of the party. tell me that when they send out a message into, let's say a and 20 different what's happened. they're almost finished up. there are people inside of that copy and paste it forwarded to another sort of 10203040. going to be around until very quickly based on whatever methods they put to be able to reach under the past. and there has been this ongoing effort to automate the process because you know how much easier it would be if you could just with one sort of click spread,

any message in the private sort of encrypted channel. there is no accountability. uh, there are no factors. the the call you know, oh is this ryan? is this wrong? is this the visit? is this an appropriate? i just within a few clicks you can start a new method. and so if that's the case is big tech, doing anything about this? you would think so, but india is a huge market for them. 500000000 whatsapp users. there are more facebook users in india than the entire population of united states. and so the indian government has a lot of leverage to pressure these us down the social media companies to either take down content that they don't like or to keep up content like can you give us a specific example? because i think we're talking patterns and abstract here, but give us a specific example of, of what you're talking about. one thing that the washington post brought up was

this phenomenon of cal vigilante streamers. and so the cow is secret in hinduism. and so there are groups of young men, sometimes we're into ad hoc groups that go around and try and find dr. are transporting cattle, which they think is disrespectful to the animal and they will uh, stream these hunts, basically on platforms like facebook and youtube. and these become and have become violence and this is live stream. it's really action packed. and actually youtube awarded. one of these called vigilantly streamers. a silver award, which means he got a 100000 subscribers and really had a lot of violent contacts. and in fact, one instance where someone, a muslim man, who in largely are these cattle transporters. he died the day after he was attacked by this group from internal entry. so it's rewarding. actually,

these social media companies are rewarding violent content. so you know, these so to media companies like matter, they make a big deal about how they're trying to tackle this information. it doesn't look like they're doing so in india. now it's, it's a big question and the washing post also talked about. and another example where in kashmir, in here to mr. kashmir, there were a stake accounts that were created that were distributing this information and also praising the indian government for its cracked on there and also targeting customary journalist, a separate test and, and 4th edition. and so, um, there actually is a unit inside meta, which owns facebook, and they are searching for propaganda. and they found this unit in india, the intent tonight at they said we, we don't think this is a group that should be on the platform. they notified meta indian executives in india, who said no, we're not touching us, we're not taking it down because this is affiliated with the government and we

could even be implicated for treatment. so there's internal divisions with in facebook about how to handle this. and also um, i mean meta has said that it denies that it has about depression from the indian government. but in 2019 a did commission an independent investigation about its human rights record after they were whistleblower testimonies and negative media attention. they found that there were, in fact, cases where a facebook did not act when there was a speech or calls to action before violent, communal violence in india that turn deadly. but what has happened to that report? that's still a question i actually spoke to the senior counsel of a digital rights organization who told me what happened to that report. so let's listen to what he had to say the, the, the 2nd you get this, the rest of the reports data. do you have actively said the board? probably even the you should have board for resolutions asking for the human rights,

the board to be the developers and that us getting that is use the same. do you believe the findings of this are stopping the address and the use of the black? you just used to not make the information available. so the don't know, even the mistakes and that type stuff is committed, which ignores about what sort of accepted state change. and in fact, you seem to be seeing the dies literally trying to do. what do i, it's, it's useful checks and balances on the business method that individuals have to protect human rights in a little bit about information that seems to indicate the product as a government relations, as political future in the minds of the executives, the protecting individuals protecting the communities independent human rights. what's really tricky about this situation is that usually if big tech is problem, maddox, a government might step in to try to regulate it or try to make it accountable. but here you have a situation where the government is the problem, right? the government is showing that it wants to be in charge of the conversation. it

wants to direct the social media agenda and also wants to be control of who should be silenced. and it's, there's examples, you know, in 2021, the government read it, mobilly police rated twitter is office there over a tweet that was labeled as manipulative media. and, and that was read out by a b, j, p, politician. so an individuals need to be aware we all knocked us in here. we all need to be aware of what's coming at us and washing post is doing more. so watch out for more of the series to come. michelle stockman, thank you so much for joining us. you're welcome bangladesh is worst ever done. a fever outbreak is threatening to overwhelm its health system. the country is dealing with more than 200000 cases of mosquito borne disease, including a record number of depths. to find that the actually is well used to dealing with things you've vba. but this year is something else at this hospital in

the capsule. dot com. then, now treating around a 1000 patients, unexplored, undergone a few 100 beds. it doesn't have room for them all. in some cases, this outbreak is his entire families, including many young children. and she's just a 6 year old child but hasn't taken any food except fluid for 15 days. she's become weak, my parents are suffering and i feel really bad to see this. the, the after the death of my doctor friend with dingy, my nephew. when the doctor couldn't save himself, excuse me, even more modern mission. god forbid, if something happens to me at this age, where will my family and children go to me as the fear is much greater now. let me

actually be the vision. this hospital is now at the center of the response to this reco breaking outbreak. when that is already claims more than a 1000 lives, including more than a 100 children a total almost 4 times higher than last year, with doctors increasingly worried about how quickly some patients will be coming severely you. this is daniel saltzman was seeing the dinky shots injuring most of the c plus usually plastic den used to follow a certain cost. c, bro, face critical phase, and then control. suffice to the left or 2 or overlapping. a patient is coming from a short history of fever destruction during the following day. right? that means when someone is getting infected for the single 3rd time, they aren't going through the classic phases. well, emetics have really wants and need now is a vaccine. the isn't one widely available yet that could help relieve this

emergency. but there is some hope for the future. after the world health organization, david's backing to a new vaccine from japan, one that's pretty bold in 80 percent effective in trials, preventing people being admitted to the hospital for the programs. thanks for watching the kids. it's jackie is changing 6 years ago. he said he can't get any was to, but it does guardians of truth. this time excel gen, this turned in dar meets the voices of the 3 talking officer. as the other one had to flee into exile. i knew the police would search my house. courageous people are trying to stem the turkish governments all sort of tammy calls of some kids. but really it's

a crime is addressed and the path of trying to takes responsibility for his action . what about freedom of to pray and freedom of expression? god use of choice starts october 28th on d, w. the europe's gas alternative to russia under scrutiny. you will lawmakers want to impose sanctions on other by john to support our media. but the blogs need for other by john's gas puts it in a quandary. we'll get an express opinion also coming up. the walls trade organization has its estimate for exports, growth around the world, and says the decades long principle of trade fostering cooperation and peace is on the front and with food prices on the rise in south africa, urban agriculture projects,

or teaching locals. and you had as for how to grow their own fruits and vegetables . chris cobra. welcome to the program. you parliamentarians are demanding the block and post sanctions on as a by john the resolution adopted on thursday is in response to their gardner car back conflict with armenia after a military intervention, more than 100000 armenians have left the region which is now nationally recognized as part of as a, by job and the uses the situation there amounts to ethnic cleansing the european parliament. the resolution is now raising questions about other by johns gas deliveries to the you, which turn to the gas producer and inspector, russian gas and ports, and made the war and ukraine. now last year, as or by john exported 22300000000 cubic meters of natural gas to the u, which is an 18 percent increase compared to 2021. the trends looks like it is set to continue this year.