Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra

This chapter examines multi-platform and multi-discourse political messaging during the 2019 Indian General Elections by India's two largest political parties. It demonstrates how multi-platform partisan messaging enables certain discursive and leadership styles for voter outreach and mobilization.

Governments and tech companies worldwide periodically clash over what content is acceptable to post online and who gets to decide. As states exert legal, economic, and political pressure on social media platforms and users to control online conversations, the platforms frequently seek to push back.

The outcome of India’s 2024 national elections will define its future course as a democracy. Examined are the key factors and trends likely to influence India’s politics and policies in the coming years.

Anti-fake news lawfare is deepening government control over civil society, undermining information integrity and civil society’s democratic rights. Patterns to this legal repression and related pushback strategies in South and Southeast Asia are examined, as the forerunners of global developments.

Mass surveillance in public transport systems, touted for safety of passengers, can violate their rights when intrusive AI-enabled Facial Recognition Technology is used. India is deploying such tech in large scale. Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra comments on the risks and suggests a countermeasure in this article.

The interview addresses the need for institutionalisation and standardisation of best parctices of privacy safeguards as digital surveillance through the use of CCTV cameras in schools in New Delhi, India, get routinised.

Organiser: German Institute for International and Security Affairs Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra (Speaker)

This invited talk was on 'Securing Digital Societies' at the 17th Berlin Conference on Asian Security. The Conference comprised experts from Europe, Asia, and the United States to examine the domestic factors shaping economic, foreign and security policies of countries across the Indo-Pacific.

EWIS 2024: 11th European Workshops in International Studies, Istanbul Organisers: European International Studies Association Dr. Sangeeta Mahapatra (Speaker)

Paper Presentation at EWIS 2024, WS42: India's New Developmentalism and Its Discontents. Paper is on "Datafied Citizenship: How Data Authoritarianism Impacts the Concept of Citizenship in India".