Google wars engulf Indian cyberspace
India is gearing up for its upcoming general election (which begins in mid-April and ends in mid-May) and as its voters are flocking online to learn more about their choices, political parties are waging information wars by aggressively buying online ads for specific Google searches. The most peculiar thing is that it’s the search returns for ...
India is gearing up for its upcoming general election (which begins in mid-April and ends in mid-May) and as its voters are flocking online to learn more about their choices, political parties are waging information wars by aggressively buying online ads for specific Google searches. The most peculiar thing is that it's the search returns for their opponents and their values that are the rage of the day. Times of India has more:
The next time you key in the words `Sonia Gandhi’ or `Manmohan Singh’ into the Google search engine, you will find a paid link on the top right corner of the screen trying to take your attention to L KAdvani and the BJP.
While the search will throw up legitimate results containing the key words searched for, the sponsored links on the right will throw up messages saying things like: `Do you know why Advaniji is a better leader, BJP a betterparty… If you don’t, then visit lkadvani.in.’
It’s a strategy devised by the infotech cell of the saffron party to lure away net surfers otherwise heading for websites of the Congress party or its leaders. Several other search words will lead to similar results. Try `Rahul Gandhi’ and you might get a link with a teaserlike `Do you share the dream? 21st century, India’s century-Advanifor PM’.
Type `Congress party’ and you may see `BJP abetter alternative: Learn how Advani plans to make the 21st century India’s century’. Sometimes the link is a blog and the teaser is:`Bloggers for L K Advani: Get the official blogger for Advani ButtonNow. Show your support.’
It goes without saying that the Congress is peeved at the way the BJP is trying to “encroach”on its cyberspace by getting sponsored links to divert surfers’ attentions. Ashish Gosalia, chairman of the science and technology cell of the state Congress, said, “This is not fair. They should not hijack our opportunity to attract surfers to our party websites. There are scores of internet users who daily type in Rahul, SoniaGandhi or Congress party into search engines to access info about ourparty’s activities. The BJP seems to be desperate.” It amounts to something like a cyber war, he added.
Photo by bryceedwards/Flickr
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