Explained: How BJP-supporting ‘influencers’ trolled CJI Chandrachud online

While chief justices routinely receive criticism and trolling on social media, the current CJI, DY Chandrachud, has been targeted to the extent of being the top trending topic for several weeks on Twitter.

But what is the nature and extent of this trolling? What is it that makes the current chief justice the favourite of online trolls? Is there a troll army? And how much of this content comes from BJP-leaning digital influencers?

In this episode of NL Cheatsheet, we’ll take you inside the unprecedented online campaign against the CJI. We’ll also look at the role of politicians and digital influencers, and the narratives that they try to weave.

In collaboration with Sheyril Agarwal and Joyojeet Pal from the University of Michigan, Newslaundry analysed data from January 1 to April 20 to understand the nature of trolling against CJI Chandrachud.

During the period of the study, the hashtag #NotMyCJI was used 1,747 times on Twitter, #UndemocraticSupremeCourt 366 times, #GenderBiasedLaws 349 times, and #JudiciaryMustAplogise 256 times.

We found that it was digital influencers who were the major drivers of the social media discourse around the CJI. We also found that most of the highly engaged content came from BJP leaning digital influencers.

Watch.