Brinker’s Platform Uncovered an AI-Powered Disinformation Network Targeting India - “The Axis of Evil”

Brinker’s latest investigation uncovered a sophisticated, AI-powered campaign aimed at spreading conspiracy theories targeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior government officials.

The campaign targets senior Government officials

The Disinformation Campaign: “The Axis of Evil”

Brinker’s disinformation mitigation platform recently identified a coordinated effort involving a series of disinformation videos under the campaign titled “The Axis of Evil.” These 10 AI-generated episodes, promoted a wide range of conspiratorial narratives, including:

• Accusations that PM Narendra Modi is funding “Tamil terror networks” to incite civil unrest in Sri Lanka.

• Claims of a secret plot by Modi, Amit Shah, and Ajit Doval to expel Muslim soldiers from the Indian Army.

• Allegations that Indian government officials are planning a false flag terror attack using Rohingya refugees.

Two of the conspiracy theories that were spread as part of the “Axis of Evil” campaign

These videos originated from an account on X named @DhamakaAI, specializing in AI-generated conspiracy content. Each episode was followed by a wave of promotion from suspiciously similar accounts, many featuring AI-generated profile pictures, identical content feed patterns, and heavy use of stylized punctuation (particularly the em-dash). Narratives were spread in both English and Urdu.

Brinker’s platform detects similarity between content helping to map out coordinated campaigns

Coordinated Amplification: Signs of a Bot Network

Brinker’s automated narrative intelligence technology flagged the spread of these false narratives. Accounts shared nearly identical variations of the episode summaries, suggesting the presence of a sophisticated bot network. The coordinated nature, linguistic cues, and content uniformity across the accounts point to an orchestrated effort rather than organic spread and engagement.

Example of posts with similar content with indications of Bot activity

In one instance, Brinker’s platform detected that X user “@abubakarqassam” shared content from one of the “Axis of Evil” episodes 30 minutes before it appeared on @DhamakaAI. This user was previously fact-checked by India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) and blocked in the country for violating India’s Information Technology Act, spreading AI-fabricated conspiracy content.

Despite that ban, this user now appears to be operating as part of a more complex network, effectively evading detection and regulation to disseminate conspiracy narratives at a larger scale.

A network visualization showing how similar narratives spread across social media

India is described to be at high risk for coordinated disinformation and misinformation campaigns. The use of generative AI to produce false narratives, paired with the automation of distribution through bot networks, allows bad-actors to operate quickly and at a larger scale. These efforts attempt to destabilize public discourse, and exploit geopolitical tensions in India and around the world.