"Once weak in communications, now one in every four Andhra Pradesh voters has access to YSRC Party messages,” a consultant from the I-PAC spoke about the digital initiative.
YS Jagan's Social Media. (South First)
“We suffered a lot when my elder brother passed away in an accident in 2022,” Vinay Kumar from Jaggayyapeta in the NTR district of Andhra Pradesh, said.
However, help soon reached the family. “Within two months of the tragic incident, as a gesture of support, my sister-in-law received a call from the YSRCP central office and was offered employment,” he added.
Kumar has now taken up the role of a social media warrior, stepping into his brother’s shoes. He expresses his unwavering support for YSRCP chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
For the first time, Jagan attended the party’s social media meeting in Visakhapatnam on 23 April.
In his concluding remarks during the interaction, he said he was not alone and had the support of everyone who had a mobile phone.
“We are assuring you that the whole YSR Congress Party is behind you in every constituency, Mandal, and village,” he said. “Work towards winning all the Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in the state.”
Though Jagan addressed around 2,000 social media workers present, the message was for the party’s entire social media ecosystem spread across the state.
Party sources said the YSRCP has over 90,000 WhatsApp groups, 41 central campaign pages, 7 lakh users of the Team Jagananna app, 40 prominent YouTubers, over 50,000 digital supporters, and a “comment” army.
With My Social Media Superstars!#MemanthaSiddham#YSRCPSocialMedia pic.twitter.com/k71EIr2RDP
— YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) April 23, 2024
“Nothing becomes popular until you make it. Now, one in every four Andhra Pradesh voters has access to YSRCP messages, which was once weak in communications,” said an employee of the consultant firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC). I-PAC is helping YSRCP in this election.
The ecosystem was designed to counter arch-rivals TDP and Jana Sena — traditionally deemed strong in both social and traditional media.
Messages comprising documentaries, animation series, dialogue-based songs, AI-based cartoons, cinematic posters, memes, and twisted news aligning with the party’s propaganda are shared on social media platforms.
The comment army and digital supporters serve as additional forces, ready to amplify reach and counter rivals or those who contradict the party’s ideology.
South First provides an insider’s perspective on how YSRCP is crafting content and narratives in preparation for the elections, and how it swiftly propagates this content — including memes — through its extensive social media ecosystem, leading to rapid virality.
Rewards for propagation by Team Jagananna App. (South First)
YSRCP, in collaboration with I-PAC, has developed an application called “Team Jagananna”, which boasts a user base of over 7 lakh. It facilitates the execution of over 50,000 tasks and serves as a platform for party and leader engagement.
The app offers users a variety of tasks to perform, including sharing posts, YouTube videos, Instagram reels, and Facebook posts.
It also pushes messages through personal WhatsApp groups or updated statuses.
The app awards users coins ranging from 50 to 10,000 for sharing, uploading, and reposting content. The highest reward — “Grandmaster” — offers 35 lakh coins, besides granting the user an opportunity to meet Jagan. TDP too deploys a similar incentive-based app.
In pursuit of this reward, many of the 7 lakh users actively share and propagate the YSRCP narrative from 41 central campaign pages.
According to the consultant, some users are party workers, while others are sympathisers and affiliates.
One of the tasks for users involved re-sharing a post mocking TDP chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s promises. It said that he was not a “visionary but a pisinari” (selfish).
An X handle, Deccan 24*7, which previously spread the ‘fake‘ news about TDP doing a condom campaign, has posted a new propaganda post in the task section.
The new post claimed: “CM Ramesh is currently in charge of TDP’s operations in Uttar Andhra and is attempting to change the candidate chosen by Nara Lokesh. Lokesh is reportedly upset with CM Ramesh for taking over and altering the designated candidate.”
“A significant conflict has erupted between the two factions, with each side determined to prevail,” it pedalled.
It also has an AI chat interaction with users who could share their suggestions on camping ideas, slogans, events, and schemes. These would be later shared with the application team.
Additionally, the party disseminates content promoting Jagan and his promises to the people ahead of the elections, as well as counter-content of MLAs and MPs addressing TDP’s allegations.
“We have over 90,000 WhatsApp groups segmented demographically to cater to specific popular castes, rural and urban audiences, women, men,” said another consultant.
He added that the party and the consultant supervised some of these groups, while consultants were active users in others, such as neutral or Opposition groups.
One of the WhatsApp message propagated across all groups, accessed by South First.
“When sharing content in pro-party groups, we encounter no issues. However, in neutral or Opposition-leaning groups, we often face removal or warnings after sharing politically inclined content,” he added.
“We also compile daily reports based on our observations of what is trending in these groups, aiding the party in understanding the audience’s interests,” he further said.
Asked how the consultants were added to neutral groups, he explained local interns with connections to party members gradually facilitated their penetration.
He added that 200 interns from all constituencies assist in creating localised content for managing these WhatsApp groups.
Additionally, the personnel at the central office draft messages for WhatsApp groups and circulate them based on the party’s narrative discussed during the morning roundup call.
The attack on Jagan on 13 April became the most viral content shared — across the 90,000 groups. The messages linked the attack to TDP and reached over 80 lakh people.
These WhatsApp groups propagated allegations against the TDP, even as the investigation was underway.
“It is crucial to amplify our reach across all sections of the audience. As part of this effort, we engage around 50,000 digital supporters and maintain a comment army,” shared a consultant overseeing this ecosystem.
“We regularly engage these supporters, who are affiliated with the party across all age groups and genders. We encourage them to share our content on their personal platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and other social media profiles,” he shared.
He added that they regularly reached out to those inactive or not actively participating, and motivated them to get involved by promising access and opportunities to meet MLAs, MPs, and even Jagan.
“These supporters are professors, students, daily-wage workers, and more. Imagine having around 50,000 digital supporters sharing our message. It significantly increases our reach, validates our credibility, and helps shape public perception,” noted the consultant.
“If a message is shared from the party handle, you might not pay attention. But if someone in your circle shares it, you’re more likely to take notice,” he added.
On the other hand, the comment army is aggressive and usually seen attacking or defending the party’s stand on social media.
The in-charges of the social media wing share in the communication group the links of the posts that are to be engaged with. The comment army takes them up from there.
He also noted, “Sometimes even what to be tweeted in respect to an ongoing issue is shared with a sheet called ‘Tweet Bank’. The job of the comment army is to copy and paste.”
The I-PAC consultant revealed that people like him maintain relations with over 40 YouTube influencers who produce content aligned with the YSRCP narrative, including both pro-party and neutral perspectives.
These influencers consist of former journalists, analysts, and established content creators.
A YouTuber currently collaborating with YSRCP told South First: “We reached an agreement to work with the party after several months of discussions and negotiations.”
He explained, “We conduct on-the-ground interviews to gather selective public opinions that support YSRCP and criticise TDP. We then share this content with YSRCP and I-PAC.”
“Some other YouTubers focus solely on office-based content — creating memes, trolls, and mocking content targeting TDP and Jana Sena.”
“The party also provides opportunities for some top YouTubers to interview ministers and participate in talk shows, creating a mutually beneficial arrangement for both sides,” he added.
(Edited by Arkadev Ghoshal)
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