Social media platform Instagram is fuelling cow vigilantism in India, a report released on Tuesday by the think tank Center for the Study of Organized Hate said.
The study by the Washington DC-based think tank said that Instagram failed to remove posts that depicted violence by cow vigilantes, and that the vigilantes in many cases used the platform to raise funds.
The report, titled Streaming Violence: How Instagram Fuels Cow Vigilantism in India, noted that there had been an increase in mob lynchings targeting Muslims under the guise of “cow protection” in the country since the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014.
The large, predominantly young and male user base of the social media platform had become an “effective recruitment and fundraising tool for these violent groups”, the think tank said in a press release.
The report analysed 1,023 Instagram accounts involved in spreading hate and violence. It found that 30% of these accounts shared videos depicting cow vigilantes engaging in physical violence against people transporting cattle.
“In several of these instances, the people being targeted are Muslims, as evidenced by their responses to being asked their names on camera in the videos posted by the vigilantes,” the think tank said.