Can India’s Gen Z protestors break Narendra Modi’s media control?

Young protestors in India are using humorous videos, memes and firsthand accounts to shape public narratives in India. Following police crackdowns on demonstrations over college exam scandals, the Gen Z-led movement has expanded into a border challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tightly controlled media strategy. 

Joyojeet Pal, University of Michigan School of Information professor and expert in political communication in India told the New York Times the government’s top-down messaging is poorly suited to social media algorithms that reward personal and authentic narratives. 

“It is no longer, ‘Look what the police did,’ and it is more, ‘This is how today felt,’” Pal said. 

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Read “Phones in Hand, India’s Young Protesters Blast Through Modi’s Media Control” in the New York Times. 

See more research by Joyojeet Pal by checking out his UMSI faculty profile.