Inside Facebook’s bid to become the Indian government's default town square

Since the Free Basics failure, Facebook is going all out to woo the government, political parties and lawmakers, even launching voter registration reminders last week, in 13 languages. How serious a role is it going to play in the 2019 elections?

Facebook wants to become the default platform for government officials, both for information dissemination and citizen engagement

The government, on its part, is beginning to realise the importance of Facebook because its voters are there and not on Twitter

Since the start of the year, Facebook has been vying for a role in grassroot American politics

2019 could emerge as India's Facebook election, becoming an important tool in political campaigning

On 20 April 2017, the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Indian government’s official communication department, held an unusual event: an official workshop titled ‘Instagram for Better Government Communication’. Besides PIB officials, it was attended by union ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. The workshop saw the two ministers and bureaucrats learn the nuances of Facebook’s photo-sharing app, Instagram, and its potential as an outreach tool. It was the first such initiative by Instagram in Asia, where John Tass-Parker, its key global politics and government outreach official, participated, among others.

While the event itself did not make headlines, it highlighted something that got Facebook officials excited.

AUTHOR

Venkat Ananth

Venkat is currently in his tenth year in journalism. Prior to The Ken, he was Deputy Content Editor at Mint as part of the newspaper’s digital team. He also wrote in-depth features on the business of sport for the newspaper. His earlier assignments include Yahoo! (as a columnist) and the Hindustan Times, where he began his career. Born in Mumbai, Venkat holds a Bachelor of Mass Media (Journalism) degree from SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai and a Master of Arts degree in International Studies from Goldsmiths, University of London. He currently resides in New Delhi, where he moved nearly five years ago.

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