Kolkata rape case: Have content creators lost the plot?

The recent Kolkata rape case has garnered widespread attention and outrage. However, some influencers have reportedly used the furore to boost their online visibility.

The indiscriminate use of hashtags like #KolkataRapeCase has not just led to a lot of muck, but also created a flood of irrelevant content on social media.

In a significant move, the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, recently directed that revealing the identity of a rape victim is a violation of her dignity. The bench promptly ordered the removal of the deceased's name, photographs, and video clips from all social media platforms.

According to a study by Ipsos in 2023, 64% of respondents blame social media feeds as the biggest source of disinformation and fake news.

Many polls and studies conducted in the last few years have revealed that the vast majority of people in the nation acquire their news mostly from social media, where the veracity and authenticity of the content are rarely verified.

Sharad Gupta, Founder & CEO, WhyNotNow believes there are two angles to this issue. There are certain influencers that are really helping the case in terms of propagating and emanating the voice for justice, for example they are questioning the entire political scenario and why the case was not brought to justice fast enough. But, on the other side there is a large portion of negative to it too, like how Dhruv Rathi released all the personal information and whereabouts of the family to the public.

An influencer named Sarah Sarosh received backlash for uploading a ‘Get Ready With Me’ reel along with a narration of the Kolkata crime in the voiceover. She was shown grinning, winking, and displaying her cosmetics to the audience while the voiceover discussed the rape and murder of the doctor in Kolkata.

Another lesser-known influencer was shown mimicking the last moments of the rape victim and, for obvious reasons, was reported as distasteful by many viewers.

Mousumi Kundo, an influencer with more than 200k followers was shown enacting a makeup tutorial on the rape case. “Poets write their poetry, novelists write novels, a painter paints to protest! I am a creator, so this is my way to speak up!”

Influencer Shreya Chadda said, “Using sensitive topics like the Kolkata rape case for views is deeply disrespectful and trivializes the trauma of the victims. Influencers should focus on raising genuine awareness with respect and care.”

Media's role
Misinformation and fake news paired with preconceived judgements by media houses has made the situation even worse. A news channel was seen conducting a live, mock lie detector test on a person while reporting about the Sanjay Roy investigation, along with graphic visuals.

Another channel showed Roy’s face along with a rope hanging loop vector. The channel came up with analogies to explain what was going on in the murderer's mind while committing the crime.

AI images also surfaced on social media.

The judicial and legal system also gets affected with the kind of social media trials that happen online, Gupta shared.

Chaos & Crisis

As they say, with great power comes great responsibility and when a field of work, like influencer marketing, becomes so impactful, a proper course by reliable colleges should be executed to teach budding influencers the proper code of conduct to create content on social media, experts shared.

According to Gupta, the government should set up cyber cells with complete authority so that, whenever they come across objectionable, provocative, or dissuasive content on social media, it should be immediately removed from the internet or, alternatively, there should be a control mechanism whereby influencers receive a warning after posting anything violative for the first time.

“As a brand expert and marketer, we use influencers and creators in a  rightful manner for creating awareness around brands, services, campaigns, experts and products, but what has happened is, some influencers have got the wrong idea of influencing,” he said.

Influencer Arshita Thukral agrees that altering the details of the case and creating interest at the expense of accuracy is wrong. This can be prevented if the information is presented in front of the public by authorities themselves on social media rather than being dependent on meme marketing and influencers.

Chadda is of the opinion that preventing sensationalism involves respecting the topic, fact-checking, and focusing on genuine education and support. Collaborating with experts and adhering to community guidelines also helps.

As a viewer, all we can do is be vigilant and be watchful of hate speech or misinformation around.