Digital Witness Lab
@diwilab
We build privacy-respecting tools to access hard-to-reach data and empower public interest investigations. We're housed at @PrincetonCITP
Grateful for the opportunity to work on the research behind this report at @diwilab! Our latest investigation uncovers how WhatsApp is being used to facilitate illegal firearms trade in India - despite platform policies.
An analysis by @PrincetonCITP's Digital Witness Lab of 8,000 WhatsApp messages shows that the Meta-owned platform is a thriving illegal firearms marketplace in India restofworld.org/2025/whatsapp-…
An illegal firearms marketplace is “thriving” on WhatsApp in India restofworld.org/2025/whatsapp-…
🔫 India has some of the strictest gun laws in the world. 🔫 Meta prohibits gun sales on its platforms. But a lack of monitoring has let a booming gun market take hold across India. Details ⬇️
An analysis by @PrincetonCITP's Digital Witness Lab of 8,000 WhatsApp messages shows that the Meta-owned platform is a thriving illegal firearms marketplace in India restofworld.org/2025/whatsapp-…
So great to see this come out. At @diwilab we were shocked by how easy it was to illegally purchase firearms on WA, the platform isn't even doing the bare minimum it could to prevent this. Heres the story from @yashjournals and @restofworld x.com/nikita1712/sta…
Read this cracker of a story by @yashjournals that builds on research by @diwilab, shared exclusively with @restofworld to take you to the Wild, Wild West of WhatsApp - where researchers found 8,000 messages across 234 groups advertising guns in India. restofworld.org/2025/whatsapp-…
Glad to see @diwilab’s research leading to this explosive story! An analysis of over 8000 messages by Digital Witness Lab at Princeton University finds the Meta-owned platform is a thriving illegal firearms marketplace. @suryamattu @PallabDeb_ @angiewaller @mynameisfiber @frsqz
An analysis by @PrincetonCITP's Digital Witness Lab of 8,000 WhatsApp messages shows that the Meta-owned platform is a thriving illegal firearms marketplace in India restofworld.org/2025/whatsapp-…
Read this cracker of a story by @yashjournals that builds on research by @diwilab, shared exclusively with @restofworld to take you to the Wild, Wild West of WhatsApp - where researchers found 8,000 messages across 234 groups advertising guns in India. restofworld.org/2025/whatsapp-…
📢 new! We, at @diwilab, are launching WhatsApp Trend Alert Tracker. It explores coordinated social media campaigns conducted by political parties through WhatsApp groups in India during the 2024 elections. digitalwitnesslab.org/whatsapp-trend… @suryamattu @mynameisfiber @frsqz @angiewaller
#RamTemple could not bring votes to BJP. Early signals of this trend were captured by my colleagues at @diwilab while researching for our WhatsApp Watch project. The euphoria around the temple was limited to only BJP-operated WA groups. It was absent from genuine community chats.
Second, it enables party workers to create astroturf campaigns that voters might perceive as organic support for the party. We found a surge in messages around the time that was almost entirely driven by political and surrogate groups belonging to the BJP, not organic groups.
Read the methodology by @diwilab here: digitalwitnesslab.org/outputs/how-th… By excellent @suryamattu, Jeremy Singer-Vine, Firas Qazi and Pallab Das
#Exclusive Over the last six months, I, along with @diwilab, tracked messaging activity in BJP-affiliated WhatsApp groups in Mandi, where bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut is contesting the polls. Thread restofworld.org/2024/bjp-whats…
This is the issue @diwilab‘s WhatsApp Watch project was built to address. We empower journalists to monitor how political speech spreads through public WhatsApp groups so they can document its effects on democracy. x.com/ravishndtv/sta…
सृष्टि जसवाल की रिपोर्ट बता रही है कि मंडी शहर में बीजेपी के चार सौ से अधिक व्हाट्स एप ग्रुप है। व्हाट्स एप के ज़रिए किस तरह की बातें फैल रही हैं, इसकी जानकारी बाहर नहीं है। उनके सच-झूठ पर किसी की नज़र भी नहीं पड़ती। restofworld.org/2024/bjp-whats…
WhatsApp has become the main source of information for India’s ongoing elections. And the country’s ruling party uses the app to campaign free from public scrutiny. Via @restofworld & @diwilab: restofworld.org/2024/bjp-whats…
New report by @seekingsrishti on the BJP's vast volunteer network of viral WhatsApp political groups. Striking granularity of target groups. Content analysis shows opposing ideologies and parties absent. @diwilab @pulitzercenter @restofworld restofworld.org/2024/bjp-whats…
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