Vipul Mudgal

Paid News, Fake News, and Hate Speech: The Case of India

Dr. Vipul Mudgal heads Common Cause, a New Delhi–based civil society watchdog which promotes democracy, the rule of law, and good governance through legal interventions, advocacy, research, and policy engagement. He also heads Inclusive Media for Change, a clearinghouse of ideas and information on India’s marginalized sections. Earlier, he has been a visiting senior fellow and the founding director of the “Publics and Policies Program” at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). As a journalist, he has worked as Resident Editor at the Hindustan Times in Jaipur and Lucknow, Regional (South Asia) editor at the Asia Times in Bangkok, and a BBC journalist in London and Delhi. He has edited two books: Claiming India from Below: Citizen Activism and Democratic Transformation (2016), and Journalism, Democracy and Civil Society in India (2017, co-edited with Shakuntala Rao). During his fellowship, Dr. Mudgal plans to conduct a study of the impact of paid news, fake news, and hate speech on democracy, particularly on the process of holding free and fair elections. He seeks to develop a series of articles leading up to a book on the subject.