The Indian general elections of 2024 revealed how X (formerly Twitter), rebranded in March 2023, has changed the face of political discourse in a country with more than 900 million internet users. It turned into a battlefield where narratives are framed and contested, and political narratives are built up rapidly. Hashtags like #IndiaVote2024 and #BharatJodoYatra not only mobilized voters and set the agenda but also kept exposing the system to the risks of misinformation and the deepening of social divisions. This double-edged sword is echoed in the global examples of the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and the Brexit referendum.
Setting the Digital Agenda: Agenda-setting theory (McCombs & Shaw,1972) defines the power of X in shaping public opinion. This can be well illustrated by hashtags during the 2024 elections, which brought several issues to the forefront by political actors. The current ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), utilized this by introducing #IndiaVotes2024 and channeling attention to development, infrastructure, and national safety. These messages captured X trends and also came to influence mainstream media coverage to establish the campaign narrative in larger national conversations.
On the contrary, the Indian National Congress had employed #BharatJodoYatra for social justice and widening the agenda for inclusion. Both parties, through such diversion from public attention on these issues, effectively created competitive agendas appealing to different parts of the electorate. Thus, X emerged as a formidable tool in terms of boundary-setting in public debate.
Framing the Narrative: It is interesting to understand how narratives are framed. This is best explained by framing theory (Entman,1993),which explains how the presentation of information can influence the audience’s interpretation. Political leaders carefully construct some short, much more emotionally loaded messages on X that frame the narratives in a manner to optimize engagement with voters. For instance, the BJP kept talking about the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi concerning flagship initiatives like Atmanirbhar Bharat or PM Gati Shakti. Adorning this with pictures of humongous regroupings and infrastructural milestones, these messages convey progress and stability. In contrast, opposition figures like Rahul Gandhi reframed the debate by focusing on topics like economic disparities and social injustice. The Congress used grassroots recommendations and emotionally resonant visuals to depict their campaign as a movement for unity and accountability. X is a real-time interactivity through retweets, comments, and live streams that allows both sides to adjust their framing on the fly in response to public sentiment.
Mobilizing Voters: The agenda and framing narrative are beyond shaping; X emerged as an effective tool for voter mobilization. The proximity and reach of the platform allow the political parties to transform online engagement into tangible political momentum. The BJP’s hashtag campaigns generated thousands of tweets and retweets, energizing an online division that translated into significant offline turnout. Mainstream media continuously echoed these digital trends, further reinforcing the campaign’s impact.
The Congress, meanwhile, held localized hashtags and everyday language messages to reach a diverse voter base. This regional personalization helped cultivate a sense of collective identity and broadened the party’s appeal. The gatekeepers are bypassing traditional media; X allowed both major parties and even smaller political outfits to engage directly with the voters at a relatively low cost.
The Misinformation Menace: Yet these same characteristics make X quite susceptible to misuse: the swiftness and immediacy of its information flow leave it open to being used as an ideal channel for misuse. During any election, it is mostly bot and troll networks that spread manipulated images and unverified reports in their mass misinformation campaigns. The rapid dissemination of false narratives regarding voting irregularities and policy failure has been rampant in the period preceding, during, and immediately after elections, and these falsehoods have caused rough seas for fact-checking units to sail against.
Besides, X’s engagement-focused algorithm inadvertently fostered echo chambers, where users were exposed mainly to content that reinforced their pre-existing beliefs. BJP supporters, for example, mostly overpowered nationalist rhetoric, while Congress backers saw the primary criticisms of economic policies. Such segmentation deepens into societal divides and undermines the possibility of constructive debate.
Global Parallels and Local Nuances: The dynamic observation of India mirrors trends seen on the global stage. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump’s prolific use of Twitter allowed him to bypass traditional media filters and set his agenda through viral hashtags and provocative statements (Enli,2017).Comparably, during the Brexit referendum, targeted social media campaigns played a decisive role in shaping public perception of issuing such an immigration and sovereignty (Howard & Bradshaw,2018).
So far, India’s unique demographic and linguistic diversity adds layers of complexity. The regional digital campaign, frequently conducted in local languages, can enhance outreach and risk fragmenting national discourse. Even localized pockets of misinformation in such a vast and diverse electorate can have far-reaching consequences for electoral integrity.
Charting a Path Forward: Tackling X’s double-edged impact on elections isn’t simple; it takes a real mix of ideas and effort. For starters, we need tougher rules to keep political ads honest and nip disinformation in the bud fast. Imagine social media platforms tweaking their systems so the good, solid, fact-checked posts get a spotlight instead of the loud, flashy nonsense that grabs attention.
Then there’s the other side: teaching people to spot the real from the fake online. I think it’s huge to get everyday folks clued in through campaigns that show them how to sift through the digital mess. It’s about giving them the tools to handle all that info without getting lost or fooled. And let’s not forget the political crews; they’ve got skin in the game too. If they play fair, sticking to decent campaign habits and rules they set themselves to dodge the hype and lies, it could keep the digital buzz from messing with democracy’s heart. That way, we’d still get the perks of X without everything going off the rails.
Conclusion: What X pulled off in the 2024 Indian general election lays out both the bright spots and dark corners of digital political talk. It’s turned campaigning upside down, dishing out ways for fast agenda-setting, sharp narrative shifts, and straight-up voter push. So far, though, it is wide open to misinformation, those echo chambers locking folks in their own worlds, and that is throwing up real roadblocks for honest democratic chat. India’s digital world keeps twisting and turning, and its democracy might just ride on finding the sweet spot between tapping X’s strengths and reining in its downsides. Getting policymakers, tech crews, and everyday folks to team up is a must for figuring out smarter digital moves and keeping elections legit. With a solid push for straight-dealing, fair campaign vibes, and boosting digital know-how, X could grow into a rock-solid piece of political talk that pulls everyone in and gets the job done.
