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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Algorithmic Anarchy

The NEET paper leak protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar should have remained a legitimate expression of student anger over the collapse of examination integrity. Instead, as the agitation escalated into clashes with the police, abusive sloganeering and an increasingly radical political campaign, Meta’s algorithms emerged as an invisible force multiplying the unrest. The controversy surrounding the brief removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to the youth in the aftermath of the...

Algorithmic Anarchy

The NEET paper leak protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar should have remained a legitimate expression of student anger over the collapse of examination integrity. Instead, as the agitation escalated into clashes with the police, abusive sloganeering and an increasingly radical political campaign, Meta’s algorithms emerged as an invisible force multiplying the unrest. The controversy surrounding the brief removal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to the youth in the aftermath of the protests only reinforces that concern. Meta has attributed the takedown to a “technical glitch” and apologised. But when the world’s largest social media platform can temporarily suppress the message of the elected leader of the world’s largest democracy during a politically charged moments, the issue extends well beyond a single deleted post. Who decides what India sees? That question has become impossible to ignore during the Cockroach Janta Party’s protests. Across Instagram and Facebook, users have reported being inundated with CJP videos, reels and protest clips despite never following the organisation or engaging with similar political content. Whether this resulted from coordinated paid collaborations, recommendation algorithms or both deserves a thorough investigation. But the larger democratic concern is that public opinion is increasingly being mediated not by citizens, journalists or elected representatives, but by opaque algorithms designed in Silicon Valley and optimised for engagement rather than democratic responsibility. Meta’s recommendation engine is not a passive notice board. Every piece of political content that reaches millions has first been selected by an algorithm whose workings remain largely hidden from public scrutiny. This is hardly unique to India. Around the world, Meta has repeatedly been accused of amplifying polarisation, misinformation and political extremism because outrage keeps users engaged. From elections to ethnic conflicts and episodes of civil unrest, the company has faced persistent criticism that its commercial incentives reward divisive content over balanced discourse. Democracies cannot afford to outsource the architecture of public debate to corporations whose primary obligation is to shareholders rather than constitutional values. While citizens are entitled to challenge governments and demand accountability, there is an important distinction between a movement that expands because people are persuaded and one that appears to be algorithmically amplified into omnipresence. Equally disturbing has been the normalisation of abusive political language during the protests. When such content is repeatedly amplified through recommendation systems, platforms cease to be neutral intermediaries and become active participants in degrading democratic discourse. Platforms that influence elections, protests and public opinion must explain how political recommendations are generated and why particular narratives receive extraordinary amplification. Silicon Valley companies insist they are merely technology platforms. But their algorithms increasingly exercise editorial power. When software determines which protests dominate national conversations and whose voices disappear, technology has already become politics.

Forgotten Despite Capability

In business, perception often begins working long before capability is ever discovered. Before a founder speaks, presents an idea, or demonstrates expertise, the market has already started forming assumptions based on background, surname, visibility, influence, and familiarity.


While few openly acknowledge it, this silent bias shapes far more business opportunities than most entrepreneurs realise.


Recently, while interacting with a group of entrepreneurs, this reality became impossible to ignore. There were individuals who instantly commanded respect simply because they belonged to influential business families or carried well-known surnames.


People naturally assumed they possessed leadership, intelligence, and expertise even before hearing them speak. Their credibility was inherited before it was proven.


At the same time, there were others in the room with sharper thinking, stronger insights, greater practical understanding, and genuine business intelligence who remained largely unnoticed.


Not because they lacked capability, but because they lacked visibility attached to their identity.


This is not limited to business alone.


Perception Shortcuts

Society has always operated through perception shortcuts. A doctor’s child is often expected to become a doctor.


A business family’s heir is assumed to understand leadership automatically. Familiarity creates trust even when competence has not yet been tested.


Meanwhile, individuals with extraordinary talent but no influential background spend years trying to earn the credibility others receive instantly. The same pattern quietly affects thousands of founders and entrepreneurs today.


Many business owners believe their struggle to grow comes from market competition, operational limitations, weak marketing, or lack of networking. While these factors matter, another issue often remains hidden beneath the surface.


Personal Branding

The market simply does not remember them strongly enough. And in today’s environment, being overlooked is becoming more expensive than being underestimated. Many highly capable founders continue losing opportunities to people who may possess less expertise but far stronger visibility and positioning.


Investors respond faster to familiarity. Collaborations move towards recognisable names. Clients trust what feels established. Opportunities naturally flow towards people the market already perceives as credible. This is precisely where personal branding becomes a business necessity rather than a vanity exercise. A personal brand is not about posting photographs online or becoming socially visible for attention. It is the reputation, authority, emotional association, and market perception attached to a founder’s identity. It determines whether people remember your name when opportunities arise or forget you the moment the conversation changes.


The uncomfortable reality is that capability alone no longer guarantees recognition. In crowded industries today, many exceptional entrepreneurs remain invisible simply because they never intentionally shaped how the market perceives them.


They focused entirely on building the business while ignoring the identity behind it. Over time, this creates a dangerous situation where the founder becomes highly competent, yet commercially forgettable.


And markets rarely reward people they cannot clearly remember.


Sustainable Growth

The founders who continue growing sustainably understand something critical early in their journey. They do not wait for society, legacy, or influential networks to validate them first.


They intentionally build visibility, authority, communication, positioning, and trust around their own identity. Their personal brand begins creating credibility before meetings even begin.


This changes everything.


Because once perception strengthens, opportunities start approaching differently. Conversations shift. Referrals increase. Trust forms faster.


The founder no longer needs to constantly prove capability because the market already associates their name with authority. For founders operating at or beyond the ₹5 crore level, this has become increasingly important.


At that stage, businesses are not competing only through products or services anymore. They are competing through trust, familiarity, positioning, and perceived leadership. In many industries today, founders are not losing to better businesses. They are losing to businesses the market understands and remembers faster.


That distinction is changing the future of growth itself.


For entrepreneurs and business owners who feel they possess far greater capability than the recognition they currently receive, this may not be a confidence problem at all. It may be a perception problem.


I work with a select group of founders and business owners to help them strengthen their personal brand, refine how the market perceives them, and build authority that creates long-term business growth.


Founders who wish to understand where their current positioning may be limiting future opportunities may book a complimentary 30-minute Founder Brand Audit here: https://calendly.com/divyaaadvaani/founder-brand-audit Because in the end, talent may open possibilities, but perception often decides who gets remembered when the biggest opportunities enter the room.


(The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

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