Influencer Idiocy

The arrest of Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra for dallying with Pakistani intelligence operatives is much more than a serious embarrassment against the backdrop of a full-blown India-Pakistan crisis. Better known for her chirpy travel reels than for sound judgment, Malhotra’s arrest is a window into the astonishing naiveté and wilful recklessness of a new tribe of digital ‘influencers’ who flirt with national security like it’s just another clickbait opportunity. Her case is an ignoble cautionary tale in a time when soft power, disinformation and psychological warfare are just as potent as drones and missiles being hurled across the border by our hostile neighbour.

Malhotra, whose claim to fame was wandering around exotic locales and vlogging about them for her audience, has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for consorting with Pakistani intelligence operatives. Her multiple visits to Pakistan and her presence at iftar dinners hosted by known PIOs (Pakistani Intelligence Officers) were not coincidences, if the police are to be believed.

The Indian police say she was being developed as an asset. Her financial records reportedly show travel far beyond her means, and her communications with Pakistani agents continued even during periods of heightened military tension between India and Pakistan. For a civilian vlogger with no access to classified information, this may seem trivial. It is not. Modern espionage speaks in hashtags and plays the fool on camera. That makes it all the more dangerous.

Let us dispense with the idea that Malhotra is a naïve dupe. Her repeated meetings with figures like Ehsan-ur-Rahim (alias Danish) of the Pakistan High Commission, her trips to Pakistan arranged by his contacts, and her continued contact even after terror attacks in Pahalgam, suggest more than innocent wanderlust. She was, knowingly or otherwise, amplifying the reach of a state known for subverting Indian interests.

This is not an isolated case. Just days earlier, another arrest was made in Uttar Pradesh of Shahzad, a trader-turned-ISI asset who smuggled goods across the border while feeding sensitive data to Pakistan. Like Malhotra, he travelled to Pakistan multiple times. Like her, his economic activity was disproportionate to his means. And like her, he used this dissonance to cloak intelligence work in the ordinary garb of cross-border trade or cultural tourism.

What unites these cases is a cocktail of ego, greed and stupidity. YouTubers, Instagrammers, and TikTok stars often see themselves as global citizens above politics and patriotism. Some fall into the trap of thinking that statecraft is a game for someone else to worry about while they collect likes and visa stamps. But the enemy is not playing games. Pakistan’s ISI and China’s MSS are deadly serious about using online influencers as conduits for soft-power manipulation. They seek to plant seeds of influence and disaffection where they can. The public must learn to stop romanticising influencers who gallivant to rogue states and return draped in the fig leaves of peace and pluralism.