In defence of Ola, a network of dubious Twitter a/cs
NEW DELHI: A network of seemingly coordinated Twitter handles appears to be working to drown out criticism of Ola Electric on social media and build a positive narrative for the brand online, a Mint investigation has found. Several of them also work in a coordinated manner to trend other topics or promote other brands as well, indicating they are likely either accounts created by digital media agencies or freelance networks that work for multiple agencies.
Mint documented more than 50 such handles which attacked Balwant Singh, a government employee in Guwahati. Singh had tweeted out the grievous injuries suffered by his son, Reetam, a lawyer at the Guwahati high court, in an accident on March 26 involving Ola S1 Pro, the flagship product from the electric two-wheeler maker. Singh had complained that the scooter accelerated when it was supposed to brake, sending his son flying.
The tweet sparked a conversation about the safety of Ola Electric scooters, with others sharing their own unpleasant experiences. As Singh’s tweet gained attention and made its way into news media, the network of accounts got to work. “Just letting you know since you don’t know, this is what airborne crashing looks like not 1 scratch on a panel”, user @princi_qween tweeted, with an accident image.
“Regen(enerative braking) exists so that the battery efficiency is better. How has it caused an accident? Seems like something that has been done to garner attention & money. If he is hurt that bad you should take care of him rather than demanding things on Twitter”, another tweet by @Imankitss read.
Two handles claimed that Singh’s Twitter account turned active after eight years to extort money from Ola. At least six others tweeted identical images of a gory road accident, claiming if Reetam’s account was indeed true, the damage would have been worse. Accusations of extortion, foul play by rival brands, spinning “fantasy” stories and blaming the victim for over-speeding are the common threads in many of these tweets. An occasional account, displaying identical characteristics, also claims to be a customer, offering a positive view of the company. Some of them are found tweeting identical hashtags on various topics, indicating their association with multiple agencies mandated to create a positive narrative by brands. While there is a range in terms of how active these accounts have been on Twitter, most came up in or after 2021, and some as recently as March or April this year. In many instances, different accounts post an identical tweet, or a slight variation of the same tweet, using similar pictures and addressing a similar theme.
Reetam Singh, who is recovering from his injuries, accused Ola Electric of using troll accounts. “Many other Ola customers left comments on my father’s tweet about my accident that they were facing similar issues like we had—and troll accounts went after them too. When I started seeing a pattern in what was being said to troll us, I was stunned to find out the company is employing either bot handles or some social media agency to discredit my story. I realized these are not authentic customers or handles and they were amplifying tweets from a common marketing agency. There were 50-60 handles like that”, Singh said over the phone.
To be sure, there is no direct evidence as to whether Ola Electric was aware of or responsible for this activity. The company did not respond to a request for its version of events.