On Tuesday, social media platform X was flooded with posts with the phrase ‘What’s wrong with India’. By the evening, it became a trend with over 2.5 lakh posts, and even the government’s citizen engagement portal MyGovIndia participating in it.
But what is the ‘what’s wrong with India’ trend and why is it going viral?
Disparaging posts from foreigners with the phrase ‘What’s wrong with India’ started going viral a few days ago, where they shared videos and pictures about issues in the country related to public hygiene, poverty, criminal activities, and more. As some netizens claimed, those posts received unusual traction, and people blamed X’s algorithm for it.
Many Indian social media users criticized this trend and started a counter-trend by posting sarcastic tweets using the exact phrase. The twist is that these posts highlight similar issues faced by other Western or developed countries. A few also started sharing visuals that show India’s progress in different sectors. Taking the opportunity, some shared memes too.
Even the official handle MyGovIndia wrote, “What’s wrong with India?” and shared screenshots of news headlines. While a headline by Hindustan Times reads, “India has almost wiped out extreme poverty”, another by CNBC reads, “India becomes first country to touchdown on moon’s south pole region”.
Users shared pictures and videos of similar incidents which took place in other countries with the caption ‘What’s wrong with India’.
The objective was to prove that X’s algorithm was promoting such posts that had the phrase ‘what’s wrong with India’ and shared anti-India content.
Some of these posts, shared by users who had less than 300 followers, got over one lakh impressions. The ratio of comments and likes was also staggering.
Indian X users shared pictures and videos of people openly defecating and bathing in Western countries, sarcastically marrying it with the phrase ‘what’s wrong with India’.
Though many Indian users blamed X’s algorithm for the initial traction involving the phrase “what’s wrong with India”, it is unclear what started it all. Indian X users, however, hijacked the trend to make it work in their favor.
