Viral Delhi, Muted Ranchi: NDTV Data Puts Instagram’s Protest Algorithm Under Spotlight
What Happened
NDTV analysed Instagram data with analytics firm DataBeings and found a sharp visibility gap between two student-linked protests: the Jantar Mantar protest in Delhi and the Jharkhand/Ranchi student protest. The Delhi protest had 5,239 Instagram posts from about 3,100 unique accounts, reaching around 1.8 crore people, while the Ranchi protest had 1,062 posts from 290 accounts, reaching only about 6 lakh people.
Key Takeaways
The story highlights a bigger issue: social media algorithms can shape public attention by deciding which protests become national conversations and which remain local or under-seen.