How I Exposed Anti-Muslim Views On The ‘Clubhouse’ App

Trigger warning: This article contains transcriptions of chats with Islamophobic remarks, sexual violence against women

Having tested covid-positive, a few days ago, I anticipated this whole week and the next one to rest. I am taking the necessary medicines so there is nothing to worry about. Thankfully, I recognize my privilege too in this case after getting to hear saddening stories of covid-related deaths.

It was Monday evening, I woke up from a deep slumber. Starting my work (online lecturing) early morning, I really cherish a mindful sleep. Hope you can understand this, too. As usual, after this great siesta, I happened to check my WhatsApp notifications.

Scrolled my chats and I saw a text from my best friend ‘scrappy’, who is presently preparing for a Master’s in social sciences. His WhatsApp texts often consist of memes, but this time, it unimaginably turned out to be ‘toxic’ videos he recorded from a clubhouse session that took place around 2-3 pm on the same day.

He told me to listen to it and share my feedback. I was stunned to see that this clubhouse session “muslim gals are more beautiful than hindu gals (gals opinion)” was way beyond the definition of toxicity, sexism, and islamophobia. Totally disconcerted. Disgusting and nevertheless highly perilous.

The comments, in that session, especially from the speakers who were as young as 18 years old, would even beat the records of hatemonger Yati Narsinghanand. I am on clubhouse too, but wholly inactive there because audio views won’t bring about real changes except for the ones who’re seeking clouts and popularity. Like Twitter Spaces, the clubhouse is another ultracrepidarian platform for the ones who hail intellectual masturbation and gibberish talks.

After listening to the videos ‘scrappy’ sent me, I logged in on clubhouse to see the profile IDs of those speakers. Took screenshots of their profile IDs because they had no idea of the storm coming for them. I tried tracing their session or club there, but sadly it was not there anymore. Given my technical knowledge, I wasn’t too sure how clubhouse really functions, so there’s that too.

I pleaded ‘scrappy’ to share these videos on social media but due to his own mental health reasons, he was apprehensive. He is also a part of my mental health initiative on some social media space, so I could humanely understand his personal plight. He did share these videos with his other friends on WhatsApp before I could even behold it, but they simply ‘reacted’ and moved on. He suggested if I could possibly upload it on my social media space, instead.

I did not think much and I simply said “yes, it’s high time to scorn, condemn and smash such levels of toxicity”. Despite being doxed and bullied on Facebook, in the past, by a few ‘riot-wing’ activists of the ruling party, I consecrated to take the uncalculated risk and uploaded it on my Twitter. Come whatever happens but I can’t afford to take a stand of silence because that would equate with supporting oppressionism too.

Frankly speaking, I expected that the video thread will barely have an outreach by up to 50 RTs and 100 likes since I am also not an influential account on Twitter. Gratefully, the video unexpectedly crossed 7,00,000 views and 2 million impressions as per the latest Twitter analytics. The whole Monday night and Tuesday kept me busy with notifications, texts, calls from journalists and as well as police (from Delhi and Mumbai), inboxes, and a few hate comments usually from saffronized minds.

Had few good Twitteratis not tagged DCW (Delhi Commission For Women), NCW (National Commission For Women), and many other constitutional bodies, I doubt if the legal machinery would have undertaken suo-moto cognizance of this issue.

The video thread on Twitter went viral, in a short span of time. Well, it deserves and even you can sense why. But, will this so-called virality really deter any such next ‘toxic’ episode? Recently, we saw that 5 arrests have been totally made in the case of the Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai app issue. Few more arrests should be on the way because I sense that this issue is an organized racket.

‘Hate Is The New Love’

These platforms like Sulli deals and Bulli Bai were impudently generated to doxx and morph images of more than 100 Muslim girls, and they were auctioned off. And coincidentally, amid the ongoing clubhouse issue virality, a few hours ago, Ritesh Jha (the admin of the ‘secular doge’ channel on YouTube) is back with the same volume of impunity. He is known for anti-Muslim comments/videos on his own YouTube channel. Fully derogatory. Last year, an FIR was filed against him but is the ecosystem really fair to act against such oppressors or even deter another hate speech against minorities?

After a few hours of this video thread, I made another video thread highlighting the same speakers’ misogynist and anti-Sikh views.

It would be wrong and totally incoherent to say that these speakers are “lone-wolf” as many Hindutva toadies sympathetically concluded after the arrests of criminals running Sulli deals and Bulli Bai app. That “lone-wolf” theory innately stands debunked, after realizing how hate crimes against minorities rose by 300% in the last 7 years.

In 2019, a report by American civil society research found out that 40% of content on social media is filled with casteist slurs and Islamophobic remarks. The correlation of current political dispensation and hate speech can be easily tracked, after witnessing how the ecosystem reacted against anti-CAA protests, etc.

In fact, it’s the “privileged-wolf” theory that is facilitating people as young as 15-18 years to pass hate comments. A quick look at the quality of interactions of their saffronized parents, family WhatsApp groups, and media spheres like Zee News, Sudarshan News, OpIndia, etc can easily reveal how ‘hate’ is being systematically and sustainably manufactured, and thence the wolves are not socially alone anymore.

Unfortunately, ‘hate is a new love’ now. Islamophobia or anti-Dalit or anti-reservation views are not political by nature anymore. They’re collective, cultural, and nevertheless very personal, too.

Arrests Have Been Made

In this ongoing clubhouse episode, after DCW issued suo-moto cognizance notice, Delhi police have registered FIR against those speakers under IPC sections: 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on the ground of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion) and 354A (sexual harassment).

As of now, albeit deletion of these profile/IDs on the clubhouse app, the police have zeroed in on 4-5 participants with the help of the technical team and should question the participants soon. They assured that they will raid more members who were present in that session.

I have no idea why those toxic, sexist and islamophobic speakers on Clubhouse have to deactivate their IDs after the expose. If they’re courageous enough to utter hate speech, they should be valiant enough to stay activated too. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Police (Cyber cell) led by DCP Rashmi Karandekar who is also investigating the Bulli Bai app case has promised severe action against these speakers. Her desk has issued a notice under CrPC Act 91 to the Clubhouse app and sought more information.

A recent report by The Print revealed that one of the clubhouse speakers ‘Kira xD’ is 18 years old and he said that he made ‘rape jokes’ against Muslim girls in that clubhouse session “for fun, for releasing frustration”. He also spoke, in that recorded session, that “girls should only have the privilege to walk naked on the streets”. He adds, “They should be laid down on naked on street and their whole body impaled with a hot iron rod”.

His name, as known to me after hearing his sessions multiple times at the expense of my own mental health, is Akash and he hails from Karnal, India. It’s nauseating for me every time I attend calls from journalists and police, I have no other choice either.

When I uploaded screenshots of these sessions and news articles/headlines that covered this issue on my Whatsapp statuses, I did not see more than 7 friends out of around 600 saved contacts (including professional ones) texting me and asking about my condition. I do not expect either but does their deafening silence prelude their subtle bigotry against Muslims? Or, are people in my social circles, including Sanghi family members and relatives, lacking basic empathy to come out and condemn this whole episode?

One of my cousins texted me saying, “I should not do such ‘social service’ as it can cost my career” but do people around me really understand that human life has become cheaper in India, or are we really pretending to be alive outside when we’re conscientiously dead inside?

This story is still developing as arrests will be verily made.

This story will not be last either, as India has already illuminated the gates of dystopia. Hate speech has become free speech now because apples are oranges in this country. Although free speech comes with its own intrinsic reasonable restrictions, do we care about taxing stupidity?