Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has launched a large-scale digital infiltration campaign targeting unemployed Indian youth, offering monthly salaries of ₹20,000 to ₹30,000 to recruit content creators who can flood Indian social media with divisive narratives, according to intelligence officials. The development comes as Indian security forces have simultaneously intensified counter-terror operations across Jammu and Kashmir, significantly degrading physical terror infrastructure.

The Digital Network Taking Shape

According to an Intelligence Bureau official, Pakistan has been attempting to re-activate terror networks in the Valley while facilitating large-scale infiltrations — but a consistently low success rate has pushed the ISI to pivot toward a digital strategy. The new approach is designed to build a structured network that evades detection by security agencies.

Recruits are being sourced from among unemployed Indian youth who demonstrate aptitude in digital content creation and vlogging. In the first phase, Pakistani handlers reportedly placed normal advertisements on social media platforms inviting online applications. A small initial cohort was recruited and tasked with identifying and onboarding further participants.

The Brief: High-Quality, Seemingly Normal Content

'The content needs to look professional, and strong points must be added to back their case. Most of the time such content could look like a normal discourse against the Indian system. However, as the reach grows, the content would get more aggressive,' an official said.

Recruits are instructed to work individually rather than in teams — a deliberate structure designed to minimise the risk of detection. Unlike earlier ISI-linked propaganda, the new content reportedly steers clear of explicit calls for violence or religious extremism, which are more readily flagged and removed from platforms following government appeals. Instead, handlers are said to focus on amplifying existing domestic controversies and reviving issues that have previously died down in public discourse.

'The intention is to pick issues that have created a controversy in the country and then keep amplifying the same,' an official added. Content relating to India's security and political discourse is reportedly among the primary categories targeted.

The Parallel Security Crackdown on the Ground

The digital campaign is unfolding against a backdrop of intensified kinetic operations. In the most recent action, conducted on Wednesday, security forces killed two terrorists at Majalta in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir. This followed the busting of an overground worker (OGW) network in the Pir Panjal region, further denting Pakistan-backed terror infrastructure in the state.

Officials say the combination of degraded physical infiltration routes and heightened surveillance has likely contributed to the ISI's strategic shift toward a lower-risk, harder-to-attribute digital operation.

Why the Scale of Content Is the Real Threat

Officials stress that the concern is not the individual pieces of content — which may appear innocuous — but the sheer volume at which they are intended to be produced and circulated. 'If these persons flood the internet with such content, it gives everyone the impression that there are only problems plaguing the country and nothing is moving forward,' an official said. The broader objective, according to intelligence inputs, is to control the domestic narrative from within, using Indian voices as proxies to lend credibility to the messaging.

This, officials say, is a long-term play — not a single influence operation, but a sustained infrastructure designed to shape public perception over months and years. Security agencies are now working to identify and dismantle the nascent network before it reaches scale.