Modi's Digital Footprint: How Google Alerts Helped Shape His Campaign

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly turned to Google Alerts before the 2014 general elections started on his iPad for a time, monitoring mentions of his name during early morning and late-night hours. By setting alerts for his name, he tracked what the public was discussing about him on the internet, writes British journalist Lance Price in his 2015 book “The Modi Effect: Inside Narendra Modi's Campaign to Transform India”.Google’s various products have 4.9 billion users worldwide, with India accounting for 8 per cent of that number last year. Around 27 per cent, or over a quarter of the country’s population, uses Google products daily, making the platform critical for politicians seeking to connect with voters.As internet penetration deepens, political parties have aggressively invested in digital advertising. From FY20 to FY26, 15 political parties and a political consultancy group spent Rs 423 crore on Google-based campaign advertisements. The BJP led the spending at 56 per cent, followed by the Indian National Congress (INC) at 21 per cent, and the consultancy group I-PAC at 7 per cent.