The controversy over The Wire’s now retracted stories on Meta’s content moderation policies continued through the week, with the BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya – who was implicated in the stories – announcing that he will file civil and criminal proceedings against the website. The series of retracted stories had begun with the claim that Meta had given Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Amit Malviya special privileges under its opaque XCheck programme, to have posts taken down as per his wish. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, had denied the allegation.
The Wire had based its allegations mainly on two documents – a purported Instagram internal report and an internal email allegedly sent by Meta’s Communications Director Andy Stone to his team. The authenticity of these documents was called into question and after failing to provide satisfactory answers, The Wire announced its decision to conduct an internal review of its coverage of Meta on October 18. Here are five major developments in the controversy since then.
On October 23, The Wire retracted its Meta stories. Due to discrepancies that came to light during its review of the Meta stories, The Wire said it will also review the previous reporting done by the technical team involved in its Meta coverage – including the Tek Fog stories co-written by Devesh Kumar, who had also worked on the Meta stories. The Wire also pulled down two stories authored by Devesh Kumar related to AltNews co-founder Zubair Ahmed.
Announcing its retraction of the Meta stories, The Wire said, “We are still reviewing the entire matter, including the possibility that it was deliberately sought to misinform or deceive The Wire.”
The Wire’s reports in January 2022 had claimed that an app called Tek Fog was being used by people associated with the BJP's IT cell to manipulate social media, by using inactive WhatsApp accounts to spread propaganda and ‘hijacking’ trending topics on social media platforms. The links to the Tek Fog stories now land on a page that reads: “This story has been removed from public view pending the outcome of an internal review by The Wire, as one of its authors was part of the technical team involved in our now retracted Meta coverage.”
On October 27, The Wire published an ‘apology’ to its readers. It said that The Wire was subjected to deception by a member of its Meta investigation team, which could’ve been spotted in time if the ‘technical evidence’ used in the stories were verified by independent experts before publication rather than afterwards. A note was later added that “the person responsible”, who had subjected them to ‘deception’ with inauthentic material, was “no longer associated with The Wire in any capacity.” Though The Wire did not name them, the person referred to here is believed to be Devesh Kumar.
“To have rushed to publish a story we believed was reliable without having the associated technical evidence vetted independently is a failure of which we cannot permit repetition,” the statement said.
In his first public statement on the matter since the report implicating him was published on October 10, Amit Malviya announced on Thursday, October 27 evening that he would file criminal and civil proceedings against The Wire for ‘forged documents’. “After consultation with my lawyer and seeking their advise, I have decided to file criminal and civil proceedings against 'The Wire.' Not only will I be setting the criminal process in motion but I will also sue them in a civil court seeking damages as they forged documents with a view to malign and tarnish my reputation,” Malviya’s statement on Twitter read.
In a statement issued in response to Amit Malviya, The Wire said that there had been ‘malintent’ to discredit the publication, and indicated that the person who ‘deceived’ them would have to provide an explanation in court. “Whether the person who brought all the material to The Wire deceived us at anyone else’s behest or acted on his own is a matter that will be subjected to judicial process in due course. The malintent to discredit The Wire is obvious,” it said.
On October 28, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) withdrew references made to the Tek Fog investigation in a statement it had issued earlier on January 11, days after the story had been published by The Wire. The statement had condemned the continued online harassment and organised trolling of women journalists, and demanded the government take urgent steps to dismantle such "misogynistic and abusive" digital ecosystems. Citing The Wire’s report, the Editors Guild had also sought a Supreme Court probe into the alleged use of the Tek Fog app to harass women journalists with abusive tweets.
“Amongst other instances, the statement had also referred to a series of reports carried by the Wire on an app called the Tek Fog. Since the Wire has removed those stories as part of their internal review following serious questions on the veracity of their reporting, the Guild withdraws the references made to all those reports,” the EGI said in its latest statement.
Commenting on the controversy, the statement said, “The Guild is conscious of and emphasizes the need for extra care in investigative journalism, and urges newsrooms to resist the temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories, circumventing due journalistic norms and checks.”
EGI withdraws references to the Wire story in statement from Jan 2022 on online harrasment of women journalists. Urges newsrooms to resist the temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories, circumventing due journalistic norms. pic.twitter.com/D3lquITgjL
— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) October 28, 2022