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I think that the key takeaway from the entire Wire vs Meta fiasco is that there is a lot of absolutely weird Spy vs. Spy behavior going in the Indian political
by numair 4y ago
I think that the key takeaway from the entire Wire vs Meta fiasco is that there is a lot of absolutely weird Spy vs. Spy behavior going in the Indian political and media industries.
I was initially extremely sympathetic to the story presented by The Wire, because it's quite believable that Meta/FB would go to extreme lengths to try to distance themselves from such a situation, but the facts ... just ... don't add up. As Alex Stamos has noted, there is little debate regarding collusion between Meta's "government relations" people and policy groups, so that's not really much of a scandal -- it's not like Meta will deny that Modi was treated like a divine being when he visited their campus, so the idea that his people can easily call in a favor to crush a social media post won't really surprise anyone.
The bulletproof evidence with DKIM authentication and a video of a logged-in admin instance doesn't look so bulletproof after all, based on the credible reports from those who know how Meta's admin tooling actually looks and functions, and those with other DKIM authenticated emails from the fb.com domain.
So, the question is, what's the agenda here? Why would someone go through all of this effort, to create a scandal out of something that is not very far from the truth? What's the point of this entire thing? Maybe this is like Nick Denton and Gawker losing their entire business over the stupidest sex tape story ever; or maybe this is part of something else that requires domain knowledge regarding Indian politics and media to understand (do page views monetize so well that this mini-scandal is going to be super-profitable to The Wire? Highly doubtful, right? What could they possibly get out of this?).
The whole thing is just really weird. It's also a major distraction from the very real problems that Meta doesn't even try to hide. Meta's relationship with the governments in various countries -- including the United States -- is way too close for comfort, and absolutely toxic on multiple levels. If this story turns out to be fake news, it'll do a lot to help the company deny, deflect and discredit the next real scandal. I think this is what the wacky conspiracy theorists call "4D chess," but I don't think that's what's happening here.
The true story behind all of this is bound to be very strange, and very stupid.
- DisjointedHunt 4y agoI'd speculate this is part of an "Opposition research" move by a political party that might benefit. The extreme lengths that these people seem to have gone to is shocking. Whatever it is, FB has the evidence on their servers as Alex Stamos points out since they created a Workspace instance.
- nindalf 4y agoBased on my conversation with the editor of the Wire, he seems sincere in his belief in this source. He is a respected journalist with decades of experience so he wouldn’t trash that just for a few clicks. My read is that he wants this story to be true so much that he’s ignoring evidence to the contrary. As for why the source is doing this, I couldn’t say.
- desi_ninja 4y agoThe wire is notorious for propoganda hit pieces in Indian political landscape. Based kn conversation is not enough merit when you see kind of reports the wire dishes out.
- numair 4y agoThanks, this is very helpful. It would be wild if this was a very carefully crafted campaign meant to bait The Wire into blowing itself up over an almost-true but totally fake news story. Now I really want to know where this all ends up.
- ummonk 4y agoI was sympathetic that they were getting played when the first story came out but after they doubled down on it not once but twice, and seeing the “evidence” they’re putting out, it appears that at least one of their employees is in on the fabrication and regardless the whole outlet is willing to ignore basic journalistic standards in reporting this story.
- sa1 4y agoIf the story is false, it's not just the source, at least the tech person making the videos at Wire is in on it.
- ummonk 4y agoFwiw Devesh Kumar has to be in on the fabrication given that he provided an impossible story as to why the email screenshots they initially posted showed 2021 (impossible because the day of the week didn’t match the displayed date, indicating the screenshot was fabricated). It also takes a special level of suspension of disbelief to think that Andy Stone somehow writes emails in Indian English and that XCheck gives privileges to take down content from other users.
- moomin 4y agoI’m nitpicking, but the reason Gawker went bust was because someone went out of their way to make sure they did. Sure the tape was the proximate cause, but if it hadn’t been that, it’d have been something else.
- nocoiner 4y agoYup. Gawker was victim of a targeted assassination. Sure, their editor gave a truly disastrous deposition which probably directly caused them to lose that particular case more than any other single factor, but if it hadn’t been that case, it would have been the next fact pattern where a well funded opposition would have even a slim chance at nailing them to the wall. There’s plenty Gawker did that I didn’t like or didn’t care for, but as a proponent of free speech, I see nothing positive about them losing that shit.
- fmajid 4y agoThiel found a way to hack around New York Times Co. v Sullivan.
- sangnoir 4y agoPeter Thiel was going around with an open checkbook, actively looking for anyone who may have a viable case against Gawker. If it hadn't been Hulk Hogan's sex tape case, it would have been unlawful termination, or some other grievance that involved Gawker Media in some way. Edit: lol, no wonder parent & gp were circumspect on names - I'm getting downvoted :'-D Anyhow, here are my sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/02/hogan-thiel-gawker-trial/554132/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/02/hogan-t... https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/the-billionaire-the-wrestler-the-tabloid-and-you/484382/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/the-b...
- cavisne 4y agoThe first thing that comes in to mind is the Bezos leaked nudes. At the time there was a story about the Saudi's being involved and some link to Trump. Years later it came out that Bezos's investigator knew pretty early on that it was likely the brother of Bezos's girlfriend, however the National Enquirer was already in trouble for allegedly acting as a foreign agent for the Saudi's. By seeding the fake Saudi story they were able to apply huge pressure on the Enquirer. Maybe something similar is happening here, Meta is under legal pressure somewhere on this topic. It doesn't have to be true, it just has to annoy the wrong politician/judge.