BJP IT cell head accuses The Wire of conspiracy

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) information and technology (IT) cell head Amit Malviya has accused The Wire of criminal conspiracy, and said he will approach police to open a criminal case -- days after the news website retracted a story that claimed social media company Meta gave Malviya special privileges to take down content on its Instagram service.

Malviya also indicated that he will sue the news website for an unspecified amount in damages over defamation.

Malviya’s move adds a new twist to a saga that began on October 10 with what initially seemed like an extraordinary allegation before it started to unravel, eventually collapsing completely when The Wire took the story down on October 23, and issued an apology on October 27.

“My role requires me to vociferously advocate the BJP’s point of view on national issues across platforms... However, The Wire’s stories have vitiated the atmosphere and severely dented relationships and trust built over years in order for me to carry out the functions of my responsibility,” Malviya said in a statement, adding that he was “left with no option other than to seek appropriate legal remedies against The Wire and its management/reporters.”

The Wire, shortly after Malviya first made his intention to pursue criminal and civil charges known on Thursday, said its journalists rely on sources for stories and “do their best to verify material they receive”.

“Technological evidence is more complicated and the usual due diligence may not always reveal the fraud perpetrated upon a publication. This is what happened to us,” it said in an unsigned statement. There was no fresh response on Friday.

In a separate statement earlier on October 27, the website apologised to its readers for blamed the incorrect reporting to “deception to which we were subjected by a member of our Meta investigation team”. The website did not identify the member but said the person was no longer associated with it.

Malviya appeared to dig in his heels on Friday. “It is clear that The Wire and some unknown persons entered into a criminal conspiracy with intent to malign and tarnish my reputation, deliberately inserted my name into a story, and fabricated evidence to implicate me,” Malviya said, adding: “This also undermines the democratic and informed choices that the public makes, through a carefully calibrated campaign of disinformation and calumny, and does irreparable harm to the democratic right of dissent.”

The Wire has said it is carrying out an internal investigation and is yet to disclose any further details.

At the heart of the controversy was the takedown of a video involving BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath shared on Instagram. The video was reportedly taken down, with The Wire claiming it was done so since Malviya had reported it using the service’s content reporting tools.

The report triggered an immediate backlash with cyber experts and former employees aware of Meta’s content moderation policies expressing scepticism. The Wire initially rejected these questions and offered what it said was more evidence, appearing to wedge itself deeper into a quagmire as experts pointed out inconsistencies, which forced the website and its reporters to issue yet more clarifications that did not add up.

These included purportedly forged emails from Meta communications chief Andy Stone with text that seemed uncharacteristic of a native English speaker and a date-day mismatch in one of the screenshots shared as proof that lent weight to the theory that these were forged.

The final blow to the reporting was when two experts, whom The Wire initially was reluctant to identify, denied having vetted the evidence. Soon after, on October 18, the website said it had launched an internal review before pulling down the October 10 story and the subsequent clarifications defending it on October 23. Representatives at Meta did not respond to texts and emails from HT seeking a comment on Malviya’s statement and on specific queries on whether the planned to pursue legal remedies against The Wire.

Delhi Police officers said they had not received any complaint against The Wire yet.