In response to Meta's rebuttal of its XCheck report, The Wire shares a video of a source using a subdomain, DKIM signatures, and more, but experts are skeptical
& many mainstream foreign journalists also questioned The Wire's work. Now, @thewire_in says it's verified the email via- its DKIM signature. https://thewire.in/... Matthew Green / @matthew_d_green : These folks say that they've verified the DKIM headers on an email sent by Andy Stone of Meta (which he denies sending): this is the “who leaked this?” email related to the Indian govt having power to delete posts on Instagram. https://thewire.in/... Ramnath / @rmnth : If the email from Andy Stone is fake, as Meta claims, what explains this? https://thewire.in/... https://twitter.com/... Hakan / @hatr : „The Wire" releases an article providing technical documentation and proof - such as verifying DKIM signatures of a sent e-mail and internal URLs - and stands by its reporting that Facebook so vehemently denied https://thewire.in/... https://twitter.com/... Matthew Green / @matthew_d_green : Some folks are suggesting this DKIM header is a little different from others they've received from https://fb.com/. It's missing the “To” field in its DKIM header. However I'm not sure if this is unusual or normal when the recipient set is large? Jason Kint / @jason_kint : Wow, for the US press and influencers who provided hot takes (later disproven) dismissing the original report, The Wire has now tripled down and provided another level of interrogation. The original allegations are a massive deal and deserve another look based on their work here. https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : From fellow ex-FB security engineer and current SIO CTO https://twitter.com/... @pranavdixit : @baxiabhishek There are legitimate reasons to question this coverage. A credible American media house wouldn't have been scrutinized to this extent because they wouldn't published these stories without months of bulletproofing. The Wire, meanwhile, didn't even reach out for comment. https://twitter.com/... David Thiel / @elegant_wallaby : Also note that every other email that people have presented — and every email I've received from fb\.com going back to 2016 — is formatted differently from what the video shows. The header list is invariably lowercase and with padding around the colons. 1/2 https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Vivek Wadhwa / @wadhwa : Looking increasingly likely @thewire_in and @svaradarajan were conned. Best strategy for them to salvage whatever credibility they have left in this battle is to release full emails and to out the con artists at Facebook and possibly in their own team https://twitter.com/... Pranesh Prakash / @pranesh : There's proof that @thewire_in doctored screenshots. Check the date of the 2 experts' emails in the first screenshot (from https://thewire.in/...): 2022. Now check archived screenshot: 2021. https://archive.ph/xgdN3 Spott3d by the eagle-eyed @techtradeguru. Ty, oh guru 🙏 https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : If The Wire is wrong, then this does not disprove the overall concern over the relationship between the BJP and Meta. I have long said that the biggest organizational weakness at Meta is the unification of platform policy and government relations. Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : 2) The @fb.com/@meta.com argument is the weakest defense by Facebook. Clearly, the company's O365/ProofPoint instance is setup to receive emails for either domain and various employees are sending from different domains. This argument is pretty much useless either way. Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : 6) The emails from the experts were originally timestamped in 2021 in the screenshots posted by The Wire. They silently changed their post to update them to 2022. You can still see the 2021 screenshot in this thread: https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ranjan / @ranjanxroy : This whole battle is has it all - Facebook comms, email pixel tracking, the x check program, Indian politics https://twitter.com/... @thewire_in : @andymstone Here, we respond to the statements made by Meta and its officials (@guyro) and answer some questions that have been raised - particularly that The Wire may have been ‘fooled’ or have fallen prey to an elaborate hoax. We stand by our stories. Here's why. https://thewire.in/... Alishan Jafri / @alishan_jafri : A whistleblower's intent hardly matters when the effect of their disclosure is way too big and in larger public interest. We need to wait and listen to individuals who've put so much on line instead of quickly falling for disinfo & slander by large corporates serving fascism. https://twitter.com/... Ian Sherr / @iansherr : Ignoring Fb's below-rock-bottom trust problems, this response is a master class in walking through the technical wizardry that happens automatically in our daily lives. https://twitter.com/... Matthew Green / @matthew_d_green : DKIM non-repudiability is an extremely powerful tool. Maybe if a few major Internet companies realize how damaging it can be, there will be some momentum towards addressing the problem. Naomi Barton / @therealnaomib : We've all been distracted by the very competent Meta comms team's mythmaking, but we need to take a step back and realise what this means. A political party can ~erase~ criticism, on a huge platform, in the run up to an election that could cement fascism here. https://twitter.com/... @martinsfp : I still don't understand why the alleged Stone email reads like it was written by someone with English as a second language. https://twitter.com/... Zoë Schiffer / @zoeschiffer : The latest twist in The Wire / Meta story: The Wire has published a new article refuting Meta's claims that the documents were fabricated. The publication says it used an email authentication protocol to verify the leaks. “We stand by our stories entirely” https://thewire.in/... Devesh Kumar / @onosmosis : I don't know what to say new. Everything is here in this third piece. There are multiple emails, verifications with DKIM (something no media house has done before), live video recordings, references to other articles, and use of tech in ‘tech journalism’. https://thewire.in/... Michael Veale / @mikarv : The Wire now running a v interesting rebuttal to Meta's claim that incredibly damning internal emails were fake, with evidence that the email is in use, DKIM headers valid, and more. Suggests FB v successful in sowing doubt and limiting the story's impact. https://thewire.in/... https://twitter.com/... Aditya Kalra / @adityakalra : Meta indicated ‘ https://instagram.workplace.com/’ is not in use. The Wire's sources at Meta have said that link exists. Evidence? One of the sources made and shared a recording of them navigating the portal and showing other case files. By @thewire_in. https://thewire.in/... Nikita Saxena / @nikita1712 : Painstakingly reported rebuttal—hope to learn from the engagement and follow-up reporting on this case by tech reporters. Beyond the noise—and agreement or disagreement—it is the only way stories of import can move forward. https://twitter.com/... David Carroll / @profcarroll : Well, well, well. Detailed forensic evidence that debunks denialz. Your move, Facebook. https://twitter.com/... Suhail / @tweepul : Comprehensive pt by pt rebuttal that leaves no doubt on FB's vile PR hitjobs. I was one of the few who privately wondered if the Andy Stone email was a gotcha-attack to discredit the orig well-researched story. Glad to be proven wrong on it. Well done @jahnavi_sen @thewire_in https://twitter.com/... Jahnavi Sen / @jahnavi_sen : Meta has levelled some entirely unfounded allegations against us in the last few days to discredit @thewire_in's reporting. @onosmosis, @svaradarajan and I explain why we're standing by our stories - and how we know Meta's claims were false. https://thewire.in/...
EXCLUSIVE | This week, The Wire reported on Meta's XCheck program giving BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya veto power on Instagram, and leaked an email from @andymstone that was at odds with his public denial. Meta called this “a fabrication”. It wasn't. 🧵 https://thewire.in/... http…
A couple of quick observations on l'affair Indian XCheck and The Wire's last update. 1) Nothing on this page is something that can be verified by me or any other reader. We would need the actual email to do so. https://twitter.com/...
3) The Wire's DKIM verification video proves nothing. It would be trivial to fake the verification by dkimverify, as all you would need is a script in your path that prints “signature ok”. There are more complicated ways to fake this as well. https://twitter.com/...
I know - and whoever is now going to increasing lengths to fabricate this story knows - this is completely false. I never sent, wrote, or even thought what's expressed in that supposed email, as it's been clear from the outset that @thewire_in's stories are based on fabrications.
Here's a link to the @waybackmachine copy, which shows the screenshotted emails' dates as 2021. https://web.archive.org/... Now it has been edited to 2022. This conclusively shows (I hope) that @thewire_in's rebuttal is false. (all credit for spotting this goes to @techtradeguru.…
Last week, Facebook accused Indian reporters at @thewire_in of publishing a “fabricated” internal FB email—& many mainstream foreign journalists also questioned The Wire's work. Now, @thewire_in says it's verified the email via- its DKIM signature. https://thewire.in/...
These folks say that they've verified the DKIM headers on an email sent by Andy Stone of Meta (which he denies sending): this is the “who leaked this?” email related to the Indian govt having power to delete posts on Instagram. https://thewire.in/...
„The Wire" releases an article providing technical documentation and proof - such as verifying DKIM signatures of a sent e-mail and internal URLs - and stands by its reporting that Facebook so vehemently denied https://thewire.in/... https://twitter.com/...
Some folks are suggesting this DKIM header is a little different from others they've received from https://fb.com/. It's missing the “To” field in its DKIM header. However I'm not sure if this is unusual or normal when the recipient set is large?
Wow, for the US press and influencers who provided hot takes (later disproven) dismissing the original report, The Wire has now tripled down and provided another level of interrogation. The original allegations are a massive deal and deserve another look based on their work here.…
There's proof that @thewire_in doctored screenshots. Check the date of the 2 experts' emails in the first screenshot (from https://thewire.in/...): 2022. Now check archived screenshot: 2021. https://archive.ph/xgdN3 Spott3d by the eagle-eyed @techtradeguru. Ty, oh guru 🙏 https://…
Also note that every other email that people have presented — and every email I've received from fb\.com going back to 2016 — is formatted differently from what the video shows. The header list is invariably lowercase and with padding around the colons. 1/2 https://twitter.com/..…
If The Wire is wrong, then this does not disprove the overall concern over the relationship between the BJP and Meta. I have long said that the biggest organizational weakness at Meta is the unification of platform policy and government relations.
2) The @fb.com/@meta.com argument is the weakest defense by Facebook. Clearly, the company's O365/ProofPoint instance is setup to receive emails for either domain and various employees are sending from different domains. This argument is pretty much useless either way.
6) The emails from the experts were originally timestamped in 2021 in the screenshots posted by The Wire. They silently changed their post to update them to 2022. You can still see the 2021 screenshot in this thread: https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@andymstone Here, we respond to the statements made by Meta and its officials (@guyro) and answer some questions that have been raised - particularly that The Wire may have been ‘fooled’ or have fallen prey to an elaborate hoax. We stand by our stories. Here's why. https://thewir…
A whistleblower's intent hardly matters when the effect of their disclosure is way too big and in larger public interest. We need to wait and listen to individuals who've put so much on line instead of quickly falling for disinfo & slander by large corporates serving fascism. htt…
Ignoring Fb's below-rock-bottom trust problems, this response is a master class in walking through the technical wizardry that happens automatically in our daily lives. https://twitter.com/...
DKIM non-repudiability is an extremely powerful tool. Maybe if a few major Internet companies realize how damaging it can be, there will be some momentum towards addressing the problem.
We've all been distracted by the very competent Meta comms team's mythmaking, but we need to take a step back and realise what this means. A political party can ~erase~ criticism, on a huge platform, in the run up to an election that could cement fascism here. https://twitter.com…
The latest twist in The Wire / Meta story: The Wire has published a new article refuting Meta's claims that the documents were fabricated. The publication says it used an email authentication protocol to verify the leaks. “We stand by our stories entirely” https://thewire.in/...
I don't know what to say new. Everything is here in this third piece. There are multiple emails, verifications with DKIM (something no media house has done before), live video recordings, references to other articles, and use of tech in ‘tech journalism’. https://thewire.in/...
The Wire now running a v interesting rebuttal to Meta's claim that incredibly damning internal emails were fake, with evidence that the email is in use, DKIM headers valid, and more. Suggests FB v successful in sowing doubt and limiting the story's impact. https://thewire.in/... …
Meta indicated ‘ https://instagram.workplace.com/’ is not in use. The Wire's sources at Meta have said that link exists. Evidence? One of the sources made and shared a recording of them navigating the portal and showing other case files. By @thewire_in. https://thewire.in/...
Painstakingly reported rebuttal—hope to learn from the engagement and follow-up reporting on this case by tech reporters. Beyond the noise—and agreement or disagreement—it is the only way stories of import can move forward. https://twitter.com/...
Comprehensive pt by pt rebuttal that leaves no doubt on FB's vile PR hitjobs. I was one of the few who privately wondered if the Andy Stone email was a gotcha-attack to discredit the orig well-researched story. Glad to be proven wrong on it. Well done @jahnavi_sen @thewire_in htt…
Meta has levelled some entirely unfounded allegations against us in the last few days to discredit @thewire_in's reporting. @onosmosis, @svaradarajan and I explain why we're standing by our stories - and how we know Meta's claims were false. https://thewire.in/...