Discussion

• @guyro Guy Rosen on x

  The latest video from @thewire_in does not show an internal Instagram system. Our investigation has identified a spoof created on October 13 using our enterprise Meta Workplace product. (1/2)

• @onosmosis Devesh Kumar on x

  I want to talk about Pranesh Prakash, who has been most vocal against our reporting on Instagram. This is my take and is not associated with The Wire.

• @thewire_in @thewire_in on x

  By repeatedly making wild claims about The Wire's evidence, Meta hopes we will feel obliged to seek and publish further information that could be more easily traced back to our sources. We are not prepared to play this game any further. https://thewire.in/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  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/...

• @charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x

  Oh dear. The Wire (Indian news site) got played by someone malicious who planted a fake story claiming a ruling BJP person could veto content. Plays into BJP's hands to discredit The Wire. But now is the time to hunt down the faker, not lash out at Meta. https://twitter.com/...

• @pranavdixit @pranavdixit on x

  🚨 @Meta says that the Workplace video @thewire_in shared as evidence from a “source” was an external instance created after The Wire's story “in order to manufacture evidence”. Meta has locked the account because it was used to “mislead journalists.” https://about.fb.com/... http…

• @rasmus_kleis Rasmus Kleis Nielsen on x

  “All we have is allegations being thrown by Meta, & a publication w genuine journalistic credentials standing by its story.” Thread ⬇️ https://twitter.com/...

• @donie Donie O'Sullivan on x

  He's one of a few people I would find difficult ever giving the benefit of the doubt to. But Facebook's evidence here is pretty overwhelming. Certainly if Facebook is lying, it'd surely mean the end of @andymstone's and Guy's careers at the company.

• @drewpusateri Drew Pusateri on x

  There seems to be a lot of ‘The Wire and Meta continue pointing fingers’ kind of commentary/reporting but the facts at this point seem pretty straightforward:

• @therealnaomib Naomi Barton on x

  ...why are they being given enough institutional credibility to be taken at face value - despite having a history of a lack of transparency and political bias - whereas The Wire, who has literally never had any history “fabrication” is repeatedly defending against the charge.

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  I'm perfectly willing to believe Facebook makes all sorts of questionable political compromises, but this is very weird. And FB didn't claim any of the documents that Haugen screenshotted were forged.

• @kushal_mehra @kushal_mehra on x

  Meta is trying too hard to save the ass of the “wire” but the wire is like nah we shall double down on our stupidity and prove to the world that no one beats us in stupidity.

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  There's been a good deal of credible analysis on here separate from @guyro's statement about a Workplace mockup this morning. I know Indian journalists are pursuing additional lines of reporting, and am hoping that their work can settle not just what happened but how it did. http…

• @sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x

  This is the most unprecedented tech versus media story playing out in India The two players involved are the most extreme caricatures of whatever the other side hates Uncharted territory https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  @PranavDixit ... ironically the fake workplace was created because meta's content moderation was not great and allowed for the impersonation of their own business, which..... lol

• @donie Donie O'Sullivan on x

  And given how leaky Facebook is, were the original Andy email real, I'd expect a second outlet to get a sniff of it and the alleged cover-up by now.

• @digitallybones Sahil Mohan Gupta on x

  Wow @meta is really going after the @thewire_in over the two stories by @svaradarajan and @jahnavi_sen - I've never seen them vehemently deny something and they have done far worse. https://twitter.com/...

• @nixxin Nikhil Pahwa on x

  There's something very unexpected and unusual about this Meta / Facebook statement about the Wire story: that last line... https://about.fb.com/... Here's why... 1/n

• @donie Donie O'Sullivan on x

  I do not trust Facebook exec Guy Rosen — since the stunt last year in the tweet below. [NYT article: “Facebook, Fearing Public Outcry, Shelved Earlier Report on Popular Posts"]

• @atti_cus Dushyant A on x

  “Sadly, the controversy over the past week has obscured the key disclosure made - that Meta's XCheck programme is up and running in India, and includes at least one representative of the ruling party with a reputation for social media posts which violate 'community guidelines” ht…

• @priyankapulla @priyankapulla on x

  What a trainwreck this has turned out to be https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  This is rapidly becoming one of the strangest tech/journalism stories in recent memory https://twitter.com/...

• @pranesh Pranesh Prakash on x

  @mer__edith The journalists at the Wire didn't ask very basic questions as to how a BJP functionary monitored a *private* acc. with 250-odd followers and within 2 minutes of a post going up flagged it for removal. https://twitter.com/...

• @calamur Harini Calamur on x

  One day this will be a mini series All parties in this are capable of some serious levels of manufactured truth. I am just watching with a pack of popcorn. https://twitter.com/...

• @chandrarsrikant Chandra R. Srikanth on x

  One of The Wire's reporters in a personal relationship with the source? Why not disclose this earlier? Why disclose it now? https://twitter.com/...

• @centerofright Vijay on x

  Earlier days in childhood, the guy who got out for a duck and also who owned the bat and opened used to threaten - I am going home with my bat - These folks are behaving like that - When every thing was proved false :) https://twitter.com/...

• @hartoshsinghbal Hartosh Singh Bal on x

  To the point, and all the noise by @Meta with no follow up is about this. They will never do more than make noise simply because any disclosure about their procedures is what they fear, it is what they are trying to ward off at this point. https://twitter.com/...

• @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x

  I confess being riveted by this story. Who went to all this effort into duping the Wire into writing a fake Facebook scandal and why? https://twitter.com/...

• @mathewi Mathew Ingram on x

  Not only can a DKIM be spoofed, but even if it wasn't, all the process does (correct me if I'm wrong @alexstamos) is verify that an email came from a specific *domain* not from a specific sender within that domain. So if someone within FB spoofed the email, DKIM would still work …

• @sriramk Sriram Krishnan on x

  this story has been remarkable to follow - increasingly looks like someone went to a lot of trouble to spoof a leak. https://twitter.com/...

• @rezang_la Abhishek Dwivedi on x

  It is clear that The Wire would have gotten away with a forgery had there been no democratized social media. No print media would dare to fact check another. Calls would be made. Social media made a flower of the The Wire.

• @nadjanadika @nadjanadika on x

  This is a good point to make. I have some doubts over the previous sets of evidences but this I can get behind. Wire has lost some narrative but I hope this brings it back https://twitter.com/...

• @firasd Firas Durri on x

  @thewire_in Forget tracing back, you need to never talk to these ‘sources’ again. Do you understand that no reputable news org in the world will take the position you have? https://twitter.com/...

• @pranavdixit @pranavdixit on x

  “We reiterate the faith we have in our sources, whose identities and positions in Meta are known to us. Our reporters have had a productive relationship (and in one case a personal one) with them for some time already, prior to the Instagram story.” https://twitter.com/...

• @pranesh Pranesh Prakash on x

  I must admit, it takes a whole lot of chutzpah to spoof a video to implicate Meta by using Meta's own tools, thus allowing them to detect your spoof. But then again, the distance between chutzpah and moronic foolhardiness is rather small. https://twitter.com/...

• @harveen_a Harveen Ahluwalia on x

  The Wire has modified its statement on the relationship(s) with source(s). The word “personal” has been removed. https://thewire.in/... https://twitter.com/...

• @vatsrishap @vatsrishap on x

  You have a personal relationship with your source? Nice of you to disclose this, when you're “quitting the game”. https://twitter.com/...

• @hardism Hardik Rajgor on x

  While we all laugh at The Wire, we must never forget the original claim in this legendary story - that Amit Malviya was given unchecked powers on Instagram, and he used those powers to take down a post from a private account with 200 followers, that he himself didn't follow.

• @guyro Guy Rosen on x

  The spoof was set up as a free trial Workplace account under the name “Instagram” and using the IG brand as its profile pic. We've locked the account for violating policies and are continuing to investigate. We'll provide further updates as warranted here: https://about.fb.com/..…

• @vsirnate Vasundhara Sirnate on x

  Is it not possible that someone created a spoof hoping you would find it and make this statement. That just sounds too convenient. The timing of the creation etc. i guess Wire would have to show when the source's acc that they show was created? https://twitter.com/...

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  Catching up on this Meta story: somebody made a free trial Workspace account, called it “secret Instagram comms team”, made a bunch of blank posts with titles like “evil secret plan!” and released a video of this as devastating evidence of Meta malpractice? Did I miss anything?

• @mer__edith Meredith Whittaker on x

  A more substantive response from Facebook https://twitter.com/... The question of who's behind this and why remains paramount, as does the larger question of Facebook's entanglement with the BJP.

• @andymstone Andy Stone on x

  .@thewire_in's video of a supposed internal Instagram system is a spoof. More from Meta CISO @guyro: https://twitter.com/...

• @avataram @avataram on x

  Feel sad that the Meta-Wire fight has ended with this knockout punch from Rosen. I wish it continued like one more season of Endeavour: Morse. https://twitter.com/...

• @parismartineau Paris Martineau on x

  the instagram.workplace(.)com domain shown in screenshots published in @thewire_in's original Oct 10 & 11th investigations (and the subsequent Oct 15th proof video) was not created until Oct 13th 😵‍💫😵‍💫 https://twitter.com/...

• @rachelmetz Rachel Metz on x

  This just keeps going and going and https://twitter.com/...

• @donie Donie O'Sullivan on x

  Facebook has a lot more compelling evidence right now in this ongoing saga with @thewire_in. https://twitter.com/...

• @adityakalra Aditya Kalra on x

  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/...