Amit Malviya to sue The Wire for 'maligning his reputation using forged documents'

New Delhi: Amit Malviya, National head of BJP IT cell, Thursday said that he will file criminal and civil proceedings against “The Wire”.

In a statement shared on Twitter, Malviya wrote that he will not only set a criminal process in motion but also sue the website in a civil court seeking damages as they forged documents with a view to malign and tarnish his reputation.

On The Wire… pic.twitter.com/ElZNC9yVuO

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) October 27, 2022

The Wire, on October 10, published a report alleging deep ties between the Indian government and employees at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. 

Specifically, the Wire’s reporter claimed that a “well-placed source” tipped her off to unprecedented privileges Meta afforded to Amit Malviya.

The Wire reported that Malviya was able to decide unilaterally what posts Instagram should take down, thanks to the Meta service XCheck, and that he successfully targeted posts that poked fun at his party.

However, the claims made by The Wire were denounced as fake by Andy Stone, a Meta communications director. 

Stone tweeted that XCheck “has nothing to do with the ability to report posts,” that the Instagram posts highlighted by the Wire were “surfaced for review by automated systems” instead of humans—and, most devastatingly, that “the underlying documentation” used in the piece “appears to be fabricated.”

No - so many issues with this. X-check has nothing to do with the ability to report posts. The posts in question were surfaced for review by automated systems, not humans. And the underlying documentation appears to be fabricated.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 11, 2022