Pratik Sinha Profile picture
Jul 21, 2021 8 tweets 5 min read Read on X
[Thread]

Do listen to this 41 second clip, and I'll try and answer a few questions that were raised by @bhupendrachaube in his conversation with @MichaelKugelman.

1/n
Chaube: I searched Twitter, could not find a handle called Amnesty Forensics Department or Amnesty Forensics Lab.

Yes, because the handle is called @AmnestyTech, and has been around since 2016. [I can give a quick tutorial to folks at India Ahead as to how to use Google.]

2/n
Chaube: How has all of this suddenly appeared?

No, it hasn't suddenly appeared. Amnesty has published previous stories detailing how NSO+Pegasus has been used against human rights defenders. This is a story from 2019.

amnesty.org/en/latest/rese…

3/n
Chaube: Do we take all the claims of Amnesty on face value?

No, no one should. Chaube could opt for a pay cut and hire an expert and attempt to understand what the investigation is about.

In the next few tweets, I'll try and provide a gist of it.

4/n
The methodology of the investigation has been documented at the following link by Amnesty:

amnesty.org/en/latest/rese…

The investigation has been peer-reviewed by Citizen Lab of University of Toronto.

citizenlab.ca/2021/07/amnest…

5/n
Amnesty's methodology, among other things, details how iPhone's iMessage app was exploited through zero-click attacks. That Amnesty's findings are sound is further validated by Apple's statement where they accept that their phones were indeed hacked.

washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

6/n
The Amnesty methodology documents more such attack vectors, beyond the iMessage exploit. A suspicious process called 'bh' is a prominent part of this investigation. The same was found by security firm Lookout and Citizen Lab.

7/n
The least Indian media could do is make a credible effort to cross-check the findings and get technical experts to talk about the technical parts of this investigation.

8/8

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More from @free_thinker

May 25, 2023
Thread:

This is yet another feather in the empire of falsehood that is OpIndia. The claim that @AltNews misled the NGO Vikramshila and that they were unaware of @AltNews's association is completely false.

1/n Image
Since December 2022, altED incubated by @AltNews has been working on a media and information literacy curriculum for kids aged 12-14. As part of this initiative, we started working at a center managed by Vikramshila about two months ago.

2/n Image
On May 15, an event was organised as part of which the kids exhibited their learning including how they approach misinformation, deal with confirmation and cognitive bias, how they process news media and much more.

3/n
Read 7 tweets
Oct 8, 2022
The fact that the hate-filled, lying cult is still seething 72 hours later shows how much the work we do at @AltNews inconveniences them. That's an excellent reason for more people to work on exposing misinformation and hate speech.

1/n
One tiny organisation can do only so much. It is when more people join hands, and work either together or independently, would the impact increase manyfold.

2/n
Start fact-checking in the languages you know, creating videos, creating reels, creating different forms of content. Choose a form of content that you are most comfortable producing while debunking widespread misinformation.

3/n
Read 5 tweets
Oct 4, 2022
Thread:

Five years ago, @ShivAroor and @gauravcsawant broadcast this false information on @IndiaToday with the most provocative messaging.

1/n
BJP Karnataka's press release on the issue was equally provocative. Multiple BJP leaders including Union Minister @ShobhaBJP and BJP leader @ArvindLBJP had pushed the false claim.

2/n
The role played by the media and BJP led to rioting in Uttara Kannada.

3/n
Read 5 tweets
Sep 17, 2022
Post the fact-check by my colleague @AbhishekSay about how mainstream media orgs including @IndiaToday wrongly claimed that the St George's Cross in the Indian Navy's flag was re-introduced during UPA, @ShivAroor put out a clarification, first on Twitter, and later on TV. 1/n
In this televised clarification, @ShivAroor suggested that the fact that he didn't brazen this out is evidence of his fairness and non-partisanship as a journalist. 2/n

The #AltNewsFactCheck was published on Sep 15, 2 weeks after the claim was first televised by @IndiaToday on Aug 30. The reason for the delay was because @AbhishekSay patiently watched broadcasts of multiple news channels to determine who all put out the false claim. 3/n
Read 8 tweets
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The claim that @zoo_bear put out an edited video is completely false, and it is a lie propagated by @NupurSharmaBJP. Zubair put an unedited clip of the relevant part of the video where Nupur Sharma uses derogatory/insulting language on live TV. 1/n
Times Now has now changed the status of the video on their YouTube channel to private. However, we downloaded the entire 33-minute video before it could be made private and the relevant clip can be seen in the next tweet. 2/n
In this clip, @navikakumar first suggests that a couplet was sarcasm against Hinduism, and based on an unknown book of the law, claims that panellists cannot refer to the disputed structure as 'fountain', and asks @NupurSharmaBJP to comment on it. 3/n
Read 6 tweets
May 5, 2022
THREAD: For months now, certain members and sympathisers of Congress have been running propaganda against @AltNews claiming that we're pro-AAP. Till now, we have avoided responding to these allegations because they're so utterly ridiculous. 1/
However, since there's no letting up of this collective targeting, it is necessary to respond. 2/
Firstly, we are not here in service of any political party or ideology, the work we have done over the past five years speaks for itself. 3/
Read 20 tweets

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