On 16th October 2022, the email account of the ‘tech expert’ of the leftist propaganda website ‘The Wire’ was allegedly hacked. The information was shared by Siddharth Varadarajan through a tweet. Siddharth Varadarajan is the founding editor of ‘The Wire’.
Siddharth Varadarajan tweeted, “ALERT One of The Wire’s principal researchers on Meta lost access to his Gmail+Twitter accounts and some others at noon today. Whoever hacked him is sending suspicious phishing-type messages, like the one below. Please don’t respond to messages from [email protected] or DMs.”
ALERT
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) October 16, 2022
One of The Wire’s principal researchers on Meta lost access to his Gmail+Twitter accounts and some others at noon today. Whoever hacked him is sending suspicious phishing-type messages, like the one below. Please don’t respond to messages from [email protected] or DMs. pic.twitter.com/ZtIAmqtb6Z
In the next tweet, he wrote, “Needless to say, the Andy Stone email is safe and sound and will not fall into the hands of those keen to identify The Wire’s whistleblower in Meta in this manner.”
Needless to say, the Andy Stone email is safe and sound and will not fall into the hands of those keen to identify The Wire’s whistleblower in Meta in this manner.
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) October 16, 2022
As soon as Siddharth Varadarajan shared this news, netizens started mocking ‘The Wire’ for having a ‘tech expert’ who could not prevent his own email account from hacking.
❤️ day ka tech expert pic.twitter.com/1LtPgGO4ud
— ஓம் நமசிவாய (@BHARATIYASEEKER) October 16, 2022
A Twitter user Arjun wrote in his reply to Siddharth Varadarajan, “Tech Expert could do all the tech mumbo jumbo peddled since yesterday but didn’t have 2FA for both Gmail and Twitter.”
Tech Expert could do all the tech mumbo jumbo peddled since yesterday but didn’t have 2FA for both Gmail and Twitter pic.twitter.com/ZmPWPL1IyO
— Arjun (@arjunallhere) October 16, 2022
Another Twitter handle @OntiJeevi posted, “Your fake story is already exposed. Give up now. After seeing this kind of forgery I am finding it hard to believe your tekfog story also. Shame!”
Your fake story is already exposed. Give up now. After seeing this kind of forgery I am finding it hard to believe your tekfog story also. Shame!
— ಒಂಟಿ ಜೀವಿ (@OntiJeevi) October 16, 2022
Venu Ananda tweeted, “That’s what happens when people watch porn on official mobile/laptop. Data gets sold. He must have used the same mail id to login to his porn account. LoL”
That’s what happens when people watch porn on official mobile / laptop. Data gets sold. He must have used the same mail id to login to his porn account. LoL
— Venu Ananda (@VenuAnanda) October 16, 2022
Rupesh Kumar replied, “No. No. No. You can’t backtrack now. Don’t make silly excuses. You and your dirty tricks are likely being exposed. I guess it’s time for Meta to take legal action against you and The Wire.”
No. No. No. You can’t backtrack now. Don’t make silly excuses. You and your dirty tricks are likely being exposed. I guess it’s time for @Meta to take legal action against you and @thewire_in.
— Rupesh Kumar 🇮🇳 (@iRUPACE) October 16, 2022
It is notable that on October 15, the Meta vs Wire saga took another twist after The Wire published a “rebuttal” to Meta’s assertation that the alleged expose by the leftist portal was based on fabricated evidence. In its rebuttal, The Wire made several claims to justify its expose. However, most of their claims raised even more questions over the authenticity of the evidence presented by them.
The Wire has claimed that the NDA-led Central government of India has been provided by Meta (Facebook and Instagram’s parent company) with extensive power to remove any content from the platform(s). To prove their point, The Wire provided “evidence” of a post removed within minutes of getting published as it was flagged by Bharatiya Janata Party IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya.