Editor’s Note: Hi readers! Firstly, apologies. This edition was delayed by a day and a half on account of my workload and less than ideal health. And also because I spent the time I usually give to writing up the edition, in constructing a crossword for this edition. Secondly, there is a crossword in this edition! Thirdly, only the main story and recs corner today, no headlines. I promise to compensate next week. Enjoy!
Metaverse of Madness
There’s nothing unusual about tweets and op-eds questioning the integrity of Mark Zuckerberg owned Meta, Inc. (erstwhile Facebook) to float the internet everyday. Last year, a former Meta employee blew the whistle on the company’s shady and patently illegal internal activities which made massive global news — but not quite enough to warrant an official response from Meta. The company is untouched and claims of illegality remain largely unproven. Yep, even after that widely memed Zuckerberg senate hearing four years ago.
So two weeks ago, when Indian independent media house The Wire published an exclusive investigative piece linking Meta India to the BJP, no one expected things to blow up. But guess what… they blew the fuck up. Think upper Meta management getting into Twitter spats, employees old and new spewing poison at Wire correspondents, and a historical official Meta statement calling the whole thing made up. It’s a MESS — but here’s a rundown to keep you abreast.
Impetus
It all started mid September when an Instagram video that could be interpreted to hurt Hindu sentiments was mysteriously taken down from the platform. The Wire published this article identifying a pattern of groundless post removals from the OP’s page, suggesting there is shady shit afoot at Instagram’s daddy company, Meta. The links were obvious: posts poking mild fun at anything remotely Hindu were being removed. The instructions had to come from above. Say, and I could be reaching here, from a super scary and powerful Hindu ruling party.
Funny thing is, when a post or story violates community guidelines, it is taken down by the Meta algorithm in seconds. This post, and many others, brewed on the platform for a while before they were reported. No bot did this, a person did.
The investigation
Enter XCheck. You know how celebrities get business lounge access, are allowed to arrive late at the airport boarding gate (often via the small vehicle meant for the elderly or disabled) and are meted special services in the flight just because they’re famous? XCheck is the Meta business lounge of powerful people around the world. Everyone knows this exists — the whistleblower told us about it years ago. Meta did not deny it.
Allegedly, XCheck is a PR tool that enables people of influence to shield themselves from defamation/ bulling/ what not by giving the member privileged control over what others can post about them. All XCheck activities are closely guarded and reported to Zuckie himself. Given Meta’s past involvement in spreading misinformation and swaying elections, it is an open secret that a lot of politicians around the world enjoy XCheck privileges. So when Wire said this included BJP IT Cell guy Amit Malviya, and the above posts were probably taken down by him by using his privileges, it kinda made sense.
The Wire collated evidence in the form of screenshots from the Instagram OP, review of community guidelines and past evidence that this is all very plausible. They published it and wrote an email to Meta CIO Guy Rosen for a response which never came (as was expected). Other Meta officials responded coldly, mostly on Twitter, denying all those allegations (as was expected). They called the Wire investigation unreliable and evidence fabricated, and went back to their multibillion dollar business. All was going as things like these do… until Wire spoke up again.
The evidence saga
The Wire responded to this with an exclusive scoop: leaking screenshots from an internal email Meta comms director Andy Stone had allegedly sent his team saying “how the hell” screenshots from taking that Insta post down “got leaked”. The scoop stated that Wire reporters working on this had been added to a watchlist. It also included a WhatsApp chat screenshot, implying someone from Meta had wanted to speak to a reporter personally. In general, the screenshots make for huge evidence against Meta’s shady activities worldwide. That is… if they’re real.
The extent to which shit blew up after this makes me dizzy. And TBH, I don’t think I can write about all of it here (mostly because I’m tired and waiting to watch the new Kardashian’s episode once I’m done with this edition). So here’s a quick rundown.
Meta responds in a company statement saying all these screenshots are fake, obviously. Rosen and Stone blast off on Twitter tearing the Wire reporters to shreds, saying basic tech knowledge would have saved them the embarrassment. I mean… please look at Andy’s Twitter, my man has gone HayWire liking and reposting tweets that debunk the evidence. Then techies weighed in, including the sanghi types who already hate the likes of Wire, pulling backend proof of why the evidence is clearly fabricated. The more popular arguments were that @fb.com was an obsolete address Stone would not use, there are no ‘Internal’ or ‘Team’ mailing lists at Meta, and oh most importantly… you really think the world’s biggest aggregator and abuser of personal data would fumble *this* bad with their own privacy?
Exhaustingly for us, Wire doubled down on there story and evidence. There are a few techies who see this as being a plausible leak at Meta’s end, but the quantum of evidence looks a) to good to be true, and b) too reckless to be this high profile.
So much at stake…
I’ve read and supported The Wire for years now — fucksake, I even put up with their daily 2AM newsletter emails because their journalism has been brave and eager. This time, I think it was a bit too eager. I believe Wire jumped the gun on this one; went in head-first but completely blind.
The evidence they present seems to be easily adulterated. It’s possible they used it without verifying it thoroughly. Though their conclusions and arguments may be right, the path they chose to get there was incredibly dangerous. This type of an exclusive investigation should ideally be mulled over by a board of editors and made bulletproof before publishing. They skipped all of that and went straight for the dramatic value.
This will, I think, have a pretty ominous butterfly effect on independent media across India. Today’s political climate makes it incredibly hard for outfits like Wire to survive and report sustainably anyway: remember the BJP crackdown on Caravan just last year? To add to their misery, the veracity of Wire’s reportage and credibility of its reporters have been embarrassingly challenged on a global level. Right wing citizenry have already called them names and called their existence into question. The same bravery and eagerness we love from The Wire has led it down an inescapable hole. One can only hope that other very numbered independent media houses don’t follow.
D-recs corner
Hello! Here are this week’s recs. Scroll down to solve the crossword I haven’t shut up about in days (sorry)!
This week I watched…
The lovely, charming, fresh, wonderful, funny, new: Abbott Elementary on Hotstar. Remember our super funny 2010s BuzzFeed gal, Quinta Brunson? She now writes, directs and acts in her own show which has already been nominated for an Emmy. Abbott is built around a state-run preschool in a minority neighbourhood, underpaid teachers and a wacky principal, and a super endearing but annoying lead. Sitcom that feels fresh, fucking finally! Season 2 is rolling out as we speak, so you might wanna catch up quick.
Another fresh and uncorny show with new episodes is Derry Girls on Netflix. I practically had no intel about the whatabouteries of Great Britain colonies, and I would not have cared if it wasn’t given to me packaged in a hilarious teen drama. The accents are just the cherry on top. Season 4 is out now!
Always a bonus rec for my true crime girlies: Hailey Elizabeth on YouTube is doing spooktober with 2 true crime and 1 conspiracy theories explanation videos every week. I fucking love this girl. She has a way of telling gruesome stories that puts the spotlight on the victim and not the criminal, and she is sensitive to disturbing details. In her earlier videos she’d do her make-up from scratch while narrating a story, those are cinematic masterpieces! Hailey also releases the same episodes in audio form for her podcast, Behind You.
Tune therapy
A realistic music recommendations section today: playlists I fall back on when my own don’t cut it (which is often). Komal Basith (@komalbasith) is a glam mom, skin and beauty influencer, and maker of a banging morning coffee playlist that is sure to get you groovin’ and boppin’ before those dreadful office hours.
Former Bon Appetit purveyor slash sommelier Alex Delaney (@alex_delaney) has an exceptionally vast music library, but manages to boil it down to what according to him are 50 best songs of the 2010s. The music has a familiar yet retro feel to it which I find handy for a quick walk or chore. He has also curated my mindlessly go-to collection of music on Spotify, called Very Beautiful Songs, and keeps adding to it every now and then.
The list is ofcourse incomplete without a #BeReal rec. What music do I actually listen to when I’m low? When the lights are off, everyone is asleep? The answer is in this visceral and revolting curation by Anirudh Suresan (@funnyrudh) of New Delhi fame, aptly titled How to lose friends and alienate people. So if that sounds like your life’s agenda too, atleast click on the link and scroll past this playlist. Listener’s discretion is advised.
Can I trust you with a crossword?
The rumours are true, I’m a sucker for the NYT crossword. I have a crack at the daily puzzle every day with my morning coffee, and then watch Chris Remo solve it with my lunch. Monday takes me 15 minutes, Sunday takes over an hour, Saturday mostly goes unsolved. The reason I struggle with clues four times a week is because they’re super niche and specifically cultural to amreeka — unlike me and a lot of you guys — which takes away so much from an otherwise remarkable institution. I don’t know how to fix that for myself, as there are no comparable desi puzzles out there (afaik), but I can try to help you with one.
Yep, I made an NYT-style crossword. Solve it here or take a print of this.
Now if you’re unfamiliar with the praxis and terminology of the NYT crossword, skim through this list real quick:
Before you start solving the puzzle from square-1, it is advised to scroll down the clues section and fill in your gimmies. A gimmie is an answer you know for sure — no room for deductive thinking there, just facts. Fill these out first, then go back to 1-ACROSS and start solving.
The answer could be one word or more, but without spaces between them.
There are no punctuation marks in the answer but some may have numbers.
The clue is most often a synonym or definition of the answer. There are exceptions to this, ofcourse:
For a clue with ____, the blank is your answer.
For a clue completely in “double quotes”, it suggests a dialogue/ statement. The answer is another statement you can say in place of it. For example, clue: “catch you later!”, answer: TTYL.
For a clue in plurals, the answer is in plurals. For this puzzle, I have indicated (pl.) wherever the answer is a plural to avoid confusion.
Match the answer to the tense in the puzzle. A past-tense clue suggests a past-tense answer.
Every clue containing text language/ shorthand suggests that the answer is also in shorthand. For example, clue: r u kidding? answer: SRSLY?
Every clue ending with a question mark (?) is a pun. The answer is not straightforward and will require literal interpretation of the clue. There are two of these in today’s puzzle!
Every clue ending with (abr.) suggests that the answer is in abbreviated form; this is usually used for 3-4 letter words.
Those were the basics. You’re all set now, good luck!
And that’s the week’s charcha!
You’ve reached the end of edition three of Charcha Weekly! Sorry for this week’s delay, a combination of sickness and workload set me back. Have a cracking week, see you next Sunday!