Nov 25, 2024 14:00:00

Reporters Without Borders reveals that the founder of Indian hacking company 'Appin' is secretly trying to silence media outlets around the world that report on him in a negative way

Media outlets based in the United States, Switzerland, France, and India have reported that

Appin , a company co-founded by Indian investor Rajat Khare, is engaged in hacking contracting, and have been forced to modify or delete articles due to threats from Khare. A new report from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reveals that 15 media outlets around the world have received threats from Khare, and five of them are taking legal action.

RSF investigation: the Indian cyber-security giant silencing media outlets worldwide | RSF
https://rsf.org/en/rsf-investigation-indian-cyber-security-giant-silencing-media-outlets-worldwide

In November 2023, Reuters published an article titled ' How an Indian startup hacked the world, ' revealing that Appin had been contracted by other companies to infiltrate systems and hack data for over 10 years. However, in response to this report, the New Delhi District Court in India issued an order to Reuters to delete the article. As a result, Reuters has been forced to temporarily delete the article.

Reuters report exposing 'Indian hacker-for-hire business' deleted by court order - GIGAZINE

It later emerged that Appin was not the only one pressuring Reuters to remove articles that were unfavorable to him. According to reports, Carré has also pressured media outlets in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, and other countries, in addition to Reuters. Media outlets that have received threats from Carré include the British daily The Sunday Times, Luxembourg-based business news outlet Paperjam, Switzerland's SRF Investigativ, and India's Times of India and Scroll.

What is Appin, the Indian venture capitalist who pressures Reuters and other major media to remove articles? - GIGAZINE

According to RSF, since 2022, at least 15 different media articles, newsletters and podcasts have received notices from the Association of Appin Training Centers (AOATC), an organization that claims to protect the interests and reputation of Mr. Carre or Appin, requesting that the articles be amended or removed. If the media does not comply with the notice, they will face a lawsuit. RSF noted that 'the scale of the SLAPP (silencing lawsuit) by Mr. Carre and others is unprecedented.'

An anonymous source familiar with Khare's litigation tactics, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed concern about the seriousness of the situation, telling RSF, 'If it becomes known that powerful people can use Indian courts to invalidate articles around the world, everyone will do it. That's why this is such a big deal. If Khare is successful in his litigation strategy, it will happen everywhere.'

'This Indian entrepreneur and his lawyers have launched an unprecedented global offensive of self-censorship, pressure and litigation to prevent his and his company's strategies from drawing attention,' said RSF member Haifa Muzal'at. 'Nearly 15 media outlets around the world have removed or modified content to avoid retaliation. Even if the lawsuits fail, the effectiveness of these gag litigation strategies, which lead to self-censorship, poses a serious threat to journalism. We strongly condemn these 'serial litigation' tactics and call on the courts to respond to these lawsuits wisely and appropriately. We also urge the media not to succumb to this pressure, which puts investigative journalism at risk.'

Several journalists who investigated Appin told RSF, 'The 10-month suspension of Reuters' reporting (due to Mr. Khare's gag litigation strategy) has sent very negative signals to investigative reporters. Journalists have preferred to either retract or significantly revise Reuters reports,' explaining how significant the gag litigation strategy against Reuters has been. In fact, since Reuters retracted its article on Appin, Indian news site The Wire has edited an article published on December 18, 2023 to remove Mr. Khare and Appin's names from the article.

In addition, some media outlets appear to be censoring their own articles before publishing them to remove the names of Mr. Kare and Appin. In an episode published by the podcast 'Behind The Bastards' in February 2024, an episode about Mr. Kare's silencing litigation strategy was posted with Mr. Kare's name withheld, but the content was deleted one week after it was posted. According to a source familiar with the matter, Behind The Bastards appears to have voluntarily deleted the content after receiving a threatening letter from Mr. Kare that he would take legal action.

It has also been revealed that Mr. Carré implemented a similar silencing litigation strategy against the Swiss public broadcaster , the SBC, in November 2022. The SBC received an order from a lower court in Geneva to 'provisionally remove Mr. Carré's name and photograph from an investigative article .'

Swiss media outlet Gotham City is one of the media outlets that reported on Mr. Calle and Appin, knowing that reporting on them was risky. Gotham City editor-in-chief François Pilet said, 'When we found out about Mr. Calle, he had already sued media companies and won against the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.' 'We don't want to be the next target in this kind of lawsuit. Mr. Calle's lawyer also made it clear in advance that he would sue if we published his name,' he said, revealing that for these reasons, Gotham City has written Mr. Calle's name as 'XX' in its investigative article.

Nevertheless, Sandrine Giroux, a Swiss lawyer representing Mr. Calle, has asked Gotham City to amend its report, receiving a notice stating, 'The content and tone of your article are sensational and contain many factual errors and misinterpretations. The facts presented target Mr. Calle and are easily identifiable. My client, like any wrongfully accused individual, is asserting his rights both in Switzerland and abroad to defend himself against unfounded accusations.'

In the US, Carre has hired the law firm Clare Locke, which specialises in defamation litigation, to demand that WIRED remove the article .

AOATC, which is rarely mentioned in the investigative articles about Mr. Carré, describes itself as an 'autonomous organization' that supports and manages the training centers operated under Appin's franchise. However, it is this organization that has directly contacted and filed lawsuits against media outlets that have published investigative articles about Appin and Mr. Carré. RSF has contacted AOATC multiple times, but requests for interviews have been ignored. One of Mr. Carré's lawyers has commented that 'AOATC has no relationship with Mr. Carré.'

Also, when searching for Mr. Kare on Google, the first thing that comes up is blog posts and editorials posted on Medium that 'portray Mr. Kare in a favorable light.' Most of this content is posted by accounts with common names and AI-generated images, and RSF points out that it is an account that was prepared for Mr. Kare's image strategy. RSF interviewed one of the owners of the accounts that posted articles praising Mr. Kare, who said that the articles were written 'with the help of ChatGPT' and that they 'wrote the articles for personal reasons,' but did not provide any other details.

RSF also asked Kare whether he was implementing these image strategies, but he replied that he had no idea.