Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
The Wire, the Indian news outlet that published an explosive and now-retracted story on Meta earlier this month, says it was subject to “deception” by one of the members of its “Meta investigation team.” In an update posted on its site today, The Wire apologizes for running the retracted story, which originally accused Meta of granting an Indian politician special privileges on Instagram and Facebook.
This latest admission indicates the outlet’s editorial team was somehow tricked by an employee, calling into question whether the employee (who The Wire does not name) fell victim to some kind of deceit or if it was done intentionally as a way to smear Meta. The Wire says it’s currently reviewing its editorial processes and that doing so…