NEW DELHI: A cybersecurity firm co-founded by an Indian entrepreneur has become the bane of investigative journalism in several countries, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said.

It said whether based in the US, Switzerland, France or India, any media outlet investigating the “ethical hacking” of Appin, a company co-founded by Indian investor Rajat Khare, can expect letters demanding they retract their publication at best and legal prosecution at worst.

“This type of pushback on journalism is not uncommon, yet the scale, impact and systematic nature of these letters and lawsuits are astonishing,” RSF said in a press release. The RSF investigation discovered that at least 15 media outlets worldwide received these notices, and five have been subjected to legal proceedings. The RSF said it strongly condemns these gag lawsuits.

“Rajat Khare is ready to move mountains to avoid association with Appin, the cybersecurity training centre he co-founded in 2003. And for good reason: the New Delhi-based company has been accused of selling less-than-ethical hacking services, according to well-researched journalistic investigations from prominent publications, including the US magazine The New Yorker and the British news agency Reuters,” RSF said.

Entrepreneur Rajat Khare’s legal tactics have sparked concerns over press freedom worldwide

Since 2022, articles, newsletters and podcasts from at least 15 different media outlets have been modified or withdrawn as a result of the notices and legal charges brought forth by Khare or the Association of Appin Training Centres (AOATC), “an obscure entity claiming to defend Appin’s interests and reputation”.

SLAPPS

The magnitude of these gag lawsuits — known as strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) — is unprecedented.

“If it becomes known that a powerful person can use the Indian court to strike down articles all over the world, everybody will do it. So, it’s a big deal […] and if they succeed, they’ll do it everywhere,” said a source familiar with Khare’s tactics, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The unnamed source quoted by RSF expressed deep concern about the potential consequences of the intimidating letters and prosecutions brought by Appin and its wealthy co-founder against media outlets.

“This Indian entrepreneur and his lawyers have launched an offensive on an unprecedented global scale to keep both himself and his company’s tactics out of the spotlight. Self-censorship, pressure, lawsuits — close to 15 different media outlets around the globe have removed or modified their content to avoid reprisals,” said Haïfa Mzalouat, journalist at RSF’s Investigation Desk.

“The effectiveness of these SLAPP suits, which lead to self-censorship even when the lawsuit is unsuccessful, poses a serious threat to journalism. We strongly condemn these ‘serial litigation’ methods and urge the courts to respond to these lawsuits with wisdom and good judgement. We also call on media outlets not to give in to this pressure, which endangers investigative journalism,” she said.

Pursued by Indian courts

Reuters tops the list of victims of Khare’s legal teams. The British news agency had to wait ten months for a New Delhi district court to reverse, on appeal, a prior decision ordering it to take down an investigation titled ‘How an Indian start-up hacked the world’.

Working with hundreds of interviews and thousands of authenticated and verified documents, Reuters found that Appin had grown from a start-up “to a hack-for-hire powerhouse that stole secrets from executives, politicians, military officials and wealthy elites around the globe”. A lawsuit brought by the AOATC accused Reuters of tarnishing Appin’s reputation.

The New Yorker is another prominent victim, RSF said. The AOATC brought a libel suit against the US magazine over its exclusive investigation into India’s hacking-for-hire industry. The investigation mentions Appin and recounts how Khare offered “ethical hacking” services to several European private intelligence firms.

“The New Yorker fully stands behind the piece, which is an accurate and fair account on a matter of legitimate public interest. We will continue to defend the right to publish important reporting without fear or favour,” a spokesperson for the magazine told RSF.

The article is still online and accessible to everyone — which is not always the case for other media outlets attacked by Khare or the AOATC.

The domino effect

Several journalists who investigated Appin told RSF that the 10-month-long suspension of the Reuters report sent a very negative signal to investigative reporters — to the point where journalists preferred to either take down or heavily modify their coverage of the Reuters story.

For example, the Indian news site The Wire said it “edited” its own story on Dec 18, 2023. However, when comparing the updated version with the original, RSF found that The Wire had deleted information from Reuters about Khare and Appin.

When the Swiss media outlet Gotham City began taking an interest in the subject in 2022, it was well aware of the risks involved. “When we learned of his existence, he had already sued media outlets […] and he had won against the Swiss public broadcaster,” said Gotham City’s editor-in-chief François Pilet.

“In this kind of case, we don’t really want to be next in line. What’s more, his lawyers had made it clear to us in advance that they would sue if we published his name.” In the two investigative articles published by Gotham City, the Indian entrepreneur is therefore referred to as “X.X.”

This did not prevent Khare’s lawyers from ordering Gotham City to modify its reporting. “The content and tone of your article are deliberately sensationalist and include many factual and erroneous confusions and shortcuts,” wrote Sandrine Giroud, one of Khare’s Swiss lawyers, in a letter seen by RSF.

She added that Gotham City’s description of Khare was “inaccurate” and that “the facts presented target him and easily allow for his identification.”

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2024