BJP IT Cell chief Malviya said on microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) that the network 'Access Now', which opposition leaders cited to back their hacking claims, was funded by American billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
Amid the freshly emerged controversy over alerts of state-sponsored hacking on Opposition leaders' iPhones, BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya on Wednesday pointed at an alleged George Soros link.Retweeting a thread on microblogging site X , Malviya said the network 'Access Now', which the opposition leaders cited to back their hacking claims, was funded by Soros.
George Soros is known to be an American billionaire philanthropist.
On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, Congress leaders Pawan Khera and Shashi Tharoor, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Raghav Chadha, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury were among opposition leaders who received an Apple alert on "state-sponsored attacks" on their iPhones.
After a day since the controversy surfaced, Amit Malviya used an X thread to allege a George Soros link.
"Interesting thread that draws a link between George Soros-funded ‘Access Now’ and Apple notifications, supposedly received only by the Opposition leaders. It is therefore no surprise that Rahul Gandhi dropped everything and rushed to hold a press conference. See the sinister plot here?" Amit Malviya wrote on X.
According to another post on X, part 2 of the thread details out the network 'Access Now' has built in India. "[The] notification received (from Apple) by the usual suspects in opposition ranks also refers to Access Now. Only if you believe in fairy tales, would you think it is all a coincidence," his post read.
The thread Malviya shared was by an X user going by the name 'The Story Teller'. The account posted as many as 31 posts on the X thread to back the Soros link to the Apple warning.
the concerned account claimed that 'Access Now' is a "left-leaning internet access and digital rights advocacy group that works to decrease internet censorship and curtail violations of privacy by businesses that collect the personal data of internet users".
While sharing details of 'Access Now' board members, it said, "All smiles and nice bios with uncanny hidden credentials of left-liberal agenda implementation," it wrote about the group's board members.
The X account specifically mentioned Brett Solomon and his position as the campaign director of 'Avaaz', which it said was "another left-liberal nonprofit propagated by Soros Henchman Tom Perriello".
"Access Now and Avaaz connection: Avaaz is a left-of-centre international campaigning organisation and online pressure co-founded in 2007 by liberal online activist groups "Res Publica" and "Moveon", along with Ricken Patel, Tom Perriello, Tom Pravda, Eli Pariser, Andrea Woodhouse, Jeremy Heimans, and David Madden," one of the posts in the 31-post thread by The Story Teller read.
"Tom Perriello also served on the board of multiple subsidiaries of left-liberal dark money non-profit 'Arabella Advisors' along with founding the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which was established by longtime Clinton family confidant John Podesta, liberal billionaire George Soros, and a handful of other prominent Democrats and former Clinton administration officials," the thread read, calling Perriello "most dangerous".
The Story Teller further said that Soros frontman Perriello is on the board of directors of 'Governing for Impact' (GFI), which it claimed is a "secretive left-of-center regulatory policy think tank created in 2019 to prepare a new US administration'.