Huawei’s legal team has written to The Wall Street Journal in regard to the statements the journal made in a report that damages Huawei’s reputation and business interests across the globe.
WSJ published a report and video pinning employees in Uganda and Zambia to aiding the state governments in tracking and spying on the opposition leaders’ activities in the two countries, something that the company has been keen to deny.
In the letter, it is made clear that the report is neither a fair nor a responsible representation of Huawei’s legitimate business activities in these countries and that it was a result of inadequate investigation done by the reporters.
It is stated that during the time of research for the article in question, Huawei provided to the journal information detailed in email communications and notes, which the reporters ignored.
The letter points out that the email communications included specific information that a number of the statements in the Article about Huawei’s alleged involvement with government cybersecurity forces were demonstrably false.
Below is the letter.
Gentlemen:
We represent Huawei with regard to the Wall Street Journal’s August 14, 2019 article describing Huawei’s alleged involvement with government cybersecurity forces in Uganda and Zambia (the “Article”). The Article is neither a fair nor a responsible representation of Huawei’s legitimate business activities in these countries. Huawei is especially disappointed in the Article and video and radio podcast in light of the information Huawei provided to you during your research for this Article, including its email communications from June 19.
Those email communications included specific information that a number of the statements in the Article about Huawei’s alleged involvement with government cybersecurity forces were demonstrably false. Huawei obviously does not know the identity of your alleged anonymous sources, but it is clear that they provided you with false and misleading information. Based on Huawei’s June 19 email and other information it provided to you, it is reasonable to conclude that you knew that these sources were not reliable. As a result, and at a minimum, the Journal published these false statements in reckless disregard of their veracity.
Huawei takes these false and defamatory statements about its business seriously, especially when published by a news source as well regarded as the Journal. The publication of these false statements has and will continue to damage Huawei’s reputation and business interests across the globe. Huawei reserves all rights and claims in this regard and will defend its conduct and reputation. We would be happy to discuss with you related to this matter.
Sincerely,
Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP
Steven A. Friedman
In its statement yesterday, the company stated that it “prides itself on its compliance with the local laws and regulations in all markets where it operates” and that its code of business conduct does not allow employees to undertake any activities that would compromise customers or end users’ data or privacy.
