Antoine Griezmann ends Huawei contract over alleged surveillance of Uighurs
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Barcelona's World Cup-winning footballer Antoine Griezmann said Thursday he was ending a commercial deal with Huawei over reports the Chinese telecoms giant was involved in the surveillance of Uighur Muslims. Frenchman Griezmann said on Instagram that following "strong suspicions that Huawei has contributed to the development of a 'Uighurs alert' through the use of facial recognition software, I am immediately ending my partnership with the company." He called on Huawei to "not just deny these accusations but to take concrete action as quickly as possible to condemn this mass repression... and to use its influence to contribute to the respect of human rights".
US-based surveillance research firm IPVM said in a report Tuesday that Huawei had been involved in testing facial recognition software in China that could send alerts to police when it recognised Uighur minorities' faces.
Human Rights Watch says Uighurs in Xinjiang are being arrested after being reported by software which identifies suspicious behaviour.
Surveillance spending in Xinjiang has risen sharply in recent years, with facial recognition, iris scanners, DNA collection and artificial intelligence deployed across the province in the name of preventing terrorism.
China has come under intense international criticism over its policies in Xinjiang, where rights groups say as many as one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been held in internment camps.
China defends the camps as vocational training centres aimed at stamping out terrorism and improving employment opportunities.
Making voices heard
Griezmann, a 29-year-old forward who was a key part of the France team that reached the final of Euro 2016 and then won the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
He been a Huawei brand ambassador since 2017 and has featured prominently in a giant advertising campaign for the company in France.
AFP has contacted Huawei France for comment.
Huawei earlier this year became the world's top mobile phone seller.
Griezmann made his name with Real Sociedad in Spain before moving to Atletico Madrid in 2014.
He joined Barcelona in a 120-million-euro ($145.5 million) deal in 2019 and is expected to be part of the French squad for next year's European championships.
His decision to end his Huawei contract comes at a time when French sports figures, especially high-profile footballers, are increasingly making their voice heard on social and political issues.
In posts on his social media accounts last month, Griezmann expressed his concern at a video showing French policemen beating a music producer. The video was one of the factors that led President Emmanuel Macron to declare that there is an "urgent need" to reform the police.
Griezmann previously suggested teams should walk off the field when faced with homophobic abuse from the stands, saying that "homophobia is a crime, not an opinion" in a May 2019 interview with French LGBT magazine Tetu.
On Wednesday, the Paris Saint-Germain team containing Griezmann's World Cup teammate Kylian Mbappe walked off the pitch with their opponents from Istanbul Basaksehir in protest at allegedly racist language used by a match official in a Champions League game.
Courtesy: ndtv.com
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Microsoft announces $17.5 billion investment to support India’s AI-focused digital growth
New Delhi: In one of its biggest global commitments to date, Microsoft has announced a $17.5 billion investment to support India’s push toward an AI-driven digital economy. The pledge, the company’s largest in Asia, was made soon after CEO Satya Nadella met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Nadella wrote on X that the investment would help build “the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI-first future,” thanking the Prime Minister for what he described as an inspiring discussion on India’s expanding AI opportunities.
PM Modi called the interaction “productive” and said India’s young population would play a central role in using artificial intelligence for innovation and broader global benefit. The meeting came amid a series of high-level engagements between the government and global technology leaders, along with the recent visits by executives from Intel and Cognizant.
Focusing on expanding cloud and AI infrastructure, strengthening digital skills, and supporting sovereign technology capabilities in India, Microsoft said the $17.5 billion commitment would be spread over four years from 2026 to 2029. The company described the announcement as part of its long-term vision to help the country advance as a “frontier AI nation.”
The pledge follows an earlier $3 billion announcement made in January 2025, bringing Microsoft’s total planned investment in India to more than $20 billion by the end of the decade.
Alongside infrastructure growth, Microsoft plans to double its training programmes, aiming to equip 20 million people with digital and AI-related skills by 2030. The company said these efforts would support the next phase of India’s digital transformation, moving from expanding connectivity to building technological capability.
The investment is also expected to support the integration of AI tools into national platforms such as e-Shram and the National Career Service, while potentially aiding more than 310 million informal sector workers through improved access to employment and digital services.
With data protection and sovereignty becoming central to technology policy, Microsoft will introduce Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud systems designed for Indian institutions. The company further said these platforms would help governments and businesses create secure and compliant environments for AI applications.
Welcoming the announcement, the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw noted that this will help in strengthening innovation grounded in trust and sovereignty. He further said Microsoft’s expanded commitment reflects the country’s growing role as a dependable global technology partner.
India has been one of Microsoft’s most significant global bases since the company opened its first office in Hyderabad in 1990. Today, the country hosts Microsoft’s largest development centre outside its Redmond headquarters, contributing to products such as Azure, Office and Windows. Its new hyperscale data centre is expected to be operational by mid-2026, increasing its cloud presence across several major cities.
