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Influencer Ayesha Malik Accuses Priyanka Chopra of “Encouraging Nuclear War” With Pakistan

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  • Influencer and beauty YouTuber Ayesha Malik accused Indian actress Priyanka Chopra of supporting a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
  • Malik’s accusation was in reference to a tweet Chopra posted in support of India after they launched airstrikes on Pakistan in February.
  • Meanwhile, tensions between India and Pakistan have risen in recent days after India revoked Kashmir’s special autonomous status.
  • Kashmir is currently under a security lockdown and communications blackout enforced by Indian military forces.

Ayesha Malik Questions Priyanka Chopra 

Influencer and beauty YouTuber Ayesha Malik accused Indian actress Priyanka Chopra of encouraging nuclear war between India and Pakistan during a question and answer session led by Chopra at BeautyCon on Saturday.

“So it was kind of hard hearing you talk about humanity, because as your neighbor, a Pakistani, I know you’re a bit of a hypocrite,” Malik said in the now-viral video. 

Malik went on to read a tweet posted by Chopra amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan in February, which read, “Jai Hind #IndianArmedForces.” The phrase “Jai Hind,” loosely translates to “Hail India” or “Long Live India.”

Copra’s tweet was referring to the fact that India had just launched airstrikes on Pakistani soil, prompting Pakistan to retaliate with airstrikes on Indian soil. 

At the time, Chopra received backlash for cheering India’s airstrikes on Pakistan, especially after she condemned Pakistan for responding by doing the same on Twitter.

“You are a UNICEF ambassador for peace, and you’re encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan,” Malik continued. “There’s no winner in this. As a Pakistani, millions of people like me have supported you in your business of Bollywood and you want nuclear war.”

Malik then had the microphone taken from her by security personnel.

Chopra Responds

Chopra responded to the allegations first by asking Malik if she was “done venting.”

“I have many, many friends from Pakistan. And I am from India,” she continued. “And war is not something that I am really fond of, but I am patriotic. So I’m sorry that, if I hurt sentiments to people who do love me and have loved me.”

“But I think that all of us have a sort of middle ground that we all have to walk,” she added. “Just like you probably do as well, the way you came at me right now.”

“I love India as much as I love Pakistan,” Malik said.

“No, don’t yell, we’re all here for love,” Chopra responded. “Don’t yell, how embarrassing.” 

Malik Responds

After the interaction at BeautyCon, Malik took to Twitter to address what happened, and why she chose to speak to Chopra.

“It was hard listening to her say, ‘we should be neighbors and love each other’ — swing that advice over to your PM,” she wrote. “Both India and Pakistan were in danger. And instead she tweeted out in favor for nuclear war.”

“It took me back to when I couldn’t reach my family because of the blackouts and how scared/helpless I was,” Malik continued. “She gaslit me and turned the narrative around on me being the ‘bad guy’ — as a UN ambassador this was so irresponsible.”

Rogue Rocket interviewed Malik about the interaction, and she expanded on the same sentiment struck in her tweet.

“You can’t be an extremist patriot and also a U.N. Ambassador trying to build bridges between countries. It doesn’t make sense,” she said.

“Before the mic was snatched from me, what I was going to ask her was, ‘Will you relinquish your as the U.N. Ambassador for Peace, or will you denounce your tweets against nuclear war?’”

Twitter Responses

Others also addressed the incident on Twitter, criticizing how Chopra responded to Malik.

Some said that Chopra had talked down to Malik and embarrassed herself.

Others said Chopra was condescending and did not act like a U.N. ambassador.

A number of people also defended Chopra, with some saying her tweeting “Jai Hind” was just out of respect for Indian soldiers and did not mean she supports nuclear war.

The Situation in Kashmir

Meanwhile, tensions between the two nuclear powers increased recently, after India announced that it was taking away the special autonomous status given to the state of Kashmir.

Kashmir is a contested region that both India and Pakistan claim complete control over, and now many experts and global leaders have described the move by India as a power-grab and are concerned the two countries will be drawn into a conflict.

Since India announced they were taking away Kashmir’s special status, Indian military forces have been enforcing a widespread security crackdown and communications blackout on the 4 million people in the territory.

The crackdown has left the Kashmiri’s without the internet or the ability to contact their families, and forced many to stay in their homes by imposing a near-constant curfew.

According to Al Jazeera, razor wire coils and steel barricades have been set up to maintain the blockade, and drones and helicopters are hovering over the region.

People in Kashmir defied the lockdown this week when hundreds took to the streets to protest. This came after military forces used tear gas to break up about 8,000 anti-government protestors in a demonstration over the weekend.

While it has been reported that some schools and businesses that had previously been closed are now open again, the entire territory is still being patrolled by tens of thousands of military forces.

Meanwhile, many in the international community have said the lockdown is concerning and will likely increase tensions.

Malik told Rogue Rocket that her intention was always to bring what is happening in Kashmir to the forefront of mainstream media.

“Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris, and I want that message to be louder than anything else because there’s a lot of focus on me for some reason when the focus should be on the message that I was trying to yell across the stage where we need to bring attention to Kashmir,” she said.

“I remember as a child, Kashmir has always been an issue, but nobody else has been talking about it except for Pakistanis, Indians, and Kashmiris,” Malik continued.

“And for the first time in my life, I’m seeing Kashmir headline worldwide, thank God, but I want the attention to be directly towards the Kashmiris that are going through this humanitarian crisis and not me.”

See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (The Guardian) (Al Jazeera)

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Schools Across the U.S. Cancel Classes Friday Over Unverified TikTok Threat

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Officials in multiple states said they haven’t found any credible threats but are taking additional precautions out of an abundance of safety.


School Cancelled

Schools in no fewer than 10 states either canceled classes or increased their police presence on Friday after a series of TikToks warned of imminent shooting and bombs threats.

Despite that, officials said they found little evidence to suggest the threats are credible. It’s possible no real threat was actually ever made as it’s unclear if the supposed threats originated on TikTok, another social media platform, or elsewhere. 

“We handle even rumored threats with utmost seriousness, which is why we’re working with law enforcement to look into warnings about potential violence at schools even though we have not found evidence of such threats originating or spreading via TikTok,” TikTok’s Communications team tweeted Thursday afternoon. 

Still, given the uptick of school shootings in the U.S. in recent years, many school districts across the country decided to respond to the rumors. According to The Verge, some districts in California, Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas shut down Friday. 

“Based on law enforcement interviews, Little Falls Community Schools was specifically identified in a TikTok post related to this threat,” one school district in Minnesota said in a letter Thursday. “In conversations with local law enforcement, the origins of this threat remain unknown. Therefore, school throughout the district is canceled tomorrow, Friday, December 17.”

In Gilroy, California, one high school that closed its doors Friday said it would reschedule final exams that were expected to take place the same day to January.

According to the Associated Press, several other districts in Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania stationed more police officers at their schools Friday.

Viral Misinformation or Legitimate Warnings?

As The Verge notes, “The reports of threats on TikTok may be self-perpetuating.”

For example, many of the videos online may have been created in response to initial warnings as more people hopped onto the trend. Amid school cancellations, videos have continued to sprout up — many awash with both rumors and factual information.

 “I’m scared off my ass, what do I do???”  one TikTok user said in a now-deleted video, according to People. 

“The post is vague and not directed at a specific school, and is circulating around school districts across the country,” Chicago Public Schools said in a letter, though it did not identify any specific post. “Please do not re-share any suspicious or concerning posts on social media.”

According to Dr. Amy Klinger, the director of programs for the nonprofit Educator’s School Safety Network, “This is not 2021 phenomenon.”

Instead, she told The Today Show that her network has been tracking school shooting threats since 2013, and she noted that in recent years, they’ve become more prominent on social media. 

“It’s not just somebody in a classroom of 15 people hearing someone make a threat,” she said. “It’s 15,000 people on social media, because it gets passed around and it becomes larger and larger and larger.”

See what others are saying: (The Verge) (Associated Press) (People)

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Jake Paul Says He “Can’t Get Cancelled” as a Boxer

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The controversial YouTuber opened up about what it has been like to go from online fame to professional boxing.


The New Yorker Profiles Jake Paul

YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul talked about his career switch, reputation, and cancel culture in a profile published Monday in The New Yorker. 

While Paul rose to fame as the Internet’s troublemaker, he now spends most of his time in the ring. He told the outlet that one difference between YouTube and boxing is that his often controversial reputation lends better to his new career. 

“One thing that is great about being a fighter is, like, you can’t get cancelled,” Paul said. The profile noted that the sport often rewards and even encourages some degree of bad behavior.

“I’m not a saint,” Paul later continued. “I’m also not a bad guy, but I can very easily play the role.”

Paul also said the other difference between his time online and his time in boxing is the level of work. While he says he trains hard, he confessed that there was something more challenging about making regular YouTube content. 

“Being an influencer was almost harder than being a boxer,” he told The New Yorker. “You wake up in the morning and you’re, like, Damn, I have to create fifteen minutes of amazing content, and I have twelve hours of sunlight.”

Jake Paul Vs. Tommy Fury

The New Yorker profile came just after it was announced over the weekend Paul will be fighting boxer Tommy Fury in an 8-round cruiserweight fight on Showtime in December. 

“It’s time to kiss ur last name and ur family’s boxing legacy goodbye,” Paul tweeted. “DEC 18th I’m changing this wankers name to Tommy Fumbles and celebrating with Tom Brady.”

Both Paul and Fury are undefeated, according to ESPN. Like Paul, Fury has found fame outside of the sport. He has become a reality TV star in the U.K. after appearing on the hit show “Love Island.”

See what others are saying: (The New Yorker) (Dexerto) (ESPN)

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Hackers Hit Twitch Again, This Time Replacing Backgrounds With Image of Jeff Bezos

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The hack appears to be a form of trolling, though it’s possible that the infiltrators were able to uncover a security flaw while reviewing Twitch’s newly-leaked source code.


Bezos Prank

Hackers targeted Twitch for a second time this week, but rather than leaking sensitive information, the infiltrators chose to deface the platform on Friday by swapping multiple background images with a photo of former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. 

According to those who saw the replaced images firsthand, the hack appears to have mostly — and possibly only — affected game directory headers. Though the incident appears to be nothing more than a surface-level prank, as Amazon owns Twitch, it could potentially signal greater security flaws. 

For example, it’s possible the hackers could have used leaked internal security data from earlier this week to discover a network vulnerability and sneak into the platform. 

The latest jab at the platforms came after Twitch assured its users it has seen “no indication” that their login credentials were stolen during the first hack. Still, concerns have remained regarding the potential for others to now spot cracks in Twitch’s security systems.

It’s also possible the Bezos hack resulted from what’s known as “cache poisoning,” which, in this case, would refer to a more limited form of hacking that allowed the infiltrators to manipulate similar images all at once. If true, the hackers likely would not have been able to access Twitch’s back end. 

The photo changes only lasted several hours before being returned to their previous conditions. 

First Twitch Hack 

Despite suspicions and concerns, it’s unclear whether the Bezos hack is related to the major leak of Twitch’s internal data that was posted to 4chan on Wednesday.

That leak exposed Twitch’s full source code — including its security tools — as well as data on how much Twitch has individually paid every single streamer on the platform since August 2019. 

It also revealed Amazon’s at least partially developed plans for a cloud-based gaming library, codenamed Vapor, which would directly compete with the massively popular library known as Steam.

Even though Twitch has said its login credentials appear to be secure, it announced Thursday that it has reset all stream keys “out of an abundance of caution.” Users are still being urged to change their passwords and update or implement two-factor authentication if they haven’t already. 

See what others are saying: (The Verge) (Forbes) (CNET)

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