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China trying to spy on other nations by backing investment in Pacific undersea cable networks: Here are the details

OpIndia Staff
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China trying to spy on other nations by backing investment in Pacific undersea cable networks: Here are the details

Taiwan has claimed that China is attempting to spy on other nations by backing private investment in Pacific undersea cable networks following a Reuters report in December 2020 that said that the USA has warned Pacific Island nations against security threats posed by a Chinese company.

Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou told Newsweek on the 18th of December that China wants to “monopolize” communication networks in the Pacific to steal data from rivals. Reuters had reported a day earlier that the USA is concerned about Chinese involvement in the Kiribati Connectivity Project (KCP) that seeks to improve connectivity with Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM).

Huawei Marine, recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd but majority-owned by another Chinese firm, had submitted bids for the project which is backed by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). USA has communicated to FSM that Chinese firms are required by law to share information with Chinese intelligence and security agencies. The Nauru Government had also warned FSM, as per the report.

The FSM government told Reuters that it is talking to bilateral partners in the project, “some of whom have addressed a need to ensure that the cable does not compromise regional security by opening, or failing to close, cyber-security related gaps.” A Nauru Government spokesperson said that bids were being examined and “technical and administrative issues” were being addressed.

The project is reported to be further complicated by its planned connection to the HANTRU-1 undersea cable, primarily used by the US Government and Guam, a US territory with significant military assets. Huawei Marines is now majority-owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, part of Hengtong Group. However, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd continues to retain a small stake in the firm.

China, for its part, claims that the USA is attempting to smear Chinese companies. Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were singled out for their allegations China was attempting espionage through the project.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said, “The Senators you mentioned will oppose whatever China does. They are always making up lies to smear China to seek political gains. Their allegation is pure slander aimed to justify the wanton US suppression of high-tech Chinese companies.”

China further stated, “It is the United States that has been conducting massive cyber theft all over the world, even on its allies, since PRISM came out. It is a real empire of hacking and theft. The world can see through the US trick of smearing others and beautifying itself.”

The development comes at a time when there is increasing tension between the two countries after US President identified China as the greatest threat to the current world order, a euphemism for American hegemony. With Joe Biden set to enter the White House on the January 20th, it is expected that the turbulence will recede to a certain extent.

‘Cause of death is poisoning, not vaccine’: Bharat Biotech issues clarification after phase 3 trial participant for Covaxin dies in Bhopal

OpIndia Staff
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‘Cause of death is poisoning, not vaccine’: Bharat Biotech issues clarification after phase 3 trial participant for Covaxin dies in Bhopal

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which developed India’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, has clarified that the death of a 42-year-old volunteer from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, who took a dose of the indigenous Coronavirus vaccine in the clinical trial of the vaccine, was “not related” to the vaccine or placebo.

They informed that the volunteer who participated in the Phase III trial of Covaxin on December 12, 2020 was reported to be healthy in all follow-up calls until seven days from the date the vaccine was administered to him.

“The volunteer, at the time of enrolment, had fulfilled all criteria to be accepted as participant in Phase III trial and was reported to be healthy in all site follow up calls post seven days of dosing and no after-effects were observed/reported,” the Bharat Biotech statement read.

“The volunteer passed away nine days after the dosing and preliminary reviews by the site indicate that the death is unrelated to the study dosing. We cannot confirm if the volunteer received the study vaccine or a placebo as the study is blinded,” the company added.

As per post-mortem report by Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal that the site received from Bhopal Police, the probable cause of death was due to cardiorespiratory failure as a result of suspected poisoning and the case is under police investigation as well, furthered the Hyderabad based company.

Deepak Marawi (42), the volunteer from Bhopal Madhya Pradesh, died 10 days after he had participated in the clinical trial for the vaccine at a private hospital. The doctor who administered the vaccine said that Marawi was kept under observation for 30 minutes after the trial as per the guidelines before being allowed to go. “We monitored his health for 7 to 8 days,” he added.

Speaking about the unfortunate incident, Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary said: “The after-effects of the vaccination are visible in a person within 30 minutes. No side-effects were seen even between 24 and 48 hours of vaccination. The post-mortem report suggested poisoning,” he said.

Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan urged people to desist from spreading misconceptions on the vaccine. Chouhan stated that the matter must be handled sensitively so that the vaccination rollout may not be affected. He added that the state government is awaiting the deceased’s viscera test reports.

“Report will come but I’m confident that if there’s after-effect it shows in 24 hrs or 2-3 days, not after several days”, opined Chouhan.

It is notable that after the Bharat Biotech vaccine was approved by authorities, opposition parties and left-liberals had attacked the govt, alleging that the safety of the vaccine is not proven yet. After the death of the trial participant, the matter was used by them to further spread propaganda against Covaxin. But it is notable that it is not known whether the man received the vaccine or placebo. As a standard practice in clinical trials, only 50% of the participants get the vaccine, while the rest 50 get a placebo. The allocation of vaccine and placebo is done in a randomised process, and the recipients of the same are kept confidential.

COVAXIN developed by Bharat Biotech gets Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) nod

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech successfully developed COVAXIN™ in collaboration with the ICMR and National Institute of Virology (NIV). The SARS-CoV-2 strain was isolated in NIV, Pune and transferred to Bharat Biotech for the effort.

It is pertinent to note here that on January 3, 2021, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the manufacture of Coronavirus vaccine by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Indian company Bharat Biotech.

Covaxin is an “inactivated” vaccine developed by chemically treating novel coronavirus samples to make them incapable of reproduction. This process leaves the viral proteins, including the spike protein of the coronavirus which it uses to enter the human cells, intact. Given as two doses, three weeks apart, the viral proteins in the vaccine activate the immune system and prepare people for future infections with the actual infectious virus.

A study on the Phase 1/2 trial had shown that the therapeutic doesn’t cause any serious side effects.

Is Cloudfare terminating its service for 4Chan and other ‘far right communities’? A fact check

OpIndia Staff
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Is Cloudfare terminating its service for 4Chan and other ‘far right communities’? A fact check

There is an image circulating on social media that purportedly shows Cloudfare announcing on Twitter that they are terminating their service for 4Chan and other “far-right communities”. The image shows that the apparent tweet was made on the 8th of January.

The Cloudfare image is going viral at a time when social media platforms and internet services are purging Donald Trump and his supporters from their platforms. Cloudfare is an American web infrastructure and web security company.

The Cloudfare tweet image that is going viral
The image that is going viral

4Chan is an image based bulletin board platform where users do not need to log in or create an account for posting. Due to its anonymous nature and is absolutist position on free speech, it is a website that attracts all kinds of people and is a hotbed for discussions that normally cannot occur on other social media platforms.

Over time, it has acquired a lot of notoriety as critics have accused it of fueling right-wing radicalism in western countries. Thus, under current circumstances, it has been claimed that Cloudfare was terminating its services for 4Chan.

However, a quick check of Cloudfare’s Twitter account reveals that the claim is likely a hoax. The latest tweet from the company is from the 7th of January. There are no recent tweets announcing that it is terminating its services for 4Chan.

Cloudfare Twitter account has no such tweet
Cloudfare Twitter account has no such tweet

Austin Walker, a host at Vice Games, had tweeted a screenshot of the same claim before proceeding to say that he was not sure if it was true. Then, he proceeded to confirm that it was not.

Austin Walker proceeded to confirm that the Cloudfare claim was not true
Austin Walker proceeded to confirm that the Cloudfare claim was not true

Top Google search results for related search terms only contain Cloudfare’s decision to terminate its services for 8Chan. Given the current climate, it could very well be that discussions to remove 4Chan are being held. However, as of this moment, everything points towards the fact that it was a hoax.

Bangladesh: Minor girl brutally gang-raped and murdered, one Fardin Iftekhar arrested

OpIndia Staff
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Bangladesh: Minor girl brutally gang-raped and murdered, one Fardin Iftekhar arrested

The Kalabagan police in Bangladesh have arrested one Fardin Iftekhar and three others for the brutal gangrape and gruesome murder of a 17-year-old girl in Dhaka. The minor girl was an ‘O’ level student at the Mastermind School in Kalabagan area. News 24 reported that the Fardin was the victim’s boyfriend and they have been in a relationship for 2 months.

On Thursday night, the accused lured the victim to his house in the absence of his family members. Reportedly, Fardin brutally gang-raped her along with his friends and then murdered the victim. The victim bled profusely and became unconscious. Caught in a state of fix, the accused decided to take the victim to the hospital. Her body has now been sent for post-mortem.

(Video Courtesy: News 24)

Victim’s mother speaks out about the incident

Jamuna TV reported that the girl had gone out to attend a group study session with her friends when she was lured by Fardin to his house in Kalabagan. “Children don’t die if they get into a relationship? Why did my child die? Is she was not sexually assaulted, why would she die? Why would she bleed so profusely?” the victim’s mother said.

She denied claims made by the accused that Anushka was in a relationship with him. “When I saw my daughter, her face had turned pale. She was bleeding excessively.” Jamuna TV further informed that there were injury marks on her stomach. Following a complaint by the father of the victim, the police swung into action and arrested Fardin and three other accused. The main accused has confessed to his crime, in a statement to the police.

(Video Courtesy: Jamuna TV)

Accused confesses before Magistrate, sent to jail

On Friday, Fardin was produced before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court wherein he gave his confessional statement under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The police had sought for 10-day custody for Fardin in the gang rape-murder case of Anushka. The District Magistrate Judge Mamunur Rashid sent the accused to jail after his statement was recorded.

COVID-19 vaccination in India to start from 16 January, 30 crore including frontline workers, aged and high-risk people to be vaccinated

OpIndia Staff
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COVID-19 vaccination in India to start from 16 January, 30 crore including frontline workers, aged and high-risk people to be vaccinated

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that India’s vaccination program against Covid-19 will start from 16th January. The vaccination will start after the forthcoming festivals across the country including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu etc.

The PM said that priority will be given to doctors, healthcare workers, frontline workers including Safai Karamcharis in providing the vaccines. It is estimated that initially around 3 crore frontline workers will receive the vaccine. After that, people above 50 years of age, and people below 50 with co-morbidities, estimated around 27 crore, will be selected for vaccination.

Two vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Authorisation or Accelerated Approval by the authorities in India. They are, Covishield developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech.

The Prime Minister today chaired a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID vaccination preparedness in the country. The meeting was attended by Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to PM, Health Secretary, and other senior officials concerned. It has been decided that the vaccination program will be conducted under the principles of people’s participation (Jan Bhagidari); utilizing experience of elections (booth strategy) and Universal Immunization Program (UIP); no compromise of existing healthcare services, especially national programs and primary health care; no compromise on scientific and regulatory norms, other SOPs; and an orderly and smooth implementation driven by technology.

The Co-WIN Vaccine Delivery Management System had been developed to coordinate and monitor the vaccination program. The unique digital platform will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccine. This platform will assist the program managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and for generating a digital certificate upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule. More than 79 lakh beneficiaries have been already registered on the platform.

As a preparation for vaccination program, a training program of vaccinators and vaccine administrators has been conducted. 2,360 participants were trained during national level Training of Trainers which comprised state immunization officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials, development partners etc. Apart from that, more than 61,000 programme managers, 2 lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of trainings at States, Districts and Block levels.

Moreover, 3 rounds of dry run have been conducted to check the preparedness of the program. The third dry run was conducted yesterday across 615 districts covering 4895 session sites in 33 States/UTs.

Viral Video shows protesting farmer hail Pakistan PM, call Narendra Modi a dog

OpIndia Staff
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Viral Video shows protesting farmer hail Pakistan PM, call Narendra Modi a dog

A video posted by YouTube channel ‘National Dastak’ is now going viral on social media. In the video, protesting farmers are shown making comments that reveal their virulent hatred for Prime Minister Modi. One of them also showers great love on Pakistani PM Imran Khan while slandering Narendra Modi. The YouTube Channel has over 4 million subscribers on the platform.

At the beginning of the video, a man in traditional Sikh gear says that Imran Khan has become the Prime Minister on his own ability while Narendra Modi has become the Indian Prime Minister by washing dirty tea cups. He also says that Imran Khan has been very good for them and falsely attributed the opening of the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib to him.

The man also says that Modi after his death will not go to heaven or hell but continue to lurk on Earth (as a ghost). Another man says that Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister by hacking EVMs. Such conspiracy theories about EVMs were initially peddled by opposition party politicians, especially the Congress party, to cast aspersions on the BJP’s victory.

The protesters also made an effigy of a donkey and pasted a photo of PM Modi on its face. Pictures of Mukesh Ambani were pasted on its body. They also call the Prime Minister a ‘kutta’ (dog). The video was captured at Singhu Border and published on YouTube on the 6th of January.

Such hatred for the Prime Minister has been observed earlier as well. The farmer wing of the Left Front was seen singing a song asking the Prime Minister to die. On Friday, India Today Editor Preeti Choudhry had revealed that female reporters are being sexually harassed by a section of protesting farmers. She said that their buttocks were being pinched.

Delhi Police arrests 11 people for replacing Aurangzeb lane signboard with Guru Tegh Bahadur poster

Dibakar Dutta
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Delhi Police arrests 11 people for replacing Aurangzeb lane signboard with Guru Tegh Bahadur poster

On Saturday, the Delhi police arrested 11 people for defacing two signboards, bearing the name of Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb, in Tughlaq Road, Delhi.

As per reports, the police received information about a few people, defacing the Aurangzeb Lane signboard at around 5:40 am in the morning. On reaching the spot, the cops apprehended a total of 11 people who had pasted a poster of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur Lane on one of the signage.

According to a senior police official, the group was led by a 30-year-old advocate and a resident of Karnal in Haryana, Anuradha Bhargav. The cops detained the accused at the Tughlaq police station and initiated an investigation in the case.

Shiv Sena to rename Aurangabad to ‘Sambhaji Nagar’

A day after Congress state president and Maharashtra cabinet minister Balasaheb Thorat opposed the rebranding of Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana published an editorial on January 2 in which it made an emphatic case for renaming the city. 

“Babur is not the father of the Muslims in India, just as the sinful Aurangzeb is not the uncle of the Muslims here. Babur was buried in Ayodhya and the Ram temple is standing there. Neither Islam was endangered there, nor anyone’s secularism was eroded. If anyone thinks that Aurangzeb’s graveyard is a symbol of secularism, then he is making a mockery of India’s identity,” the article read. 

“The Muslims of this country have forgotten Babur and the Muslims of Maharashtra have forgotten Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb and Aurangabad are no longer the subject of votes. The Muslims in Maharashtra have supported the Shiv Sena by adopting the path of nationalism,” it stated. 

Congress in trouble in its family’s pocket borough Rae Bareli as 35 office bearers resign from the party

OpIndia Staff
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Congress in trouble in its family’s pocket borough Rae Bareli as 35 office bearers resign from the party

Though Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli, the Gandhi family’s pocket borough, was the only saving grace for the Congress party which suffered a huge embarrassment during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, things may not be same for the party in the upcoming Panchayat elections. According to reports, 35 office bearers including former Congress secretary and former district in-charge and current PCC member Shiv Kumar Pandey have come out in open rebellion after being ignored by party leaders and sent in their resignation to Congress leader and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Shiv Kumar Pandey and the other rebel members are miffed purportedly by the formation of the party’s new executive set up at the block level. They have opined that the district president and other district-level officials have been working to weaken the party. They accused the party of not giving the due importance to the party’s old gaurds and instead choosing the younger and inexperienced leaders for the important posts of the block.

Though there is no confirmation whether the resignations have been accepted or not, people are of the opinion that this might be a redux of the embarrasment Congress party faced in Rahul Gandhi’s bastion Amethi in 2019.

Congress will lose Rae Bareli in 2024 just like they lost Amethi: Union Minister Smriti Irani

In fact, a day before senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took off for a vacation to Milan, Union Minister Smriti Irani who emerged as a giant slayer, defeating the Gandhi scion from the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in 2019 General Assembly elections, warned of a similar fate awaiting another Congress pocket borough, Rae Bareli, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The appalling performance in Bihar Assembly elections last year had led to a fresh flare-up within the party, with the senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal publicly commenting that the time for introspection is over. Following Congress’ disappointing performance in Bihar, 23 senior Congress leaders had reportedly written a letter to interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi demanding that an immediate CWC meeting be called to discuss the poll debacle in Bihar. They have reportedly also demanded organisational elections for the party president’s post be held at the earliest in the view of the electoral drubbing. They had also raised questions on the vacation by Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra.

Ichchadhari protestor Yogendra Yadav warns Haryana and Rajasthan farmers for not joining protests, demands fruits, vegetables, buttermilk from them

OpIndia Staff
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Ichchadhari protestor Yogendra Yadav warns Haryana and Rajasthan farmers for not joining protests, demands fruits, vegetables, buttermilk from them

Ichchadhari protester Yogendra Yadav, who has been on the streets instigating protestors to create nuisance under the pretext of protesting against the farm laws, on Saturday attempted to incite local villagers from Haryana and Rajasthan to join their so-called protests against the Modi government.

Taking to Twitter, Yogendra Yadav, who is currently busy playing ‘farmer’, asked the villagers living in the areas of South Haryana and East Rajasthan to join their ‘movement’ against the agricultural reforms initiated by the Modi government.

Mocking the innocent farmers for not joining their protests till now, Yadav attempted to manipulate these villagers by saying that history would judge them harshly if they do not listen to his call to join road blockages along the national highways leading to Delhi.

Yogendra Yadav, who is camping along the borders of Delhi causing massive inconvenience to the public, shared a video saying that he had a warning, complaint and an appeal to make to the villagers of Haryana and Rajasthan. Amidst the dwindling support to his so-called protests, Yadav resorted to pulling some crowd by not only peddling lies to them saying that farmers are angry against the government but also indulging in fear-mongering by claiming that no one will hear their grievances for the next two decades.

“I have a complaint to make against you. I am not able to witness farmers from local areas not joining our protests. History will remember that the farmers from the local areas (Haryana and Rajasthan) were sleeping when farmers from the rest of the country were protesting,” claimed Yogendra Yadav in an attempt to gaslight innocent farmers.

Bizarrely, after issuing subtle threats to farmers from Haryana and Rajasthan, Yogendra Yadav shamelessly asked the very same farmers to provide fruits, vegetables, milk and buttermilk etc for the protestors.

The far-left ‘activist’ Yogendra Yadav, who has lost all his relevance in the country, is leading a tractor rally outside Delhi with a few farmers and middlemen from Punjab. Yadav, trying to affect his importance by forcing himself into the ongoing negotiations, has been giving threats to the government stating that if their remaining demands are not accepted by the government. However, both farmer associations and the government has ignored him and have continued to resolve outstanding issues pertaining to the farm reforms.

It is pertinent to note that the Centre had earlier last month prevented ‘multi-talented’ Yogendra Yadav from inviting himself and presenting himself as a part of the delegation of farmers that held talks with the government.

Yogendra Yadav instigating farmers just like he did during Anti-Hindu Delhi riots

It is important to note that Yogendra Yadav had used a similar modus-operandi last year in the run-up to the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots. After the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed by the parliament, Yogendra Yadav along with radical Islamists and far-left protestors had instigated the Muslim mobs to seize Delhi streets to protest against the CAA.

The Delhi Police has claimed in its supplementary charge-sheet had alleged that Yogendra Yadav had instructed mastermind of the Anti-Hindu Delhi riots accused Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid to mobilise students of Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Delhi University for a “chakka jam” or blockade to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Yadav, who was till recently was an ‘election expert’, has somehow transformed himself to be a farmer leader in a short span. He has now mobilised some of his party workers and has hit the streets to protest against the farm laws.

Yogendra Yadav organised protests, instigated people: Delhi police

According to the charge-sheet of the Delhi riots conspiracy case, in a protest organised by ‘United Against Hate’, Yogendra Yadav joining hands with riot-accused Umar Khalid, Nadeem Khan, Sharjeel Imam, had delivered speeches against the CAA. Reportedly, Umar Khalid, who was his “senior and mentor” from JNU introduced to the mastermind of Anti-Hindu Delhi riots Sharjeel Imam to Yogendra Yadav at this agitation.

Many witnesses had disclosed to the police that earlier, Umar Khalid had already told Sharjeel Imam to make a group of “like-minded individuals” from JNU, Jamia, DU etc and had explained the concept of Chakka Jam to him. As an extension of that theme, at the meeting with Yogendra Yadav, he was told to “mobilise students of Jamia, DU and AMU”.

According to the charge-sheet, during this meeting, it was decided between Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid that social media would be used to indoctrinate Muslims and for the mobilisation of people for Chakka Jam. Similarly, activists of far-left group Pinjra Tod – Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita had allegedly confessed to the Delhi Police saying that Yogendra Yadav and others had given them directions to protest in different parts of Delhi against the CAA and NRC.

The charge-sheet discloses the involvement of the likes of Yogendra Yadav in the early stages of the anti-CAA protests that later engulfed across Delhi. Similar to Anti-CAA protests, Yogendra Yadav has now been mobilising forces in the name of ‘farmer protests’, allegedly to create havoc on the streets of the national capital.

Signal stock increases 1100% after Elon Musk recommended it over WhatsApp privacy changes. The only problem? It’s not the Signal stock: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Signal stock increases 1100% after Elon Musk recommended it over WhatsApp privacy changes. The only problem? It’s not the Signal stock: Details

After Whatsapp made changes to its privacy policy, billionaire entrepreneur and Tesla CEO Elon Musk called upon his followers on Thursday to “Use Signal”, an encrypted messaging app called Signal. However, little did he may have imagined that his tweet would set off a massive buying in an unrelated stock with a similar name.

Following Musk’s tweet exhorting his followers to use the open-source app Signal, share prices of an obscure and relatively unknown company which goes by the name “Signal Advances” saw a staggering surge of 527 per cent on Thursday, followed by another 91 per cent on Friday. In a matter of two days, the share price of Signal Advances, which was earlier hovering around 60 cent mark, rose to $ 7.19.

Source: Dow Jones

When Musk asked people to use Signal, he was referring to the Signal messaging app which is operated by a nonprofit organisation and serves as an alternative to texting apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and others. However, Musk’s suggestion to use Signal caused disruption to Signal servers as it witnessed a remarkable spike in the app downloads by the new privacy-conscious users.

The wild trading on an unknown stock and the disruption of the Signal’s servers, triggered by Musk’s recommendation underscores the Tesla CEO’s growing influence. On Thursday, he became the world’s richest man and subsequently on Friday, Tesla became the fifth most valuable company in the US.

Signal messaging app issues clarification, says it has got nothing to do with Signal Advance

The unprecedented surge in the Signal Advance’s stock price also prompted Signal messaging app to post a tweet stating that they had got nothing to do with Signal Advance.

“It’s understandable that people want to invest in Signal’s record growth, but this isn’t us,” Signal wrote. “We’re an independent 501c3 and our only investment is in your privacy.” Signal tweeted.

Signal is a cross-platform encrypted messaging service developed by the Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger LLC. According to an article published in New Yorker in October, Signal runs entirely on donations. As Signal Foundation is a non-profit organisation, it is not listed in stock exchanges.

Signal Advance’ stock had consistently traded below $1 since 2015

On the other hand, Signal Advance, which witnessed an unusually high trading activity over the last two days in the American stock market, was founded in Texas under the name Biodyne in 1992 and catered services to medical and legal workers. Later, it shifted its focus to leveraging technology in the health care sector and changed its name to Signal Advance. The company made its stock market debut in 2014.

The company is so small in terms of its market capitalisation that it does not report its financials with the SEC, the US stock market watchdog. As of March 2019, the company had no full time employees besides its CEO Chris Hymel.

After people mistook it as the parent company of the Signal messaging app, Signal Advance now has a market cap of $600 million, up from $55 million a couple of days ago. Before Thursday, the stock had never breached the $1 mark since 2015.

Similar stock market snafus in the past

The surge in a stock price of one company based on information about a completely unrelated company is not a new phenomenon. It is a familiar issue on Wall Street. Earlier too, traders had mistaken a company with another one having a similar name and invested their money in that company instead.

A couple of years back, in April 2019, on the day when the Zoom Video Communication was going to make a debut under the ticker symbol ZM, stock prices of a Chinese company called Zoom Technologies leapt more than 80 per cent in just two hours of trading. However, as the distinction between the two company came forth, the stock gave up most of its gains and closed 10 per cent up.

Similarly, when investors were eagerly waiting for Twitter’s hotly-anticipated market debut, a company named Tweeter Home Entertainment Group jumped more than 1,000 per cent.

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