France and Barcelona soccer player Antoine Griezmann, who has been an ambassador for technology giant Huawei Technologies, has cut commercial ties with the company, citing China’s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
“I announce that I am putting an end immediately to my partnership linking me with this company,” Griezmann, a 2018 FIFA World Cup winner with France, wrote in a statement on Instagram on Thursday.
A Huawei spokesperson said that the Chinese company was saddened by Griezmann’s decision.
Photo: Reuters
“We would like to extend an invitation to speak to him personally, to explain the work that is currently being done at the highest level, inside the company, to address the issues of human rights, equality and discrimination at all levels,” the spokesperson said.
The UN estimates that more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained in China’s Xinjiang region.
China has denied any abuses and says its camps in the region provide vocational training and help fight extremism.
The striker’s decision followed a report in the Washington Post on Tuesday that Huawei had tested software capable of sending automated alerts when surveillance cameras recognize Uighurs.
The article cited a document that it said was signed by Huawei representatives showing that the company had worked with a start-up called Megvii to test artificial intelligence capable of triggering an automated “Uighur alarm.”
Huawei on Thursday described the language used in the document as “completely unacceptable,” adding that it was a description of functions provided by Megvii and the document was approved by a subcontractor, not by Huawei.
“It is not compatible with the values of Huawei,” the spokesperson said. “Our technologies are not designed to identify ethnic groups. Nondiscrimination is at the heart of our values as a company.”
The Washington Post cited Megvii in a response to its original story as saying its systems were not designed to target or label ethnic groups.
Griezmann had been an ambassador for Huawei since 2017, and he also worked with the company while at former club Atletico Madrid, including endorsing an Atletico-branded smartphone in 2016.
His Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi became a Huawei ambassador earlier this year.
Barcelona declined to comment on Griezmann’s decision.
Arsenal and former Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil in December last year criticized China’s treatment of Uighurs.
There was a strong backlash in China against Ozil, a German Muslim of Turkish origin, and he was removed from the Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 video game in the nation.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Ozil’s comments and state broadcaster China Central Television dropped Arsenal’s English Premier League match against Manchester City from its schedule.
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