Barca Star Antoine Griezmann Ends Commercial Relationship With Huawei Over Uighur Repression

Antoine Griezmann, the number 7 of Spanish beast FC Barcelona, announced that he cuts ties with Huawei over "strong suspicions" that the Chinese tech giant is aiding Uyghur repression.

"Following strong suspicions that Huawei has contributed to the development of a Uyghur alert thanks to facial recognition software, I am announcing the immediate termination of my partnership with the company," says the Frenchman in a lengthy Instagram post.

Griezmann became an ambassador for Huawei in 2017, a year after his impressive showcase in EURO 2016. Alongside his Barca teammate Lionel Messi who signed with Huawei in 2016, both appeared in several commercials for the Chinese tech giant, including the P10 smartphones.

"Not Huawei's Language"

However, Huawei has denied the accusation, saying that it is completely "unacceptable." In a statement to Goal, the company spokesperson notes that the charge is not "compatible" with the values that Huawei represents. It would invite Griezmann in person to explain the technologies made at the highest level.

Huawei came under fire after a report from IPVM dated December 8 surfaced online. The report says that Huawei had been involved in testing the software in China, alerting the police when it recognizes Uyghur minorities.

"The language used in the document he refers to in the news reports is completely unacceptable. It was not Huawei's language, rather descriptions of functions provided by the company Megvii. It is not compatible with the values of Huawei," the statement reads.

Megvii is a software company and one of Huawei's trusted partners. The report reveals that the US Department of Commerce rolled out a sanction against Megvii in 2019 over "the implementation of China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance" against the minority.

Although Huawei vehemently denies the accusation, the tech giant has reportedly deleted most shreds of evidence that IPVM brought on the table, dating back to December 2018. The company believes that it has made substantial progress, three years after the mistake.

Vocal Off and On the Pitch

Antoine Griezmann is not the first high-profile footballer to speak up against Uyghur repression.

Arsenal's creative playmaker and German stalwart, Mesut Ozil, is also a vocal face both on and off the pitch. In 2019, Ozil dedicated a poem to condemn the treatment and criticized Muslim-majority countries for being silent about Xinjiang's re-education camps.

Since then, Chinese sports broadcasters and Konami's PES 2020 removed him and his face likeness, embroiled when Arsenal left him out of the squad for the 2020/2021 season.

Another Premier League star, Demba Ba, took the height of the Black Lives Matter movement last August to speak up about the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghur's Muslims.

Unfortunately, Griez is yet to find his goalscoring instinct at Barcelona. He has only scored five goals out of 15 matches in all competitions for the Catalan side so far.