South African digital news website Daily Maverick on Wednesday alleged that it has been subject to a cyber attack from India after it published a report on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival for the BRICS summit.

“I can confirm we have been subject to DDoS attacks from India,” Styli Charalambous, the chief executive officer of Daily Maverick told Scroll.

A Distributed Denial of Service, or DDoS, is a kind of cyberattack designed to overwhelm a website or its server with a large amount of traffic, making it unavailable to users.

On August 22, Tuesday, Daily Maverick had reported that Modi had refused to get off the aircraft at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria because the South African government had “only sent a Cabinet Minister” to receive him.

Modi is in South Africa to attend the BRICS summit. The BRICS is a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Daily Maverick reported that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dispatched Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who was participating in the formalities held for Chinese President Xi Jinping, to welcome the Indian prime minister after he refused to get off the plane.

“By contrast, [South African] President Cyril Ramaphosa had personally been on the tarmac to greet Chinese President XI Jinping when he arrived on Monday night,” the digital news publication added.

Charalambous, the chief executive officer of Daily Maverick, said: “The DDoS attacks started after the story was published and emanated from India around midday [South Africa] time. They are still ongoing and are one of the biggest we’ve ever had to deal with.”

On Wednesday evening, the spokesperson of South Africa’s Deputy President told the Indian news channel WION: “Every aspect of what the Daily Maverick reported is a lie”.

“The Deputy President was well aware ahead of time that the Indian PM would be arriving and he would be receiving him. He was there well before the PM landed,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.