Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann has announced that he is parting ways with his long-time sponsor Huawei, owing to the Chinese company's alleged involvement in contributing to the development of a 'Uyghur Alert' through facial recognition software to aid the repression of the Uyghur community by the Chinese government.

The France international posted a statement on Instagram explaining his move.

“I am taking this opportunity to invite Huawei to not just be happy with denying these accusations but to implement action as quickly as possible to condemn this mass persecution and use its influence to contribute to respecting rights of men and women throughout society.”

The Washington Post revealed that the tech brand had collaborated with the Chinese government in 2018 to develop a facial identifier that would help camera devices locate members of the Uyghur ethnic group, who live primarily in northwest China.