From Twitter to Facebook to Spotify, everyone it seems is clambering aboard the social audio bandwagon. Neha Alawadhi reports.
There is a perception getting built inside the government that big technology companies -- a common term used for firms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon and the like - are becoming very powerful and present multiple threats to entire nations and their citizens today. The digital ecosystem is replete with CSAM (child sexual abuse material), fake news, drug trade, radicalisation, trolling among other social vices. Given the network effect that these platforms have, it is important to ensure that these platforms are not misused.
'Banning a game is not the solution, rather, there should be laws that restrict the number of hours spent a week playing a game.'
The state police is yet to confirm if the recent suicides are linked to the cyber game.
Several of WhatsApp's early features were designed keeping Indian conditions in mind, given the choppy connectivity and existence of devices of different makes. In fact, India was the first country where WhatsApp rolled out in-app video calling services in 2016, ahead of its global launch, underlining the importance of the market for the company.
Police have detained web channel editor Sudhanshu Sekhar Raut and also seized computers and other material from the accused.
India's shift towards US companies for technology investments and partnerships fits well with the present government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' and 'Make in India' initiatives, say experts.
'Seven months he has been in jail for no reason.'
The tech creators, or the ones who made billions, asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Jio's global partnerships took shape this year when Jio Platforms, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Reliance Jio which has invested in various digital platforms, was able to woo a bevy of marquee investors: Facebook, Google, Qualcomm, Intel, and a numerous PE funds.
The Madras High Court on Thursday stayed the operation of certain sub-clauses of the recently introduced Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
The Rs 19,100 crore 'Indian film industry' is more than its monikers for three simple reasons, feels Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
The Madras high court on Thursday convicted a well-known Youtuber, A Sankar alias 'Savukku' Sankar, for criminal contempt and sentenced him to six months' imprisonment.
PepsiCo India spokesperson said fake news suggesting Kurkure has plastic in it has affected the brand's reputation
Unhappy with response to queries following Mehdi Biswas' arrest, Bengaluru Police summon Twitter India marketing head.
After record fund raising, Reliance Industries now has a strong balance sheet with high liquidity that will support growth plans for its three hyper-growth engines, Jio, Retail and oil-to-chemicals, according to the firm's chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani. In the company's latest annual report released on Wednesday, he said the company sold minority stakes in Jio Platforms -- the unit that houses its telecom and digital business -- and retail arm for almost Rs 2 lakh crore and raised another Rs 53,124 crore through rights issue.
Unauthorised sale of data to third parties will land developers in trouble.
'If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous one and the most connected.'
The race to get a New Umbrella Entity (NUE) licence for digital payments may get crowded. As many as six consortiums are said to be in the fray to apply for an NUE licence, which would create a for-profit National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)-like body for retail payments. A consortium led by Financial Software and Systems (FSS), a leading provider of payment products and payment processor, is in talks and may file an application to the RBI for an NUE license, said sources aware of the development. The other constituents of this group include Indian Bank, Central Bank of India, India Post Payments Bank, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), and a few small finance banks.
Messaging platform WhatsApp on Wednesday said it has rolled out a pilot program across 500 villages across Karnataka and Maharashtra, aimed at empowering villagers with access to digital payments through 'payments on WhatsApp'. The announcement was made at Fuel For India 2021 - Meta's annual event in India. WhatsApp India Head Abhijit Bose said the pilot aims to effect a behavioral transformation to digital payments at the grassroots.
In strong observations while hearing the plea, the high court cited the death of Princess Diana while trying to escape the media chase, and said there needs to be "some toning down" as people are "afraid of the fourth pillar of democracy" because of its powers.
It is the most potent symbol of India's soft power -- more perhaps than the IT industry and our managerial skill, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar
Even if it wants to censor what you read, watch, or consume, the amount of content online is so huge that it is physically impossible for any government to do it, notes Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
Ministry of home affairs and the IT ministry are planning to have a series of discussions with representatives from Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Google on issues around national security and the problem of fake news. Asking for decryption keys from WhatsApp to track conversations on the chat app is also part of the agenda.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked the Centre to file its report according sanction to prosecute 21 websites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, for allegedly promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration.
Eighteen months after the government started banning Chinese mobile apps, two distinct changes have occurred in the country's mobile app sweepstakes. The move has given a thrust to domestic app publishers, especially in certain segments and it has dramatically reduced the market share of Chinese apps. What started as an interim government ban on 59 Chinese apps, including the highly popular TikTok and WeChat in March 2020 ended as a permanent ban on many of them in January this year. According to a China Internet Report 2021 (by South China Morning Post), the market share of Chinese apps in India has dropped substantially from 44 per cent in 2018 to only 29 per cent in 2020. In 2017 it was 41 per cent.
By toxic, the reference is to material that whips up hatred, is discriminatory in nature and has explicit sexual and pornographic content.
TRAI said that Internet service providers would not be allowed to discriminate on pricing of data access for different web services.
Companies such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter are finding it extremely difficult to rope in new India heads.
While experts claimed that Patanjali's Swadeshi messaging app was removed form Google Play over security concerns, Kimbho declared that it was removed because of heavy traffic.
'While we may speculate about personality politics, the reality is that there are more important issues that drive the India-US relationship.'
The ministry had asked YouTube to remove the clips following directive from the home ministry, a government source said, adding that the said links have now been removed.
Airtel acquired African telecom operator Zain in 2010 for $10.7 billion.
'More than 114 cases have been registered for spreading fake messages, rumours and fake news on WhatsApp.' 'People on various groups are reporting such crimes.' 'The most heartening development is people are now not tolerating such things.'
Pichai will visit India accompanied by the heads of various Google business units
American tech giants Microsoft and Facebook have disclosed the number of requests they had received from the US National Security Agency to reveal details, including internet usage of their consumers.
Close to $18 billion that Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail mopped up from a slew of private equity transactions in 2020 has pushed up the money inflows through this route by 108 per cent to $33.8 billion, according to an industry report. As per the data collated by Refinitiv, private equity investments increased 108 per cent in 2020 over the previous year, with the number of deals jumping from 665 in 2019 to 791 in 2020 at $33.8 billion, despite the pandemic. In 2019, total PE deals stood at $16.2 billion. Most of the fund inflows were in the third quarter, fetching $24 billion, which, however, tapered off in Q4 to just about $4.57 billion, as per the data from the agency that tracks financial transactions at a global level.
Marc Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sergei Brin and Larry Page of Google, Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft -- visionaries, missionaries or monopolists? A bit of all, I suspect, says B S Prakash.
The recent action comes amid the ongoing tension between India and China after the violent standoff on June 15 in Galwan Valley area in eastern Ladakh in which both sides suffered casualties.
The new IT rules require large digital platforms -- with over five million users -- to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.
