Gag orders have a "chilling effect" on the freedom of speech, the apex court said while refusing to accept the submission of the counsel representing Uttar Pradesh that Zubair be barred from tweeting when he is on bail.
Zubair joined the probe on Monday and after gathering sufficient evidence on record, he was arrested.
IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, which has led to the United States giant losing its intermediary status in India and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.
At least 70 houses and shops of the Hindus were torched in attacks at Pirganj following Mandal's Facebook post on October 17.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear on July 20 a plea by Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, seeking to quash FIRs lodged against him in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly outraging religious feelings, and directed that no precipitative steps be taken against him in the meantime.
Police had sought an extension of Zubair's custody by five days.
Several Congress leaders and social media users claimed that it was a 'teleprompter gaffe' as Prime Minister Modi had to pause and then restart his special address to the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda 2022 summit, but BJP leaders and many others pointed out that it was a technical glitch due to which the WEF people were not able to patch the PM and requested him to start again.
Last year Dr Fauci had largely dismissed the theory that the deadly COVID-19 virus, due to which over 165 million people have been infected worldwide and over 3.5 million peope died so far, was genetically engineered and had leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Social media is reflecting a reality that the BJP does not want communicated. More people are saying things on social media that are upsetting the government, asserts Aakar Patel.
'Every prominent Indian cricketer knows exactly what @IrfanPathan means but they will dare not utter a word in support'.
Chief metropolitan magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria allowed the police plea, which said further investigation was on.
Iqbal Hossain was arrested from Cox's Bazar sea beach area on Thursday night and is suspected to be the one who allegedly placed a copy of the Quran at a Durga Puja venue in Cumilla, bdnews24.com reported.
Lashing out at the micro-blogging platform over non-compliance, Prasad said that it is "astounding" that Twitter that portrays itself as the flag bearer of free speech, chooses the path of deliberate defiance when it comes to the intermediary guidelines.
No religion or God says that you have to visit pandals and temples and mosques to pray, Vardhan underlined.
Amid a tussle between the Union government and Twitter over the new IT rules, officials of the microblogging site on Friday deposed before a parliamentary panel chaired by Congress's Shashi Tharoor over preventing misuse of social media.
'As long as we have such partners, Russia cannot be isolated.'
In a three-page letter to Facebook Chief Executive Zuckerberg, Prasad alleged "bias and inaction" by individuals in Facebook India team on complaints by people supportive of right-of-centre ideology.
Any Indian government at this juncture would have voted and spoken exactly this way. It isn't just about the vast Indian dependence on Russian-origin military equipment. It is also about trust, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, had called representatives of Facebook to hear their views "on the subject of safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space," according to agenda of the meeting.
Police are also roping in fact-checking websites to verify rumours on social media and debunk fake news.
Zubair refuted the allegation as 'an absolutely frivolous complaint', and AltNews backed him, saying his work 'hurts those who have weaponised misinformation to subvert the Indian democracy'.
The removal of over 54,000 accounts was the largest such removal yet.
The Delhi Police on Thursday said the statements by Twitter on the ongoing enquiry in the 'toolkit' case was mendacious and designed to impede the lawful enquiry.
'Hot Mess Holiday airs on December 11 -- it's a really fun story.'
India has too many small companies and this is inefficient. It should instead have only a handful of very large players running its economy and these giants can then compete with the world, observes Aakar Patel.
Narendra Modi should worry about fact-checking.
'Over 200 million Indians use WhatsApp, including many who use no other form of social media.' 'WhatsApp has been used to propagate all sorts of fake news and misinformation.' 'In the past six months or so, WhatsApp has been the core enabler of many instances of lynching,' points out Devangshu Datta.
The ability to make out fake news from real could save the coming generations a huge amount of conflict and heartburn, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
In its response to the IT Ministry's missive, WhatsApp has said false news, misinformation and spread of hoaxes are issues that need to be dealt with collectively, by government, civil society and technology companies working together.
'Could robots vote for effective political leadership?' 'Arguably they could do this better than humans.' 'They are far better at fact-checking for obvious lies, and far better at gauging the sincerity of statements by analysing body language, facial movements and vocal tonality of speakers,' says Devangshu Datta.
'Here is hoping that the entirely unintended and unforeseen victims of the coronavirus, the printed papers, emerge safe and unscathed from the affliction,' says Shreekant Sambrani.
Such criticism by China of a foreign government official, particularly of a major power like the US, is very unusual. It is clear that China will come under increasing pressure certainly till the US presidential elections are held, observes former senior RA&W officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
Guesstimates suggest that around 80 to 85 per cent of Wiki information is accurate. That is less than 95 per cent that is considered the gold standard for 'normal' encyclopedias'. But 80 per cent is a reasonable baseline for somebody who's starting to research a topic and it does suggest that crowd-sourcing works, even though it is a long way from perfection, says Devangshu Datta.
With the second Test set to start on Wednesday, here is a quick fact check on how both teams stand at the Gabba.
The BJP hit back accusing the Congress of drawing the issue into political arena.
The Pakistan government on Saturday sacked Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid over the recent "leaked" media report about a rift between the civilian and military leaderships on support to militancy.
Some unlikely celebrities are behind multiple campaigns to fight the fake news menace.
He often spends nights camping on the platforms of obscure stations, sometimes without food or water, anticipating the entry of a train -- either on camera or simply as a memory.
