Explore Business Standard
A multi-pronged action involving telecom regulators, service providers, the RBI, tech giants and the CBI has been taken to tackle the rising menace of digital arrest scams, besides WhatsApp banning 9,400 accounts involved in such offences, the Centre has told the Supreme Court. The action was detailed by the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) which has filed a comprehensive status report in pursuance of the Supreme Court's directions of February 9 to curb rising cases of digital arrests in the country, according to sources. A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, which had taken suo motu cognisance of online frauds, including digital arrests, had issued a slew of directions including asking the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), and others to jointly hold a meeting to come up with a framework for providing compensation in digital arrest cases. The fresh status report, filed through Attorney ...
The Maharashtra government has launched an emergency WhatsApp helpline for hundreds of state residents stranded in the Middle East amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict, officials said on Tuesday. According to officials, several hundred people from Maharashtra are stranded in the Middle East due to airspace closure caused by the Iran war, though all are safe. The Chief Minister's office, in a post on X, said that CM Devendra Fadnavis is personally monitoring the situation and is in constant contact with various agencies. He is also coordinating regularly with the Central government, which is extending all possible assistance, while Maharashtra Minister Girish Mahajan has been tasked with coordination efforts. The CMO further stated that the state government, in coordination with the Indian People's Forum in Dubai, has issued a WhatsApp helpline number +971 50 365 4357 for stranded citizens who require assistance. US President Donald Trump has said that the heavy and pinpoint ..
Broadband India Forum, an industry body that represents major tech firms like Meta, Google, and others, has questioned the legal validity of the government's SIM binding mandate, citing a senior counsel's opinion that termed the direction as "ultra vires the parent legislation" and "unconstitutional". In a letter dated February 23 to the Department of Telecom (DoT) secretary Amit Agrawal, BIF highlighted the legal opinion which concluded that the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Amendment Rules, 2025, and recent directives regarding 'SIM binding' exceed the authority granted by the parent Telecommunications Act of 2023. The matter pertains to a direction issued by the central government in November that will ensure app-based communication services, the likes of WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and others, are continuously linked to a user's active SIM card. In fact, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, earlier this week, in a briefing, made it clear that the decision o
Global tech giants Meta Platforms Inc. and WhatsApp told the Supreme Court on Monday that they will comply with the NCLAT's directions for extending the Competition Commission of India's (CCI) privacy and consent guidelines to advertising-related data. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was hearing appeals filed by the tech giants against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's (NCLAT) directions of December last year. The court is also seized of a cross-appeal filed by the CCI, assailing the NCLAT ruling to the extent that it allowed WhatsApp and Meta to continue sharing users' data for advertising purposes. "These applications essentially seek a direction for a stay of the impugned judgment of the NCLAT to the extent it approves the direction issued by the CCI directing Meta to comply with the impugned directions contained in the NCLAT order dated December 15, 2025, containing certain directions issued to Meta," the CJI ...
The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday pleas of Meta and WhatsApp against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over their privacy policy. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi is likely to hear the matter. On February 3, the bench had made strong observations against Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp, saying they could not "play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing" and alleged that they were creating a monopoly in the market and committing theft of private information of customers. Decrying WhatsApp's privacy policy, the bench referred to "silent customers" who were unorganised, digitally dependent and unaware of the implications of data-sharing policies, and asserted, "We will not allow the rights of any citizen of this country to be damaged." WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms Inc. The top court was hearing the appeals of the t