Digital Censorship

Diljit Dosanjh's 'Satluj' removed from ZEE5 just 2 days after its release

Actor-singer Diljit Dosanjh's long-delayed film "Punjab '95", which released in India on streaming service ZEE5 under a new title "Satluj", has become unavailable on the platform just two days later. The film, based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, was stuck in censorship for over three years. The Honey Trehan-directed movie was released without any cuts on Friday, but on Sunday evening the platform shared a statement to inform viewers that it's no longer available in India. "In light of the current developments, 'Satluj' will be unavailable in India until further notice. We remain committed to exploring every appropriate avenue through due process to bring the film back to our audiences at the earliest opportunity," the streamer said in a statement. The OTT platform said the response to 'Satluj' since its release has been truly overwhelming. "We are deeply grateful to every viewer who chose to subscribe, watch and champion the film. Your love and support

From Russia, Iran, China to India: Why governments keep targeting Telegram

India's temporary restriction on Telegram ahead of the Neet-UG re-examination puts the spotlight on a platform that has repeatedly faced government action across the world

Leak reveals China firm exporting mass-censorship kit to India's neighbours

A leak of more than 100,000 files shows Chinese firm Geedge Networks exporting Tiangou Secure Gateway-national-scale filtering and tracking tech-now active in Pakistan and Myanmar

Karnataka pushes jail terms for spreading 'fake news', sparks worries

With nearly 1 billion internet users, the stakes are high in a sprawling country of many ethnic and religious communities where fake news risks stirring deadly strife

Centre slams 'X' for calling 'Sahyog' a censorship tool, defends IT Act

The Centre has strongly objected to social media platform X's characterisation of the 'Sahyog' portal as a censorship tool, calling the claim both unfortunate and condemnable. In a detailed response submitted before the Karnataka High Court, the Centre countered the claims made by X Corp in its petition challenging India's information-blocking framework. The government asserted that the petitioner had misinterpreted the provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, particularly Sections 69A and 79(3)(b). X Corp has argued that Section 79(3)(b) does not authorise the government to issue content-blocking orders in a manner that bypasses the safeguards outlined in Section 69A, its corresponding blocking rules, and the Supreme Court's ruling in the Shreya Singhal case. However, the government contended that Section 69A explicitly allows the Centre to issue blocking orders under specific conditions and provides multiple safeguards for online content restriction. It stated that thi

Zuckerberg reveals US govt made Facebook censor content on Covid vaccine

Referring to the investigation and committee set up to look into the government censorship, Mark Zuckerberg said, 'We produced all these documents and it's all in the public domain'

Meta announces new policy for advertisers to curb AI-curated misinformation

The policy also asks for altered media depicting a realistic event that allegedly occurred, but that is not a true image, video, or audio recording of the event, to be disclosed

Elon Musk's X challenges India court ruling on content blocking orders

X, formerly known as Twitter, in July 2022 sought to overturn some government orders to remove content from its platform, without specifying which

TikTok expands features for creators to restrict videos to adult audience

TikTok announced that it has expanded its 'audience controls' feature to allow creators to restrict their short-form videos to adult viewers

19.3 mn content pieces 'actioned' on Facebook in India during Dec: Meta

Under the IT rules that came into effect in May last year, large digital platforms (with over five million users) have to publish periodic compliance reports every month

A regulatory trap for storytellers

Since streaming video had no constraints, it offered storytellers phenomenal creative freedom. That is what got in the viewers, got them to subscribe and kept them there

The bogey of content regulation

On November 9, the Cabinet Secretariat issued a notification that brings digital and online media within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

Trump vs Twitter

The feud can have implications for freedom of speech

Social media censorship: HC seeks View of Centre, Twitter for guidelines

On a plea by senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde, Justice Navin Chawla issued notices to the ministry and the social media giant and listed the matter for further hearing on Feb 11

Clearing out the app stores: Government censorship made easier

Blocking a website is like trying to stop lots of trucks from delivering a banned book