Social Media

From tathastu to delulu

From Sanskritised Hindi to Gen Z slang, India's language is shifting from formal expressions of authority to relatable words shaped by social media, memes and emotions.

US political campaigns tap Indian bot networks to influence voters

Social media accounts operated largely from India were paid to promote videos supporting a US Senate candidate, raising concerns over undisclosed political influence and inauthentic online campaigning

Australian govt to sue Facebook, TikTok for alleged breaches of ban

The country's online safety regulator, eSafety Commissioner, said in March it was investigating Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube for potentially failing to adhere to the law

SC seeks Centre's response to plea for curbs on children's social media use

The Supreme Court has sought the Centre's response to a plea seeking age-based social media restrictions and safeguards to protect children from online exploitation and harmful content

SC seeks Centre, NCPCR's response on social media risks to children

The Supreme Court on Friday sought replies from the Centre and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights on a PIL filed by an Indore-based school seeking a comprehensive and enforceable national framework to protect children from the alleged risks associated with social media platforms. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the plea filed by Emerald Heights International School and its director of academics, Siddharth Singh Girnar, and issued notices to the ministries of women and child development and law and justice, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). The bench tagged the plea, filed by Vaibhav Choudhary, with a pending petition and listed it for hearing on December 7. "Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction declaring that the continuing failure of the respondents to provide effective protection to children against foreseeable risks of grooming, sexual exploitation, cyber-bullying,

Delhi Police gets 300 social media posts taken down for spreading 'rumours'

Delhi Police is monitoring various social media platforms to curb the spread of misinformation amid protests in the capital, with around 300 posts allegedly aimed at spreading rumours or creating public unrest taken down, police sources said on Monday. The action comes days after police arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to create and circulate a fabricated video depicting a police officer sexually harassing a woman journalist during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The accused, identified as Nadeem Ahmed, allegedly circulated the video falsely portraying a police personnel in an objectionable manner, police said. The incident is being investigated separately from the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against police personnel by women journalists. The police have also approached social media platform X seeking the removal of objectionable and allegedly misleading content linked to the protests, source

The making of brand Shashi Tharoor

The story of the man who makes you open a dictionary before breakfast is a masterclass in accidental differentiation

Govt asks social media firms to act on unlawful content linked to protests

The government has advised large social media firms to prioritise action against unlawful content related to ongoing protests based on complaints received from authorised bodies, including law enforcement agencies, sources aware of the development said. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is learnt to have issued an advisory to social media platforms on October 8, expressing concern over the online circulation of certain information related to the ongoing protests that is false, misleading, manipulated or presented out of context. The IT Ministry has expressed apprehension that such unlawful content may disturb public order, social tranquility and raise law and order concern as well as may incite violence. "MeitY has advised large social media platforms to identify such unlawful content and prioritise action based on complaints received from authorised government bodies," an official source aware of the development said. The advisory has asked social media platforms to labe

Meta says strengthened systems, deployed new LLMs to prevent, detect CSAM

Meta says a dedicated language model, AI sweeps and a red-teaming agent will help detect harmful ads, identify gaps in its defences and stop banned users returning

Indirect aggression common in Indian conversations on X during major events

Indirect aggression in Indian conversations on social media platform X is most common during major social, financial, sporting and political events, business school researchers have found after they used machine learning models to examine patterns of aggressive communication, analysing more than 1.31 lakh posts. The study, titled "Indian Aggression Detection through Multiple ML Models from Twitter Data", was conducted by researchers at Goa Institute of Management (GIM) and Goa Business School. The findings have been published in renowned journal "Advances in Consumer Research". The study explored whether machine learning could help to identify different forms of aggression in Indian X posts and how aggressive behaviour varied across emotionally and politically charged events. The researchers classified the posts into three categories -- Overtly Aggressive (OAG), Covertly Aggressive (CAG) and Non-Aggressive (NAG). "The findings indicate that OAG responses among Indians remained ...

Delhi HC orders Meta to immediately remove morphed photo of woman with PM

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed Meta Platforms to immediately remove objectionable content of a woman's morphed picture posted on social media with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Justice Girish Kathpalia observed that this is an extraordinary position in which the matter is not of one woman but also of the country's prime minister. If the Delhi Police is not sensitive about it, the court will ensure it becomes sensitive, he further noted. The high court also issued notice to Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke,, Ashutosh Ranka and Ratna Singh on a plea by the woman alleging that they circulated her morphed and explicit picture with the prime minister. The court, which listed the matter for further hearing on October 14, directed the police to give complete police protection to the woman who submitted that she was receiving threats to her life. The woman's plea accused the CJP leaders of morphing and circulating her deepfake vulgar pictures with Prim

Datanomics: Under-20 age group increasingly drives India's smartphone usage

The EU Kids Act proposes banning social media for children under 13 as several countries tighten access rules, while India weighs age-based restrictions amid rising smartphone use and cybercrime risks

Meta not merely an 'intermediary', but a 'service provider' too

The company, a senior government official said, will have to assume greater responsibility for content shared by users and distributed across its platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

Delhi HC seeks Centre's response on plea against addictive social media

PIL seeks an expert panel to examine engagement-driven platform features, including infinite scrolling, autoplay and personalised feeds, and recommend safeguards for young users

Delhi HC asks govt about policy to regulate addictive social media designs

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond whether it was contemplating a policy to regulate addiction-causing design features on social media platforms like infinite scroll and autoplay. A bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Amit Sharma said it would hear after three weeks a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking constitution of an expert committee to examine engagement-maximising and addiction-causing design features on social media platforms. On being asked by the court whether the Centre was contemplating framing a policy on the issue, additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma said he does not have specific instructions on this. To this, the bench orally said, "you take instructions whether you are contemplating framing of a policy and we will have the matter after three weeks". Sharma also said that the PIL does raises some issues but it will be in the domain of the policy makers to consider and suggested that the petition could give a representati

EU chief von der Leyen proposes ban on social media for children under 13

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed banning children under 13 from accessing social media, online games and chatbots on Wednesday during her annual State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg. "I am aware that many perceive the power of Big Tech as overwhelming and impossible to roll back. I disagree," said the EU executive. "We do not have to accept addictive features. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls have their photos used for AI-generated sexualized images," she said. Von der Leyen said that under her proposal "mini accounts" chaperoned by guardians would be granted to kids aged 13-15. The EU's 27 member nations will now vote on the proposal, which could spark tensions with US President Donald Trump, who has long criticized Europe's tech regulations.

Countering disinformation

This book is a compelling account of how India lives online, and what we can do - to make it a more dignified and inclusive space

Terms of engagement

If Meta is forced to abandon the engagement-algorithm for its most committed users, and if other platforms follow suit, the industry will undergo a tectonic shift

Meta India head Sandhya Devanathan to join OpenAI in regional role

Devanathan will be based in Singapore and oversee consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, regulatory engagement and operations across Southeast Asia and Australia

Meta's new teen safety rules: What changes on Instagram and Facebook

The new protections will first apply in participating US states and territories, subject to judicial approval. Meta has not announced these measures as a global rollout