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Context is everything.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Detailed stories on technology startups, business and economic current affairs.
Away from the public glare, India’s top court has rebuked Facebook and, by extension, sent out a message to all of big tech.
Editor's note: One of life’s idiosyncrasies is that finer details matter. Sometimes the strangest of stories emerge from footnotes, hidden in plain sight. In legal judgements, the equivalent is obiter dictum, a Latin phrase for “that which is said in passing”. It refers to the remarks that are not about the final judgement, but mere observations made by the judiciary during the course of a lawsuit. They are not law; they don’t have a binding effect. But what they provide for governments, academicians, legislators and lawyers is judicial opinion and context. Much like the precious footnotes, these remarks too are largely ignored. This story is about one such recent judgement (and the remarks therein) involving Facebook in India. This month, the Supreme Court of India pronounced a significant order involving Facebook’s managing director in India, Ajit Mohan, and the Delhi legislative assembly. A quick catch-up is in order here. Last year, a committee—Peace and Harmony Committee—was formed by the legislative assembly of Delhi to look into the role of Facebook (and of other factors) in the occurrence of communal riots in the …
The Department of Telecommunications’ directive that every smartphone come pre-installed with the app follows a familiar pattern of ‘optional’ tools that turn mandatory in practice.
Countries across the world are coming to the consensus that children aged under 15 must not have access to social media. India, which has over 300 million children under 15 and among the cheapest data tariffs, needs to have this conversation sooner rather than later.
The Zoho co-founder’s attempt to build a WhatsApp competitor has captured the imagination of the nationalist Indian. Emotions aside, the most likely outcome is that Zoho’s other products will start selling more.
