BENGALURU: Social media giant X warned on Monday that an Indian court ruling allowing police to issue &quot;arbitrary&quot; content removal orders through a government portal threatens free expression.&nbsp;The state high court in Karnataka &mdash; which includes tech-city Bengaluru &mdash; dismissed a plea last week filed by X against the government portal that it alleged was being used to censor content.&nbsp;The government says its online portal Sahyog &mdash; meaning &quot;cooperate&quot; in Hindi &mdash; helps automate the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries such as X and Facebook.&nbsp;&quot;It aims to create a safe cyber space for the citizens of India by facilitating the removal or disabling of access to any unlawful online information,&quot; it says.&nbsp;But X said the portal &quot;enables officers to order content removal based solely on allegations of &#39;illegality,&#39; without judicial review or due process for the speakers, and threatens platforms with criminal liability for non-compliance.&quot;&nbsp;It will &quot;allow millions of police officers to issue arbitrary takedown orders,&quot; and &quot;infringes Indian citizens&#39; constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression,&quot; X added.&nbsp;The Karnataka high court said last week that X&#39;s plea was &quot;without merit&quot; and that social media was not exempt from regulation.&nbsp;&quot;Unregulated speech, under the guise of liberty, becomes a license for lawlessness,&quot; the order read.&nbsp;The court said that while X followed takedown orders in the United States, it had refused to follow similar orders in India. X said it would appeal the ruling.&nbsp;In 2023, the Karnataka state high court fined X, then called Twitter, $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove comments and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s government.&nbsp;Rights groups say freedom of expression is under broad threat in India, which is now at 151 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.&nbsp;India has more than 900 million internet users, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India.&nbsp;China has more internet users, but India is open to US tech companies.

Elon Musk, X, social media ban, free speech

Asia

The Indian government says its online portal Sahyog — meaning "cooperate" in Hindi — helps automate the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries such as X and Facebook.

X says Indian online takedown platform threatens free speech

Reuters

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promoted his government&#39;s world-first teen social media ban at an event in New York, warning the challenges posed by social media for children was &quot;constantly evolving&quot;.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Governments and tech firms are closely watching Australia&#39;s effort to become the first country to block the use of social media by those younger than 16, starting from December.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Australia wants social media firms to use artificial intelligence and behavioural data to estimate the age of users, and not conduct blanket age-verification.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;It isn&#39;t foolproof, but it is a crucial step in the right direction,&quot; Albanese said in New York on Wednesday at the Protecting Children in the Digital Age event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech, said she had been &quot;inspired by Australia&#39;s example&quot;.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;We in Europe are watching and will be learning from you ... it is up to us to step up for the next generation,&quot; she said.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Australia&#39;s ban passed into law in November 2024 and aims to delay teens&#39; ability to set up social media accounts from the current age of 13 until the age of 16.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Albanese&#39;s centre-left government proposed the law citing research showing harms to mental health from the over-use of social media among young teens, including misinformation, bullying and harmful depictions of body image.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Albanese called his government&#39;s efforts a sensible but overdue step to protect children at a critical stage in their life.<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;The challenge we face is constantly evolving, and different countries are tackling it in different ways,&quot; Albanese said, adding the law would give Australian teens &quot;three more years of being shaped by real-life experience, not algorithms&quot;.

Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese addresses the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly

Viral

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promoted his government's world-first teen social media ban at an event in New York, warning the challenges posed by social media for children was "constantly evolving".

Australia’s teen social media ban draws praise at UN

SYDNEY: Tech companies including WhatsApp and Reddit as well as streaming giant Twitch and gaming firm Roblox could be among more than a dozen sites added to Australia&#39;s social media ban for under-16s, the country&#39;s regulator said Wednesday. Platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube were already included in the ban -- a world-first. &lsquo;Self assess&rsquo;But the head of Australia&#39;s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has written to 16 more companies to &quot;self-assess&quot; whether they fall under the ban&#39;s remit. The list also included Pinterest as well as Lego Play, streaming company Kick and gaming platform Steam. Companies will need to make a case if they believe their platform should be exempt from the ban, the national broadcaster ABC said. Inman Grant told the network that while some cases were &quot;pretty clear&quot;, the regulator would &quot;give them the due diligence process&quot;. &quot;We need to hear them all out,&quot; she said. The regulator said it will initially focus on platforms with the greatest number of users, where there are higher risks of harm. Fine&nbsp;Australia has been a leader in global efforts to prevent internet harm, but current legislation offers almost no details on how the ban will be enforced -- prompting concern among experts that it will simply be a symbolic piece of unenforceable legislation. The eSafety Commission will be able to fine social media companies up to Aus$49.5 million ($32.6 million) for failing to comply with the rules. Social media companies have described the laws as &quot;vague&quot;, &quot;problematic&quot; and &quot;rushed&quot;. Canberra has struggled to pin down how precisely platforms will verify the ages of their users. This month, Communications Minister Anika Wells conceded that firms would need to self-regulate. No single solutionAn independent study ordered by the Australian government found this month that age checking can be done &quot;privately, efficiently and effectively&quot;, though it admitted no single solution would fit all contexts. The regulator has also introduced a number of rules taking effect in Australia in the coming months to protect children from &quot;lawful but awful&quot; content.

Australia may expand its under-16 social media ban to include platforms such as WhatsApp, Reddit, and Twitch. Regulators demand self-assessments, but critics question enforcement, calling the legislation vague, symbolic, and difficult to implement effectively.

Articles tagged with "social media ban"

X says Indian online takedown platform threatens free speech

Australia’s teen social media ban draws praise at UN

Australia targets more platforms in under-16 social media ban