Jai Bhim, the Tamil film starring actor Suriya, topped the list of movies that trended on Google this year in India, as per the ‘Year in Search 2021’ stats released by the search engine.
Interestingly, both Jai Bhim and Shershaah premiered on Amazon Prime Video – in November and August, respectively – and are inspired by real events.
Jai Bhim is based on a real-life case fought by now-retired Madras High Court Justice K Chandru, when he was an advocate in the 90s. Suriya, who also produced the film, essayed the role of lawyer Chandru in the film, which featured a cast that included actors Lijomol Jose, Rajisha Vijayan, and Prakash Raj. Helmed by filmmaker TJ Gnanavel, Jai Bhim opened to a largely positive reception, though it also received flak from certain sections.
Shershaah, on the other hand, traces the life of late Kargil war veteran Captain Vikram Batra (played by Malhotra), who was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra. While the film received mixed reviews, General MM Naravane, Chief of Army Staff, praised the film for its realistic portrayal of the war.
Other film-related personalities who grabbed a spot on the list were Shehnaaz Gill (3rd), Raj Kundra (4th), Vicky Kaushal (6th), and Natasha Dalal (10th).
Meanwhile, Twitter India revealed the top 10 most tweeted hashtags of the year. While #Covid19 took first place, and was followed by #FarmersProtest, the list was dominated mostly by sports hashtags such as #TeamIndia, #Tokyo2020, and #IPL2021. The only film that found a place on the list was Vijay-starrer Master; it took the eighth spot.
Twitter’s most retweeted tweet in entertainment also belongs to Vijay for his post unveiling the first look of his upcoming film Beast. It was also the most liked tweet in entertainment for the year.
The most tweeted films section was dominated by the South Indian industry. Master topped this list, with Ajith’s Valimai coming in second, followed by Beast, Jai Bhim, and the Telugu film Vakeel Saab.
Twitter also revealed the most tweeted Hindi actors. Alia Bhatt (female) and Sonu Sood (male) led the respective lists.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri appeared before the US Congress, on Wednesday, in relation to former Facebook employee Frances Haugen’s recent disclosures that Instagram exacerbated suicidal thoughts and eating disorders, according to a Reutersreport.
The hearing dealt with the issues of big tech, the invasion of privacy, the lack of data security, and the need for Section 230 (that generally provides immunity for website platforms with respect to third-party content), or internet law, reforms.
Senator Marsha Blackburn said that she along with other American parents, was frustrated with how Instagram functions in terms of children’s security, and told Mosseri that it is “time for action”.
While Facebook and Mark Zuckerburg have come under immense scrutiny in the last few years for its failure to curb hate speech and misinformation, Instagram came under fire only recently after the revelations made by Haugen included the harmful effects of both platforms and their priority of financial gains.
The first whistleblower highlighted that evidence of hate extended to Instagram though the harm caused by it is more personal than public. “13.5% of teen girls say Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse. 17% of teen girls say that Instagram makes eating disorders worse,” read from one of the reports that Haugen shared with the Wall Street Journal.
Mosseri testified before the Congress and maintained his stand that the platform, as opposed to Haugen’s claims, can “help teenagers in those critical moments” and take on complex issues such as bullying and social comparison to bring changes.
“We need to make sure that the responsibility is on the big tech to put the best product on the market. We need 100 percent transparency,” Mosseri said in his testimony, and referred to Section 230, or the internet law which offers tech platforms protections from liability over content posted by users.
He called for the creation of an industry body to determine best practices to help keep young people safe online. The body, he said, should receive input from civil society, parents, and regulators to create standards on how to verify age, design age-appropriate experiences, and build parental controls.
Senator Blackburn noted that it was the fourth time in the last two years that the Congress had spoken to someone from Meta. “The conversation feels like to repeat itself ad nauseum”.
She also addressed Mosseri’s plans to amp up parental controls that were announced a day prior to him appearing before the Congress, on Tuesday, and called them “half-measures.”
The new controls that will be brought into effect from March 2022, are aimed at creating a stricter approach including preventing non-followers of teenagers from tagging or mentioning them in posts, nudging teens towards different topics if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a long time, and allowing parents to keep a tab on the amount of time spent by their kids on the platform.
He also launched the feature ‘Take a Break’, in select countries, that will encourage teenagers to keep a check on the time they spend on the platform.
“Educational tools for parents can be helpful but frankly, I am more concerned about things we know kids and teens are hiding from their parents. We know that Facebook and Instagram have encouraged teens to use secondary accounts and told them to be authentic,” she added.
Mosseri has been associated with Meta for over 11 years now, and was made the head of Instagram only in 2018.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that parental controls will be introduced to keep young people “even safer on Instagram,” according to a statement from Meta-owned, social media giant Facebook on Tuesday.
The tools will be launched in March 2022.
The platform’s latest measures say that they aim at creating a stricter approach including preventing non-followers of teenagers from tagging or mentioning them in posts, nudging teens towards different topics if they’ve been dwelling on one topic for a long time, and allowing parents to keep a tab on the amount of time spent by their kids on the platform.
“We’ll also give teens a new option to notify their parents if they report someone, giving their parents the opportunity to talk about it with them. This is the first version of these tools; we’ll continue to add more options over time,” Mosseri said.
Instagram also announced a new educational hub for parents and guardians in addition to the launch of the Take a Break feature in select countries for now, including the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Photo Caption: Take a Break feature on Instagram; Credit: Instagram
The feature according to the statement will “empower people to make informed decisions about how they’re spending their time.” It entails showing notifications to teenage users, who spend a certain amount of time on Instagram, and ask them to “take a break from Instagram and suggest that they set reminders to take more breaks in the future.”
Early test results show that once teens set the reminders, more than 90% of them keep them on, Mosseri noted.
The new plans will also enable teenagers to delete content they’ve posted like photos and videos, as well as their previous likes and comments. According to Mosseri, this will help them to manage their digital footprint, and will be brought into effect from January 2022.
The recent measures come in the backdrop of the two Facebook whistleblowers, who shared company data on how it failed to curb hate-speech and misinformation for its monetary gains.
The first whistleblower and former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen, highlighted that evidence of hate extended to Instagram, though the harm caused by it is more personal than public. “13.5% of teen girls say Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse. 17% of teen girls say that Instagram makes eating disorders worse,” read from one of the reports that Haugen shared with the Wall Street Journal.
Chris Cuomo, who was recently fired by CNN for helping his brother Andrew Cuomo deal with a sexual harassment scandal, will not see his book published by Harper Collins.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, a William Morrow spokesperson said, “Custom House does not intend to publish the Chris Cuomo book.”
William Morrow is an imprint of HarperCollins, and Cuomo’s book Deep Denial was slated for release in 2022 through its Custom House line of curated non-fiction and fiction literature.
The book was earlier described by the publisher as a “provocative analysis of the harsh truths that the pandemic and Trump years have exposed about America – about our strength and our character – and a roadmap of the work needed to make our ideals match reality.”
Cuomo, who joined CNN in 2013 to co-host its morning show, moved on to host the channel’s most-watched news show, Cuomo Prime Time, in 2018.
In December 2020, his brother Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York, faced sexual assault accusations from a former aide.
In May 2021, Chris Cuomo admitted to breaching some of CNN’s rules and advising his brother on handling the sexual assault allegations from the perspective of public relations.
Andrew Cuomo subsequently resigned in August after an investigation found that he had “sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments.”
While CNN had “appreciated the unique position [Chris Cuomo] was in and understood his need to put family first and job second” back in May, the channel suspended him on November 30 after new court documents raised “serious questions” about the level of his involvement.
A few days later, on Sunday, CNNterminated his contract citing that “additional information” had come to light during a review conducted by a respected law firm.
Cuomo called the decision “disappointing,” and as per a New York Postreport, he is set to sue the network for $18 million over his terminated contract. Cuomo will also likely seek damages, the report adds.
Meanwhile, the former CNN anchor has not commented on the pulling of his proposed book by HarperCollins.
Filmmaker Kavitha Lankesh is making a documentary on her sister, the renowned journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead in 2017. The documentary is one of four entries worldwide rewarded by the Free Press Unlimited, Amsterdam for highlighting crimes against journalists.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Kavitha said that the Amsterdam-based foundation had called for proposals last year, for documentaries on journalists who have lost their lives in war, or by an act of violence in the line of duty. Out of the around 300 submissions, four were selected, including Kavitha’s proposal.
“The film captures the life of Gauri soon after she took over our father’s publication, Lankesh Patrike, in 2000 and her activism. The documentary is likely to be premiered in a film festival in the Netherlands,” the filmmaker added.
Kavitha also said that before submitting the proposal, she had asked herself whether she would be able to endure the trauma of following the life of her sister yet again and filming it.
“It was a tough decision to make because Gauri was more than a sister to me. She was my friend, mentor and soul keeper. I have still to come to terms that she is not around. Making the film meant going back to those traumatic memories. But I felt that I must tell the story of this woman who knew no fear when it came to fighting for justice and the constitutional rights of people,” she added.
The filmmaker noted that the documentary is in the final stages and will be completed in early 2022.
Gauri Lankesh was a Bengaluru-based journalist-turned-activist who worked as an editor of Lankesh Patrike, the Kannada weekly founded by her father Lankesh P. She also ran a weekly titled Gauri Lankesh Patrike. Known as an advocate for the freedom of the press, she was also critical of right-wing Hindutva politics and the caste system.
On September 5, 2017, Gauri was assassinated by unidentified persons at her residence in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.
As per the TNIE report, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) established by the Congress-led Siddaramaiah government of Karnataka has arrested and chargesheeted 18 accused, who reportedly claim to be part of some fringe right-wing groups, for the murder of Gauri Lankesh.
Accusing the social media giant Facebook, now known as Meta, of allowing the spread of hate speech against their community, several Rohingya refugees in the United Kingdom and the United States have sued the company, according to a BBCreport.
As compensation, they are demanding more than $150 billion.
The lawsuit claims Facebook promoted violence against the persecuted minority by allowing “the dissemination of hateful and dangerous misinformation to continue for years” on the social media platform.
One of the most persecuted minorities in the world, Rohingya Muslims have been denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law and are considered illegal migrants in the country, resulting in discrimination by the government as well as the public in the Buddhist-majority country.
As per the BBC report, an estimated 10,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed during a violent crackdown launched by the Myanmar military in 2017, after Rohingya militants allegedly carried out deadly attacks on police posts. Following this, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Facebook, which is hugely popular in Myanmar, was widely used to spread anti-Muslim hatred and disinformation about the Rohingya ahead of the violence and since. In 2018, Facebook admitted to not doing enough to prevent the incitement of violence and hate speech against the Rohingya.
In a letter to Facebook that BBC accessed, the British law firm representing some of the refugees has now pointed out the social media giant’s failure to invest in moderators and fact-checkers who knew the political situation in Myanmar, to take down posts or delete accounts that incited violence against Rohingya, and to “take appropriate and timely action” despite warnings from charities and the media.
Lawyers in the US, meanwhile, filed a legal complaint against Facebook in San Francisco accusing it of being “willing to trade the lives of the Rohingya people for better market penetration in a small country in Southeast Asia.”
The complaint further states that the introduction of Facebook in Myanmar “materially contributed to the development and widespread dissemination of anti-Rohingya hate speech, misinformation, and incitement of violence – which together amounted to a substantial cause, and perpetuation of, the eventual Rohingya genocide.”
Earlier this year, Facebook was embroiled in controversy after ex-employee Frances Haugen leaked documents to the media that show the company put monetary gains ahead of user safety. Facebook also took heat for its failure to curb hate speech and misinformation across the world. Leaked documents revealed that in India, Facebook failed to flag-off hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts – particularly anti-Muslim content – despite being made aware of them through internal research since at least 2019.
Meanwhile, following its recent rebranding as Meta, the company released data on bullying and harassment on both Facebook and Instagram. It noted that the “prevalence of hate speech on Facebook continued to decrease for the fourth quarter in a row.”
Days after the Supreme Court’s order that “no coercive action” shall be taken against journalist Shyam Meera Singh, who was booked under UAPA for tweeting on the recent communal violence in Tripura, the state’s police has asked Twitter to provide details of his account on the social media platform.
On Friday, Singh received an e-mail from Twitter informing him that it had received a legal notice regarding his account @ShyamMeeraSingh which “obligates Twitter to produce information” related to the account.
“This is an open abuse of the power of the state to infiltrate privacy of its citizens,” Singh wrote on Twitter, sharing the e-mail.
In October, Tripura police had booked 102 social media users, including several journalists, activists and lawyers, under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for tweeting about and reporting on the communal violence in the state.
Tripura was witness to severe communal violence in October that was triggered by events that happened earlier the same month in Bangladesh. During Durgapuja celebrations in mid-October, communal violence had broken out in parts of Bangladesh and several pandals and Hindu temples were vandalised, resulting in the death of at least seven people. Following this, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), decided to organise a rally in Tripura, in protest. During this rally, on October 26, several mosques and shops were vandalised.
Singh and many others were booked under UAPA for tweeting about this.
On November 17, the Supreme Court had ordered that no coercive action shall be taken against Singh and two Delhi-based human rights lawyers, Mukesh of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties and Ansar Indori of National Confederation of Human Rights, who were also booked under UAPA.
Despite this, the Tripura police has now sent a legal notice to obtain Singh’s Twitter account details.
Meanwhile, HW News Network, employer of the two women journalists – Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha – who were arrested for reporting on the Tripura violence, has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the action of Tripura Police against its journalists.
A request for hearing the matter before December 9 was made by the publication’s advocate when the petition was mentioned before the Chief Justice on Friday. The request was allowed by the latter.
Sakunia and Jha were arrested on November 14 on charges of “maligning the image of Tripura government, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.” They were initially detained by the Assam Police while on their way to Silchar, Assam after the Tripura Police registered multiple cases against them. They were granted bail the following day.
The Court of Appeal in London ruled in favour of Meghan Markle in the appeal filed by British Tabloid, TheMail On Sunday, against the High Court’s ruling granting the Duchess of Sussex copyright claims to the letter she wrote to her father in 2019.
In 2020, Prince Harry and Markle filed a lawsuit against TheMail On Sunday, managed by the Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), for the misuse of her private information and breach of copyright.
The High Court had ruled in February that the publisher had breached Markle’s privacy by reproducing a large portion of the handwritten letter she had sent her father, Thomas Markle, a few months after she married Prince Harry.
Following this, ANL appealed against the ruling in November. The publisher claimed that the “letter was crafted specifically with the possibility of public consumption in mind, because the claimant appreciated Mr Markle might disclose it to the media.”
A former British Royal family aide, Jason Knauf, who served as the former communications chief, had noted in a witness statement that Markle was meticulous in her word choice as she had anticipated that the letter might get leaked.
The Mail’s lawyer also cited text messages sent from Markle to Knauf which said she had decided to use the word “Daddy” to begin the letter because it “would pull at the heartstrings.”
However, dismissing the appeal, senior judge Geoffrey Vos told the court on Thursday that “the Duchess had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the letter. Those contents were personal, private and not matters of legitimate public interest.”
In a statement released by Markle’s representatives shortly after her win, the Duchess said, “Today, the courts ruled in my favor – again – cementing that The Mail On Sunday, owned by Lord Jonathan Rothermere, has broken the law.”
She added, “While this win is precedent setting, what matters most is that we are now collectively brave enough to reshape a tabloid industry that conditions people to be cruel, and profits from the lies and pain that they create. The courts have held the defendant to account and my hope is that we all begin to do the same. Because as far removed as it may seem from your personal life, it’s not. Tomorrow it could be you.”
The publishers were disappointed with the court’s decision and considered filing for an appeal with the UK Supreme Court, according to the AP report.
Indian journalists took to the streets of New Delhi on Thursday protesting against the restrictions limiting their entry into the Parliament through a “lottery system,” calling it a “dangerous” trend.
“In the largest democracy of the world, the entry of journalists in the Parliament is regulated through ‘lottery system’. This seems to be a ploy to censor transmission of news and information to people. This is a very dangerous trend in a parliamentary democracy like India,” tweeted the Press Club of India.
On Thursday afternoon, several journalists, editors, photojournalists, writers and press correspondents, who are part of the Press Club of India, Editors Guild, Press Association, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Delhi Union of Journalists and Working News Cameraman Association, gathered at the Press Club of India premises for the protest.
Noting that it marked the fifth session when “reporters have been deliberately kept out of the Press Gallery,” the press club said, “Assurances given to us were not complied with. Adding to that, is a new format of restrictions to thwart the entry of the media.”
Terming it “blatant censorship,” the press club had also shared an open letter addressed to the leaders of all political parties in the Parliament. In it, the journalists’ organisation mentioned that the press has been denied access to the Press Gallery and to parliamentarians over the past one and a half years.
Even as malls, restaurants and cinema halls have reopened, entry to the Press Gallery has been denied citing Covid protocols, the letter stated.
Photo Source: Central Government of India Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/217834951897352/photos/a.217835095230671/217835105230670/?type=3&theater )
During the press conference held in the second week of July 2021, the Lok Sabha Speaker had assured that there would be no restrictions on media’s entry and that all permanent passes would be renewed, which was not complied with, the letter noted.
It also expressed concern that “there is a depressing trend emerging to isolate parliament and parliamentarians from media gaze” and added that this trend “augurs ill for parliamentary democracy.”
Speaking at the protest meet on Thursday, PCI president Umkant Lakhera saidthe Parliament becomes the hub of information and news when it is in session, and so, to restrict entry to journalists amounts to stopping the media from doing its work.
A member of the media fraternity told Al Jazeera that the number of journalists allowed inside the Parliament house has been “drastically reduced.” Under the lottery system, 60 journalists will be allowed inside the Lok Sabha and 32 in Rajya Sabha, with 11 and 10 slots, respectively, reserved for government-run and some select media organisations and agencies.
“The present lottery system is giving no access at all to the smaller newspapers. You cannot cover parliament only by watching Sansad TV,” said editor and TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai, referring to the government channel that telecasts parliamentary proceedings.
“It is very undemocratic what the government is doing by keeping the media out of reporting because in a parliamentary democracy the media plays a very important role,” Sanjay Kapoor, general secretary of the Editors Guild of India, told Al Jazeera.
The All India Trinamool Congress extended its solidarity to the protest, saying, “A free and robust media is the soul of a Parliamentary democracy.”
Chris Cuomo, CNN’s top news anchor, has said that he is hurt and embarrassed about being suspended indefinitely from his role as primetime host of the channel.
CNN suspended Cuomo on Tuesday after new court documents revealed his role in defending his brother Andrew Cuomo, former New York Governor, over sexual harassment allegations.
“Quick note about the obvious – I’ve been suspended from CNN. It hurts to even say it. It’s embarrassing, but I understand it. And I understand why some people feel the way they do,” Cuomo said on his SiriusXM Satellite Radio show, Let’s Get After It, on Wednesday.
In the first minute of the radio broadcast, Cuomo said, “The last thing I ever wanted to do was compromise any of my colleagues or do anything but help.”
In December 2020, Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to Andrew Cuomo, called him out on Twitter for sexually harassing her for years and a criminal complaint was filed against him on October 29 in a New York court.
Following an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office which found that he had “sexually harassed a number of State employees through unwelcome and unwanted touching, as well as by making numerous offensive and sexually suggestive comments,” Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation in August this year.
However, he has denied all the allegations against him.
His brother, Chris Cuomo aka Christopher C Cuomo, who hosts CNN’s most-watched news show Cuomo Prime Time, admitted in May that he had breached some of the channel’s rules and advised his brother on handling the allegations from the perspective of public relations.
At the time, CNN had “appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second,” said the channel in a statement on Tuesday. However, the new court documents “raise serious questions,” it added.
Released by New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday, the new documents revealed text and other messages that show Chris Cuomo had sought to use his own sources in the media to dig out information on the case and the women involved in it.
“These documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation,” said CNN.
Earlier, Time’s Up, the organisation that promotes the idea of a safe workspace for women, also became embroiled in controversy for its alleged complicity in shrouding the harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo. The organisation, which was founded in the wake of the MeToo movement, following the sexual harassment cases against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, recently announced a complete reset, including the dissolution of its board and the laying off of most of its 25 staff members.
Terming it “blatant censorship,” the Press Club of India took to Twitter to express disappointment over the media not being allowed to enter the Parliament to cover the Winter Session 2021.
Monday, the first day of the Winter Session 2021, marked the fifth session when “reporters have been deliberately kept out of the Press Gallery,” said the press club. “Assurances given to us were not complied with. Adding to that, is a new format of restrictions to thwart the entry of the media.”
The press club also shared an open letter dated November 27 and addressed to the leaders of all political parties in the Parliament. In it, the journalists’ organisation mentions that all the important media organisations in the country had earlier been covering both Houses of Parliament for many decades, but have been denied access to the Press Gallery and interaction with the parliamentarians over the past one and a half years.
Earlier, entry to the Press Gallery was denied citing Covid protocols, but now that malls, restaurants and cinema halls have reopened, such restrictions are no more required, the letter states, adding, “On the face of it, current restrictions under pandemic guidelines seem to be rigmarole.”
During the press conference held in the second week of July 2021, the Lok Sabha Speaker had assured that there would be no restrictions on media’s entry and that all permanent passes would be renewed, which was not complied with, the letter notes.
It also expresses concern that “there is a depressing trend emerging to isolate parliament and parliamentarians from media gaze” and adds that this trend “augurs ill for parliamentary democracy and [is] much against the spirit of our parliamentary democracy.”
“Eventually, we make humble appeal to your goodself to take note of such a serious issue that is hurting media persons. We fervently hope that you would get the needful done in this regard,” the letter concludes.
Appealing for the same, MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Indian National Congress in the Lok Sabha, also wrote a letter in which he noted that it is “very sad and strange that the media is being restricted by the present regime” from covering the proceedings of the Parliament.
In a further tweet, the press club added, “We hope that this blatant censorship does not continue longer.”
On the first day of the Winter Session of the Parliament 2021, the Bill to repeal the three Farm Laws – which were passed during the Monsoon Session 2020 and sparked the year-long farmers’ protest – was passed in the Lok Sabha. The Bill was passed by voice vote amidst protest by opposition MPs who objected to the lack of discussion before the vote.
The media was neither present when the Farm Bill was passed in the Monsoon Session 2020, nor when the Bill to repeal it was passed on Monday.
Indian-American Parag Agrawal has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, the outgoing CEO Jack Dorsey announced on Monday.
Dorsey has resigned after a 16-year association with the social media giant that he co-founded with Biz Stone, Evan Williams, and Noah Glass.
Agrawal, who has been with the company for over a decade now, joined Twitter in 2011 as a software engineer. The IIT-Bombay graduate in computer science engineering, who also holds a PhD from Stanford University, was promoted to the position of the Chief Technology Officer in 2017.
According to a Reutersreport, Agrawal has not only been active in incorporating cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies into the company, but has also been associated with the Twitter-funded organisation Bluesky. This organisation seeks to build a decentralized common standard for social media companies, which would allow different social platforms to operate on the same technology and let users post content across services.
Before joining Twitter, Agrawal worked with Microsoft, Yahoo, and AT&T Labs.
In an e-mail addressed to the Twitter team, he wrote, “Our purpose has never been more important. Our people and our culture are unlike anything in the world. There is no limit to what we can do together.”
He further added, “We recently updated our strategy to hit ambitious goals, and I believe that strategy to be bold and right.”
In his e-mail addressed to the company, Dorsey wrote, “There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder-led.’ Ultimately, I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure. I’ve worked hard to ensure that this company can break away from its founding and founders.”
Dorsey’s resignation followed criticism of his leadership of two companies, namely Twitter and Square Inc.
While he will continue to serve on the board of Twitter to help Agrawal through the transition, he added that he would leave at the end of his term in May 2022.
“Concerned by the reports of draconian criminal laws being used to prevent media from reporting on acts of violence in the state of Tripura, the Editors Guild of India is sending a three member fact finding team to Agartala,” said a statement issued by the Guild on Sunday.
The three-member team includes Sanjay Kapoor, editor of Hard News and general secretary of the Guild, as well as editors Bharat Bhushan and Pradip Phanjoubam. The trio will meet government officials, media and members of the civil society in Tripura, the statement added.
In October, Tripura was witness to severe communal violence that was triggered by events that happened earlier the same month in Bangladesh. During Durgapuja celebrations in mid-October, communal violence had broken out in parts of Bangladesh and several pandals and Hindu temples were vandalised, resulting in the death of at least seven people. Following this, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), decided to organise a rally in Tripura, in protest. During this rally on October 26, several mosques and shops were vandalised.
Journalist Shyam Meera Singh, one of the journalists booked under UAPA, told Silverscreen India that he was booked under the stringent law for merely tweeting “Tripura is burning.”
On November 7, the Editors Guild of India had issued a statement expressing “deep shock” over Tripura Police’s action and called it an “attempt by the state government to deflect attention away from its own failure to control majoritarian violence, as well as to take action against the perpetrators.”
“This is an extremely disturbing trend, where such a harsh law, where in the process of investigation and bail applications are extremely rigorous and overbearing, is being used for merely reporting on and protesting against communal violence,” the statement read.
Stressing that governments cannot use stringent laws like UAPA to suppress reporting on such incidents and attack press freedom, the Guild demanded that the state government conduct an “objective and fair” investigation into the circumstances of the riots instead of penalising journalists and activists.
Later, two women journalists – Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha – who reported on the Tripura violence were also arrested for allegedly “maligning the image of Tripura government, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal.” They were initially detained by the Assam Police while on their way to Silchar, Assam after the Tripura Police registered multiple cases against them.
The Editors Guild of India once again condemned this move and demanded the immediate release of the two journalists. Sakunia and Jha were subsequently granted bail.
The Supreme Court, on November 19, also ordered that “no coercive action shall be taken” against Singh and two other lawyers who were booked under the UAPA.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the civic polls in Tripura bagging 217 of 222 seats in the elections held on November 25. The CPM won in three seats, while the Trinamool Congress and TIPRA Motha bagged one seat each.
The Bombay High Court, on Wednesday, rejected a plea moved by journalist Tarun Tejpal to conduct in-camera hearings in Goa government’s appeal against his acquittal in the 2013 rape case, Live Lawreported.
“For reasons to be pronounced separately, the application is hereby rejected,” the court observed orally while listing the matter for further hearing on December 6.
Tejpal, the founder and former editor-in-chief of Tehelka magazine, was accused of forcing himself on one of his junior colleagues inside an elevator of the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, Goa on November 7 and 8, 2013 during the Think 13 festival, Tehelka’s official annual event.
On November 18, 2013, the survivor filed a complaint with the magazine’s then managing editor Shoma Chaudhry, and in February 2014, the Goa Police Crime Branch filed a 2,846-page charge sheet against Tejpal.
After a trial that went on for over seven years, the Goa Sessions Court acquitted Tejpal of all charges on May 21, 2021 claiming that the survivor “did not demonstrate” rape-victim behaviour as she did not look “terrified or traumatised” enough.
Objecting to this, the State moved the Bombay High Court challenging the trial court’s acquittal, seeking amends and a retrial, mentioning that the judgement was “coloured by prejudice and patriarchy.”
Last month, when the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court heard Tejpal’s plea challenging the maintainability of the appeal against his acquittal, the Goa government pointed out that the survivor in the case was “named and shamed” before the bench. It also termed the judgment of the trial court “retrograde” and “fit for fifth century.”
During the same hearing, Tejpal’s lawyer also mentioned that they had filed a plea for in-camera hearing of the case, which the Goa government had opposed. The court had said at the time that it would hear this application later.
While Tejpal’s advocate submitted that his plea for in-camera proceedings is in consonance with the fundamental right to a fair trial, the Goa government counsel opposed and remarked that “these are interruptions and not contentions.” The latter also added that the benefit of in-camera proceedings is only available at the trial stage and not during the appellate stage.
To Tejpal’s lawyer’s argument that in-camera proceedings under the mandate of Section 327 CrPC would protect the reputation and interests of both the accused as well as the victim, the court remarked, “The Court protects the victim, the statute protects the victim. It is not your concession.”
Hend bint Faisal Al Qasim, the Emirati princess, tweeted to express her outrage after learning that Sudhir Chaudhary, editor-in-chief and CEO of Zee News, remained a panellist at an Abu Dhabi chartered accountants event despite being flagged for hate speech and Islamophobia.
On November 21, following the announcement that Chaudhary was one of the panellists at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India’s 33rd Annual International Seminar in Abu Dhabi, Qasim had tweeted, “When a criminal spews venom onto a society, that invites violence causing the burning of homes, businesses and mosques, a Muslim Holocaust is started, together with the abuse of other minorities – Dalits/Sikhs as well. Police sit & watch. I will not welcome such hate in the UAE.”
Later, in a letter to the Chairman and Managing Committee of the Abu Dhabi chapter of the organisation, around 30 members of the ICAI expressed their “disappointment and disagreement” with the decision to include “controversial” journalist Chaudhary at the event.
Alleging that he has been involved in “unprofessional journalism and criminal deeds,” the letter also cited Chaudhary’s arrest in 2012 in an extortion case filed by the Jindal group.
“UAE is known for tolerance, it accommodates people from all over the world of different faiths and culture. Should we invite an intolerant person and give scope to pollute such a beautiful feeling, that too when UAE is celebrating its 50th National Day?” the letter questioned.
Qasim had taken to Twitter later on November 21 to announce that Chaudhary had been dropped from the panel following the objections raised by her and the ICAI members.
However, despite being accused of “manufacturing and spreading fake news, Islamophobia and communal hatred, and doctoring tapes,” ICAI’s website still displays Chaudhary’s name in the list of speakers at its 33rd Annual International Seminar held on Thursday and Friday.
This has greatly angered Qasim, who took to Twitter on Thursday and tweeted, “Even if Sudhir Chaudhry comes, this has opened the eyes of the UAE community that there is a devious plot going on. Thank you for showing your true colours Neeraj Ritola (Chairman, ICAI Abu Dhabi Chapter). The Emiratis will not be quiet from now on and we look forward to erasing such sensitive positions forever. “
She added in Arabic, “We look forward to erasing and replacing these positions with Emirati citizens only.”
She further tweeted, “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned, the flood gates are open now. Let’s sit and watch the fall of the titans. What took you decades in creating, my people will replace and learn. We don’t need to burn our fingers to know that fire burns. Vengeance is a dish best served cold.”
Referring to Ritola, Qasim also wrote, “He lives and works in the Emirates, but forgets to respect the religion and culture of the country by inviting an IslamophobeSudhir Chaudhry to our capital Abu Dhabi.“
The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has directed the Indian broadcasting channels Zee News, Times Now and News Nation to take down videos on the farmers’ protest against the Farm Bills and the 2020 Delhi riots, among others.
In separate orders passed earlier this month and made available recently, the body, formerly known as NBSA, has asked the channels to remove the respective videos from all platforms within seven days citing that they are in violation of the Code of Ethics and NBSA Guidelines.
On January 25, a complaint was registered about two programmes that aired on Zee News related to the farmer’s protest titled Taal Thok Ke: Khalistan se kab avdhaan hoga kisaan (When will the farmers be aware of Khalistan) and Taal Thok Ke: Nahi mane kisan toh kya Republic Day par hoga grihayudh? (If the farmers do not agree then will there be a civil war on Republic Day) on January 19 and 20, respectively.
According to the complaint, these programmes violated several NBSA guidelines, including not reporting to sensationalise or create panic, distress or undue fear among viewers; ensuring facts are clearly distinguishable from opinion, analysis and comment; and providing balanced reportage by remaining neutral and ensuring that diverse views are covered, especially on a controversial subject, without giving undue prominence to any particular view.
The complaint further mentioned that unverified videos from social media, of tractors with modifications, were aired in both the programmes and that the anchor mentioned that these tractors belonged to the protesting farmers and were being readied for the January 26 tractor rally. The videos were later fact checked by multiple agencies, the complaint stated, and the broadcaster is yet to apologise for misleading viewers.
The complaint also pointed out almost 40 headlines and statements made by the anchor in the above-mentioned programmes alleging they showed a clear bias against the protesting farmers. Further, throughout the programme, the anchor called the farmers “the biggest patriots and the annadaataas (meal provider), in order to hide the malicious attempt to link the Farmers’ protest with Khalistan movement,” the complaint added.
Another complaint was registered a few days later, on January 29, against a programme aired by Zee News on January 26 titled Farmer Protesters Violence: Desh ka jhanda hatakar Red Fort par pradarshankariyon ne apna jhanda lehraya (Protesters removed the national flag and hoisted their own flag on the Red Fort).
Stating that the anchor repeatedly said that a protesting farmer removed and threw the national flag from the Red Fort and hoisted the Khalsa flag in its place, the complainant alleged that the information was inaccurate as it is visible from the video footage that the flag thrown away was not the national flag. Noting that the misinformation shared by the anchor was also debunked by several news media outlets, the complaint added that it was a violation of the NBSA’s Code of Ethics related to accuracy.
On November 5, 2020, a complaint was also filed against Zee News CEO and editor in chief Sudhir Chaudhary for expressing his opinion about the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG), a group of former officers of the All India and Central Services, and addressing the group using the word ‘gang’ with a negative connotation. Further, he had inaccurately stated that CCG was trying to cut the finance of news channels that broadcast “the truth,” when in fact, the open letter only urged advertisers to stop funding channels that spread hatred and communal disharmony, the complaint added.
Chaudhary also inaccurately reported that “opposing extremism that has spread in Islam is seen by the CCG as hatred towards the Muslim community,” the complaint said.
The NBDSA noted that the programme “lacked impartiality, and the name-calling and mudslinging by the anchor also offended the standards of good taste and decency.”
Directing the channel to take down all the videos in question, the broadcasting authority also stated that there was “need for introspection on the part of the broadcaster” and added that the channel should take “remedial actions/measures against anchors who fail to remain neutral and impartial during broadcasts.”
Broadcasters should exercise due care and caution while reporting any news pertaining to any religious symbol/flag and follow the Fundamental Principles of the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards, the NBDSA further added.
Photo Source: The farmers marching to Delhi Provided by eMail from Randeep Maddoke (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2020_Indian_farmers%27_protest_-_sitting_protest.jpg)
Times Now
In a complaint registered on September 18, 2020, Rahul Shivshankar, anchor of the Times Now primetime show India Upfront, was accused of violating multiple guidelines of the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards as well as the Specific Guidelines on episode 1086 of the show that aired on September 14, 2020, titled Shocking Secret admission out in Umar’s arrest: Does left lobby know the truth? Delhi riots key witness intimidated, threat linked to kingpin?
Alleging that the channel had not covered the Delhi riots in a fact-based manner, the complaint stated that it had selectively chosen to filter information regarding the anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protestors “to unduly influence socio-political narratives.” It further alleged that the channel’s reportage was done to target a community that is critical of the Delhi Police’s investigation and project them and their critique in a negative light, which hinders the right of the viewer to have a fact-based view on the matter.
The NBDSA observed that the anchor did not conduct the debates in an impartial and objective manner and that any programme should avoid pushing any agenda in the debate and should conduct a debate in a fair manner. It also directed the channel to take down videos of the show.
Photo Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rioters_of_Delhi_Violance.jpg via https://scroll.in/latest/963718/delhi-violence-anti-caa-protestors-at-jafrabad-forced-other-community-to-raise-voice-say-police
News Nation
A complaint by the Citizens for Justice and Peace was filed in November 2020 against a News Nation programme titled Dharmantar Jihad, which aired on November 6, 2020. It alleged that the anchor spoke about ‘Conversion Jihad’, a term invented by the broadcaster, on national television, and then also uploaded clips of it on his Twitter account.
According to the complaint, the programme reported that a family from Mewat, Rajasthan had been forced to convert their religion, consume cow meat, and were threatened by Tablighi Jamaat members. The anchor further claimed to have exposed a conspiracy to “completely wash away Hindus of India.”
Further, the complaint alleged that the anchor also called Maulana Syed-ul Qadri in the show and had referred to him as a “jhoot ki factory” (factory of lies). It also allegedthat the anchor had blatantly allowed hate speech in the show and provided a platform for a panellist representing the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to propagate Islamophobic ideas.
The NBDSA observed that the statements made by the anchor and the captions ‘Memchand zinda hai Jamaat sharminda hai‘, ‘500- Hindu kaise banaye Muslim?‘ and ‘Kya Mewat Pakistan ban gaya?‘ used in the programme violated its guidelines. While the channel had apologised in case the programme hurt the sentiments of the members of a particular community, ithadfailedtosubmitanyspecificreplytothegrievancesofthecomplainant. Thus, the NBDSA ruled that the videos in question must be removed within seven days.
Newslaundry, the media watchdog, agreed on Tuesday to take down its video commentary on the ongoing defamation and copyright infringement suit filed against it by TV Today Network.
The digital publication also said it would desist from offering any comment or critique and would instead simply report on the court proceedings.
Newslaundry made this submission before the Delhi High Court after the counsel for TV Today informed the court that the online portal has been publishing video commentary on the court proceedings in the lawsuit.
The TV Today Network, which owns the news channels India Today and Aaj Tak, had filed the suit against Newslaundry seeking Rs 2 crore damages for copyright infringement and defamation of its anchors, employees, and management.
Seeking permanent and mandatory injunction against Newslaundry, its CEO Abhinandan Sekhri, its correspondent Ayush Tiwari, and others, TV Today alleged that the publication had uploaded several videos on its website and social media platforms which made “unfair, untrue and disparaging defamatory remarks” about TV Today‘s anchors as well as the management.
In a series of tweets, Tiwary mentioned two of the articles in question.
“This was the first story. This January, after Sardesai was penalised for flawed reporting on farmer protests, I had argued why India Today should extend same standards to other less-than-stellar anchors. In court, India Today claims the article is ‘vicious’,” wrote Tiwary.
Sharing the second article, Tiwary wrote that in it, he had “scrutinised a hate-filled segment by anchor Gaurav Sawant, calling him a ‘known culprit in the fake news department’, backing the claim with multiple sources.”
In its suit, in addition to commercial disparagement and defamation, TV Today has also alleged copyright infringement over videos published by Newslaundry that allegedly show TV Today‘s programs as is.
Photo Source: A screenshot from Newslaundry’s Instagram page
During Tuesday’s hearing, the complainant informed the court that Newslaundry has now been making videos on the suit proceedings. Taking strong exception to this, the court asked the publication to not indulge in “parallel proceedings.”
On Newlaundry‘s argument of freedom of speech, the court said, “One cannot be allowed to harm another’s reputation under the garb of freedom of speech. Commenting doesn’t really add information.”
However, Newslaundry is free to report the court proceedings in a “fair and transparent” manner, the court added.
Newslaundry has been posting several parody videos on the ongoing copyright issue on Instagram since its YouTube channel has been temporarily blocked after the India Today group and Aaj Tak made over 50 copyright claims.
Danny Fenster, an American journalist and the Managing Editor of Frontier Myanmar, who was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment a few days ago has on Monday been released and is on his way back home, announced former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson.
“This is the day that you hope will come when you do this work. We are so grateful that Danny will finally be able to reconnect with his loved ones, who have been advocating for him all this time, against immense odds,” said Richardson.
He further added, “Danny’s release was secured following a private humanitarian visit by Governor Richardson to Myanmar and face-to-face negotiations with General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s Commander in Chief”.
Thanking the Qatar government, Richardson informed that Fenster along with the Richardson team will be making their journey through Qatar over the next day and a half.
Fenster was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment by a Myanmar junta court on November 12 on charges of unlawful association, incitement against the military and breaching visa rules, Frotier Myanmar had reported.
As per the media outlet, the journalist was arrested back in May when he tried to leave the country to see his family and had ever since been held in Yangon’s Insein prison since. He also faced charges of sedition and terrorism. He is also currently facing two additional charges under the Counter-Terrorism Law and section 124(a) of the Penal Code that will be heard separately.
Based on allegations that at the time of his arrest, Fenster had been working at a local outlet, Myanmar Now, which had its licence revoked shortly after the military coup in the country in February. This is when he was sentenced. As per Frontier Myanmar, Fenster had resigned from Myanmar Now in July 2020 and joined Frontier Myanmar the following month, “so by his arrest in May 2021 he had been working with Frontier for nine months”.
The court “disregarded a significant amount of evidence of his employment at Frontier, including tax and social security records and testimony from a Frontier employee,” according to the Frontier Myanmar.
In the aftermath of the general elections in November 2020, Myanmar saw the detention of Kyi and President Win Myint with a military coup. This is despite the elections seeing a landslide victory for the National League for Democrary party (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi over military’s proxy party the Union Solidarity and Development Party which the army claimed to be fraudulent.
This resulted in internet disruption across the country and the information ministry blocked Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under military control. Journalists and activists staged widespread protest against Kyi’s detention in several cities and almost 400 elected members of parliament were placed under house arrest. A large-scale media crackdown also took place.
Restricting the press freedom in the country several new reforms were introduced that led to the arrest of as many as 98 journalists in the past six months with 31 still in detention and suspension of licenses of several media outlets.
Photo Source: Protest against military coup in front of Kayin State Hluttaw By Ninjastrikers Licensed Under CCA SA 4.0 International
“Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family,” Frontier Myanmar said in a statement.
Myanmar is ranked 140 out of 180 in press freedom index 2021, as per the data released by the RSF.
An FIR has been filed against actor Shilpa Shetty, her husband Raj Kundra, and Kaashif Khan, the director of a fitness company called SLF Private Limited on Saturday at the Bandra police station.
The police have registered the FIR under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including sections 420 (Cheating), 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), 506 (Criminal Intimidation), and 34 (Common Intention).
According to a report by India Today, the complainant is Nitin Barai, a Pune-based businessman, who alleged that in July 2014, the accused had encouraged him to invest Rs 1.51 crores in SFL Fitness. He claimed that he had invested in the company after it was promised that they will provide him a franchise and open a gym and a spa in Pune.
However, when it did not materialise, he asked for his money back but was allegedly threatened.
The police have said that an investigation is underway. According to a report by The Hindustan Times, an officer said, “We have registered a case on the complaint of Barai and have also recorded his full statement. We are now investigating the case and verifying all the documents and bank statements.”
This is not the first time that Raj Kundra has been caught in a controversy. In July, the businessman was arrested in an ongoing pornography case for being the “key conspirator”. He was accused of making porn films under the pretext of producing short films for OTT platforms and distributing them on multiple apps.
Many actors have also filed cases against him. Poonam Pandey moved the Bombay High Court in 2020 to file a case against Kundra and his associates for illegally using her content and circulating her number on her app.
Actor Sherlyn Chopra filed a complaint against Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra alleging that she was a victim of fraud and mental harassment. In response, the couple filed a defamation suit against her.
Jai Bhimhas surpassed the 1994 drama film The Shawshank Redemption to become the highest-rated movie on IMDB. Starring Suriya, Lijomol Jose, Rajisha Vijayan, and Prakash Raj, the film has a rating of 9.6/10 on the site with over 82,000 votes. The Shawshank Redemption has over 2.3 million votes.
On the IMDB site, the Suriya starrer has been rated 10 by over 72,000 users while 4,315 others have given it a rating of 9. However, 3.9% of the film website’s users gave it a poor rating.
The movie is currently on top of IMDB’s Top 1,000 list with The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather occupying second and third place respectively. Interestingly, Suriya’s Soorarai Pottru has also been featured on the list. It is at number four while Sardar Udhamoccupies fifth place.
While Jai Bhim has received positive reviews from critics, the film has attracted several controversies ever since its release in November.
Similarly, Anbumani Ramdoss, the leader of the political party Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) released a four-page statement questioning why the film had depicted the Vanniyar community in a bad light. Suriya responded to the allegations by saying that the maker’s intention was not to hurt any individual or community.
Earlier, a scene showcasing Prakash Raj’s character slapping someone for speaking in Hindi also created a stir. Many Hindi-speaking people took to social media and accused the film of creating hatred for the Hindi language. Responding to this, Prakash Raj said, “After watching a film like Jai Bhim, they did not see the agony of the tribal people, they did not see and feel terrible about the injustice, they saw only the slap. That is all they understood; this exposes their agenda”.
Meta, Facebook‘s recently renamed mother company, released data on the prevalence of bullying and harassment on both Facebook and Instagram. They divulged information about prevalence metrics for hate speech on Instagram and all metrics for violence and incitement.
Facebook’s Community Standards Enforcement Report released during its third quarter in 2021 stated that Facebook users saw bullying or harassment around 14 or 15 times out of every 10,000 views of content on the app between July and September. Instagram users viewed such content between five and six times out of every 10,000 in the same period.
The company added that it removed 9.2 million pieces of bullying and harassment content from Facebook, and 7.8 million pieces of bullying and harassment content on Instagram.
Meta defines bullying and harassment as personal in nature. It “shows up in different ways for different people, from making threats to make personally identifiable information public, to making repeated and unwanted contact”.
Vice President Guy Rosen during a recorded audio conference, called it a unique policy area and said that identification of bullying and harassment requires context just like hate speech.
He added, “It’s very difficult to know what is a bullying post or comment and what is perhaps a light hearted joke without knowing the people involved or the nuance of the situation. That’s why in some cases we will require a user report from those who may experience this behavior in order to even remove something which means we may not take action proactively in those cases.”
The company has also deployed a tool of adding warning screens on both Facebook and Instagram “to educate and discourage people from posting or commenting in ways that could be bullying and harassment,” according to its official statement.
The new policies come in the backdrop of allegations against Facebook and its family of apps for prioritising profits over user safety and allowing the spread of hate speech and fake news in countries like India and Myanmar, among others.
In October, two former Facebook employees came out as whistleblowers. They shared leaked information which said that Facebook made profit off content that made people angry, and in turn increased user engagement through its family of apps including Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram. In addition to this, it failed to flag-off hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts- particularly anti-Muslim content- in India, despite being made aware through internal research, according to leaked documents acquired by a consortium of international media houses.
Facebook is also said to have changed its algorithm and dissolved civic integrity post the 2020 US Presidential elections according to the first whistleblower Frances Haugen. The documents that she submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in September, further stated that Facebook’s Public Policy Team defended a “white list” that safeguarded members of the elite community from ordinary rules.
Thus, Facebook announced in October that the new technologies being developed by the company will be done with the involvement of human rights and civil rights communities to ensure that they are built in a way that is inclusive.
Zuckerberg added that the company will be more transparent regarding what data is collected and how and when it is utilised. It will provide easy-to-use safety controls and parental guidance mechanisms.
A former British Royal family aide has said that Meghan Markle was meticulous in her word choice when writing a letter to her father in 2019, as she was aware of the possibility of it being leaked to the media, according to a Reutersreport.
“She asked me to review the text of the letter, saying, ‘Obviously, everything I have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked so I have been meticulous in my word choice, but please do let me know if anything stands out for you as a liability,'” Jason Knauf, the former communications chief, noted in a witness statement to London’s Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
The Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the UK tabloid that published the letters Markle wrote to her father in 2019, appealed against a ruling in favour of the Duchess of Sussex’s copyright claims, on Tuesday. The publication claimed that the “letter was crafted specifically with the possibility of public consumption in mind, because the claimant appreciated Mr Markle might disclose it to the media.”
The Mail‘s lawyer also cited text messages sent from Meghan to Knauf which said she had decided to use the word “Daddy” to begin the letter because it “would pull at the heartstrings.” The messages allegedly also said that if her father leaked the letter, then it would be on his conscience, “but at least the world will know the truth.”
Markle had written the letter a few months after her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018.
In 2020, Prince Harry and Markle filed a lawsuit against TheMail On Sunday, managed by the ANL, for the misuse of her private information and breach of copyright. They won the privacy claim in February, and Markle later won the copyright claim in May.
However, The Mail, on Tuesday, said that “the judge should not have treated the letter as an ‘intimate communication’ between Meghan and her father, and had reached wrong conclusions on other issues.”
The duchess’ lawyers said that the appeal would allow further invasion of privacy while The Mail would profit from the “media circus that would inevitably result.”
Both Markle and Prince Harry stepped down from their responsibilities as senior working members of the British Royal family to settle in the US. In an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March, they spoke about the “deteriorating mental health” of Markle and about the Royal family’s refusal to help her.
Relations between the couple and the British tabloid media soured after the latter’s harsh comments on Markle’s biracial roots despite Prince Harry’s constant requests to refrain from doing so.
The Allahabad High Court has granted interim protection from arrest to Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire, and reporter Ismat Ara in the FIR registered against them for reporting on the death of a protesting farmer during the violence that broke out in New Delhi on January 26, reported Live Law.
Severe violence had broken out on Republic Day during a rally by thousands of farmers, who were protesting the Farm Bills 2020, when they deviated from the permitted rally route, broke barricades and entered the capital city to storm the Red Fort. In the ensuing confrontation with the police, one of the farmers (Navreet Singh) was killed, while several others as well as some policemen were left injured.
Following the incident, Ara wrote a story, that was tweeted by both herself and Varadarajan, in which the deceased farmer’s grandfather Hardeep Singh Dibdibiya had allegedly said that one of the doctors conducting a post-mortem on his grandson had informed him that he had died from a bullet wound.
Later, the Rampur police had tweeted a statement, according to which, the doctors involved in Navreet Singh’s post-mortem had denied speaking “to the media or any other person” or providing any such information.
Claiming that The Wire report “mislead people” and that the article led to anger among the common people in the area and gave rise to tension, an FIR was registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police based on a complaint by a Rampur resident named Sanju Turaiha, under sections 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505(2) (statements creating or promoting enmity between classes) of the Indian Penal Code.
On September 8, the Supreme Court had asked the publication, along with three of its reporters, to approach the High Court for quashing the FIR registered against them for the news reports published them on the issue, including the article tweeted by Varadarajan and Ara. The Supreme Court also granted them two months protection from arrest and had said, “We are aware of fundamental rights and don’t want freedom of the press to be muzzled.”
Following this, Varadarajan and Ara had moved the Allahabad High Court seeking to quash the FIR and the court has now granted them interim protection. The court has also called for a counter-affidavit from the Uttar Pradesh government in the case within three weeks.
Frances Haugen, an ex-employee of Facebook who revealed herself as the whistle-blower who leaked information to the media that showed that the social media giant prioritized profits over user safety, urged the social networking giant’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to step down and allow change rather than devoting resources to a rebrand, as per a Reutersreport.
“I think it is unlikely the company will change if [Mark Zuckerberg] remains the CEO,” said Haugen on Monday, in her first public appearance since the leak, at the opening night of the tech fest Web Summit at Lisbon.
The former product manager of Facebook added, “Maybe it’s a chance for someone else to take the reins… Facebook would be stronger with someone who was willing to focus on safety.”
Last week on October 28, Facebook announced the change of its corporate name to ‘Meta’ while leaving the name of its apps, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, unchanged. As Zuckerberg puts it, Meta (formerly Facebook) plans to build a ‘metaverse’ to give people an experience of Virtual and Augmented Reality where they can be present with another person who is not physically present.
The announcement of rebranding came amidst the negativeattention that the social networking giant has beengetting over the last few months regarding unwarranted data collection and lax policies to control hate speeches.
With the leaked documents, Haugen accused the social media giant of putting monetary gains over user safety and pointed out that the social media giant was “optimizing content that generated engagement,” turning a blind eye to the hate speech caused by its platforms, including Instagram.
At the time, Zuckerberg had rubbished Haugen’s allegations and said, “At the most basic level, I think most of us just don’t recognize the false picture of the company that is being painted.”
The company also announced a two-year $50 million investment in global research programs partnering with organisations across the world such as Harvard University.
During the announcement, Zuckerberg mentioned that the new technologies being developed by the company will be done with the involvement of human rights and civil rights communities to ensure that they are built in a way that is inclusive. He further mentioned that the company will be more transparent regarding what data is collected and how and when it is utilised, as well as provide easy-to-use safety controls and parental guidance mechanisms.
While commenting on the rebranding, Haugen said that it does not make any sense given security issues that are yet to be tackled.
“Over and over Facebook chooses expansion and new areas instead of sticking the landing on what they’ve already done,” said Haugen.
Further, Haugen commented, “A key problem is that the foundation of the platform’s security is based on monitoring content language by language, which does not scale to all the countries where Facebook operates.”
