Facebook blocked more items of content from its platforms in India than any other country in the first six months of this year, following requests from the South Asian nation’s government. The world’s largest social network said Wednesday in its latest report on government data requests that from January to June this year, it granted requests from authorities in India for some 15,155 pieces of content to be blocked on the platform, its WhatsApp and Messenger apps and its photo-sharing app, Instagram. That was more than triple the 4,960 items that were restricted in India during the same period last year,…
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Facebook Inc. founder, Mark Zuckerberg, on Monday fired another salvo in the company’s marketing blitz for its controversial Free Basics Internet service that has faced opposition in India, home to the world’s largest offline population. In an opinion piece published in the Times of India, the country’s biggest-selling English-language daily, Mr. Zuckerberg defended his company’s Free Basics service, which provides free, but limited, Internet access. He compared Free Basics to a library—which houses only a selection of books—as well as to public healthcare and education. Advertisement More In Facebook “Everyone also deserves access to the tools and information that can…
Irrespective of Facebook’s Free Basics, India’s internet user-base is already growing at a healthy clip after reaching 400 million users this month, and is expected to grow at a much faster pace next year. Nilotpal Chakravarti, associate vice president (AVP), Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), said India did not need programmes like Free Basics to improve its internet connectivity in India. He said it was growing at robust pace without it. “All this while, we have been growing at a fast pace without a programme like Free Basics, I don’t see any reason why we would need such…
The reality television star’s latest venture is an app of emojis LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images Kim Kardashian-West may have just achieved what she’s always wanted to do: break the internet. The phrase, famously coined when Paper magazine used it as a headline alongside a bare-bottomed cover of Kardashian-West, could now be seen as a having a semblance of truth after she appeared to claim her latest tech venture crashed Apple’s App Store. Kimoji – a series of emojis illustrating things relevant to the reality television star’s life – has already become the most popular downloaded app 24 hours after being released. In a series of…
BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhuanet) — A number of Chinese companies have quit the cutthroat online auto services market due to financial failures. According to a China Business News report on Dec 16, the main office for Bopai (Beijing) Automotive Technology Service Co’s in Beijing has closed. Its three major investors－JD.com, the popular Chinese online marketplace; BitAuto, a provider of Internet content and services for China’s auto industry; and Innovation Works, the venture capital fund established by Lee Kai-fu－had no comment or would not accept requests for an interview. Bopai is an online provider for auto maintenance services and was valued…
By Roshni Nair Date published: Sunday, 27 December 2015 – 6:45am IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: dna Roshni Nair rounds up 15 of this year’s best. From breadstick-jammed purses and a rapping pope to Photoshop Sarkar and Left Shark, the internet, as always, gave us sidesplitting memes that we’ll remember well into 2016. 1. Netflix and Chill ‘Netflix and Chill’ – code for hooking up on the pretext of a Netflix movie night– blew up the internet up in 2015, but its genesis was in November ’14, when Twitter user Start3rPack posted images of his pyjamas, socks, a white tee,…
CAPE ARGUSVictor Dlamini is more than a public relations guru, he is also a photographer, fashion designer and art collector. Picture: David RitchieVictor Dlamini is well qualified to pass judgement on the behaviour of corporate South Africa, on social media and elsewhere, writes Gasant Abarder. When most people are sleeping in on a Sunday, attending a church service or preparing lunch, Victor Dlamini has his own ritual. He brews a fresh pot of coffee, perches on his couch and fires up his laptop. His poison: Twitter. You see, Victor is something of royalty among the Twitterati and one of the…
Not since #TheDress has a picture driven the Internet so crazy. Somewhere hidden in this sea of snowmen is a panda — can you spot it? The Hungarian comic artist Gergely Dudás, who also goes by the pen name Dudolf, posted the illustration on Facebook and hysteria quickly ensued. GERGELY DUDÁS The post has earned tens of thousands of likes and shares, worldwide media attention, and many, many online comments — both aggravated and delighted. “Been looking for 15 mins still can’t find it lol,” one Facebook user wrote. “There is no panda but it was nice,” said another, who…
Before there was Amy Schumer, Jenny Slate, or Lena Dunham, there was Lily Tomlin: the original badass comedian on the front line of feminism. Lily stared alongside Dolly Parton in ‘9 to 5’, in Robert Altman’s ‘Nashville’, with Bette Midler in ‘Big Business’ and in all of my favourite TV shows – from the ‘West Wing’ to ‘Will & Grace’. In short: she is one of my great on-screen heroes. This week she returns to the big screen in indie-hit comedy Grandma – a story about, you guessed it, a grandmother who helps her granddaughter find enough money to have an…
Every week, it seems like we’re hearing about a new social media platform: Periscope, Layout, Switch, the list goes on. But what are the new rules when it comes to savvy social media usage? And what are the essential platforms to be on, and which are just weighing you down? For the answers to these questions and more, Levo turned to Internet guru Gabriel Sands, a marketing manager at Refinery29. Like most millennials, Sands’s path to professional success is marked by a series of twists and turns. After studying critical gender theory at NYU, Sands kicked off adulthood by working…