The apex court has put on hold the Centre’s notification on setting up a fact-checking unit. Details on this and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.
Also in this letter:
■ Fishy crypto withdrawals under scanner
■ Tata Sons confirms TCS share sale
■ Neuralink brain chip patient plays chess
SC stays Centre’s fact-check unit citing impact on freedom of speech
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the notification on setting up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to identify fake news about the Union government.
The reason: A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the validity of the rule involves serious constitutional questions and impacts the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression.
Driving the news: The Centre on March 20 notified the fact-checking unit to monitor online content about the government for accuracy. The notification came days after the Bombay High Court declined a petition to restrain the Centre from notifying the unit. The petition was filed by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra and the Editors Guild of India.
Also read | Media bodies hail SC order on fact-checking unit, say govt can’t be sole arbiter of its own affairs
What does the rule say? Under the new rules, if the fact-checking unit comes across or is informed about any posts that are “fake”, “false” or contain “misleading” facts about the business of the government, it would flag it to the social media intermediaries.
These intermediaries would then have to take down such content if they wanted to retain their “safe harbour” (legal immunity against third-party content).
Also read | Top cop to head Karnataka fact-checking unit
CCI refuses to restrain Google from charging service fee on Play Store
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday dismissed an “interim relief” application by Indian internet companies against Google’s new Play Store billing policy.
CCI’s stance: In an order, the CCI held that the informant “failed to meet the necessary criteria for grant of interim relief as propounded by the Supreme Court”.
However, the CCI made it clear that last week’s order for a probe into Google’s Play Store billing policy still holds. The CCI director general, the regulator added, “shall investigate without being swayed in any manner whatsoever by the observations made herein”.
Developers’ demands: The complainants – Anupam Mittal’s People Interactive, Mebigo Labs, the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF) and the Indian Digital Media Industry Foundation (IDMIF) – had sought that CCI restrain Google from imposing any fee on app developers until the regulator reaches a final verdict on whether the big tech firm’s updated payments policy violates antitrust rules.
App firms alleged that Google’s Play Store payment policies are anti-competitive.
Catch up quick: The regulator’s decision comes amid a raft of complaints that Google’s updated payment policies on Google Play Store are allegedly in violation of the competition law.
Google had earlier removed some apps from the Play Store over payment issues and later reinstated them. The complainants alleged that the payment policies are impacting several stakeholders, including app developers, payment processors and users alike.
Also read | ETtech Explainer: Why are Indian startups up in arms against Google Billing?
Crypto bourses scrutinise fishy coin withdrawals
Indian cryptocurrency exchanges are blocking withdrawal of coins at the slightest hint of suspicion over the nature of transactions.
Driving the news: All withdrawal requests are being scanned to question the source of money and details of counterparties controlling the external wallets where the cryptos would be moved.
Withdrawal and transfer of cryptocurrencies from the wallet of an exchange to a private purse can be an easy route to launder money or perpetrate a fraud on investors lured by ponzi schemes in the wake of a bull run.
Compliance in focus: “Exchanges have to save their skin. If there is fraud or dubious fund transfers, the Enforcement Directorate would come after them and freeze their bank accounts. So exchanges are adding new layers that make withdrawals tougher. Stalling suspicious withdrawals is essentially to mitigate that risk,” said an official.
Verification process: If coins are sent to an already known and previously verified wallet, the process is comparatively simpler. But if the transfer is to an unknown wallet, additional steps are followed. Once all the details are shared, the withdrawal request is reviewed for verification.
Bitcoin high: Bitcoin is up 6.2% at $66,848 in the last 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap data.
As per Goldman Sachs’ head of digital assets Mathew McDermott, the recent surge in cryptocurrency prices has been driven by retail investors, but institutions are starting to join in.
Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, hit a new all-time high of $73,794 last week and has gained 50% so far this year, pulling other crypto prices along with it.
Tata Sons confirms selling 2.34 crore shares of TCS in block deal
Tata Sons on Thursday confirmed selling nearly 2.34 crore shares of India’s largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in a block deal worth Rs 9,000 crore. With this deal, its stake in the IT services major has now fallen from 72.38% to 71.74%.
Why the sale? While the conglomerate has not commented on the rationale behind this move, there could be a few reasons for it.
- Tata Sons can use the deal proceeds for its new businesses like semiconductors
- The cash can be used to pare some of Tata Sons’ debt. Its FY23 balance sheet shows borrowings of nearly Rs 20,270 crore
- Debt reduction could also help the company dodge an IPO. Why is it avoiding a listing? Read here.
Stock impact: This deal may be small in percentage equity terms but it is large in size. The impact of this large deal has been negative on the stock as it fell 4% on Tuesday and is now down about 7% from Monday’s high. It closed 0.09% lower on Thursday at Rs 3,974.05 on the BSE.
Source: BSE
Expert take: “I think it is a routine booking of profit or reducing stake and they would be using that capital for extraneous purposes, maybe shoring up capital in other stocks or as their philanthropic causes do exceedingly well,” market veteran Sanjiv Bhasin told ET.
Neuralink’s first brain chip patient plays chess with his mind
Noland Arbaugh, paralysed below the shoulder after a diving accident eight years ago, is now in the news for playing online chess, using his mind to operate the computer mouse. This is due to the Neuralink chip implanted in the 29-year-old’s brain.
What’s the news? Elon Musk’s brain chip startup Neuralink on Wednesday live-streamed on X its first human patient playing a computer chess game, controlling it with his mind alone.
The chip was surgically implanted in Arbaugh in January, as the company tests its brain implant technology for “people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts.”
Reposting the video, Musk said, “Livestream of @Neuralink demonstrating “Telepathy” – controlling a computer and playing video games just by thinking.”
From the horse’s mouth: Talking about the computer games, Arbaugh said he had given up playing altogether. “You all (Neuralink) gave me the ability to do that again and (I) played for 8 hours straight.”
In the live stream, the patient also said the surgery to implant the chip was “super easy”. “I literally was released from the hospital a day later. I have no cognitive impairments,” Arbaugh said, while admitting that the new tech isn’t without its challenges.
Also read | Neuralink has put its first chip in a human brain—What could possibly go wrong?
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Megha Mishra in Mumbai.
