Islamabad:

A Pakistan High Court on Wednesday said the government must restore social media platform X within one week, a lawyer said, after more than two months of disruption ordered by the interior ministry.

The platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been rarely accessible since February 17, when jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party called for protests against a government official’s admission of vote manipulation in February’s election.

Pakistan’s communications authority later admitted in court papers that it was ordered by the Interior Ministry to shut down the site.

“The Sindh High Court has given the government one week to withdraw the letter, failing which, on the next date, they will pass appropriate orders,” Moiz Jaaferi, a lawyer challenging the ban, told AFP.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Since last Saturday, X (formerly Twitter) has been flooded with the viral “Click Here” trend, catching everyone’s attention. While many have been joining the bandwagon of this buzzing trend, numerous others remain puzzled about the new feature.

Notably, major political parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and Congress have also actively engaged in the trend through their official X pages.

What is the “Click Here” trend all about?

This new trend has thousands of users sharing images featuring a stark white backdrop with the bold, black declaration “Click here” emblazoned across it.

The text is accompanied by a diagonally downward arrow, pointing to “ALT” text or alternative text on the bottom left corner of the picture.

The “ALT” text is a feature by X that helps its users add descriptions to the photos that they share on the platform.

Let us take a look at a few examples:

pic.twitter.com/XBeO9LgZYT

— BJP (@BJP4India) March 30, 2024

pic.twitter.com/784LgcFME6

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 28, 2024

pic.twitter.com/sxjarDNUgU

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) March 30, 2024

Some users also confessed that they were unable to understand this trend. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi wrote, “What is the click here pic story? My timeline is full of it!”

What is the click here pic story.? My timeline is full of it!

— Priyanka Chaturvedi???????? (@priyankac19) March 30, 2024

What is the use of the feature and why Twitter created it?

The Click Here feature is meant to help visually impaired users understand the image better, with the help of text-to-speech recognition and Braille language.

The “ALT” text was introduced by the platform back in 2016 when the social media company was still known as Twitter.

Announcing the feature Twitter in its blog, in 2016, stated, “Photos have been at the center of some of the biggest moments on Twitter. As a core part of the Twitter experience, it’s important that images shared on our platform are accessible to everyone, including those who are visually impaired.”

It added, “Starting today, people using our iOS and Android apps can add descriptions — also known as alternative text (alt text) — to images in Tweets. With this update, we’re empowering everyone to ensure content shared on Twitter is accessible to the widest possible audience.”

“The Alt text is supposed to contain a textual description of what the image contains, to help the visually impaired people understand what the image is about. So, using that text for anything else is a misuse of that feature and goes against web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG),” a user, wrote while explaining the feature.

Apologise! I’ve just deleted this tweet as I wasn’t aware that the feature was meant for people who are visually impaired.
The Alt text is supposed to contain a textual description of what the image contains, to help the visually impaired people understand what the image is… pic.twitter.com/I7DjYiqbnh

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 30, 2024

How to use this feature?

The blog post also explained that this feature can be enabled by using “the compose image descriptions option” in the app.

The statement continued, “Enable this feature by using the compose image descriptions option in the Twitter app’s accessibility settings. The next time you add an image to a Tweet, each thumbnail in the composer will have an add description button. Tap it to add a description to the image. People who are visually impaired will have access to the description via their assistive technology (e.g., screen readers and braille displays). Descriptions can be up to 420 characters.”

Billionaire Elon Musk’s platform X, which was formerly known as Twitter, is now valued at less than half of what he purchased it for, a year ago. Mr Musk has earlier acknowledged that he had overpaid for Twitter, which he bought for $44 billion, including $33.5 billion in equity. Now, the current value of the company is at $19 billion, almost 55 per cent less than half of what he spent on the social media platform, as per the New York Times. 

The documentation pertaining to the recent stock awards said that X would be providing the equity at a price of $45 per share, with employees able to accumulate restricted stock units over time. According to the company, employees who were issued shares under the previous management would still receive cash payments totalling $54.20 for those shares. However, it is unclear why the share price has not decreased by the same percentage as the company’s worth.

In March this year, Mr Musk told the employees at the company that he believed the company was worth $20 billion and labelled it “an inverse start-up.”

Since taking over Twitter a year ago, Mr Musk has completely redesigned both the business and the social media network. He laid off around 7,500 employees across the globe. Later, modified the content-moderation guidelines and introduced the paid verification procedure. Moreover, advertising, which is a major source of revenue for the company, saw a major drop which caused the cash flow to remain negative in August 2023 with a heavy debt load.

However, the billionaire remains optimistic towards the company’s growth strategy and transforming it into an “everything app”. In a meeting organised on the first anniversary of the acquisition, Mr Musk said, “We’re rapidly transforming the company from sort of what it was, Twitter 1.0, to the everything app with an all-inclusive feature app where you can basically do anything you want on our system. He also spoke about including new features to the microblogging site including dating service.

Although the new owner and CEO Linda Yaccarino were physically absent from the company headquarters, both showered praise on the employees for aiding with the rebranding of the company and launching new features including a revenue share program for the creators, video calls in direct messages and improved live streaming quality.

New Delhi:

The government has issued notices to social media platforms X, formerly Twitter, YouTube, and Telegram to remove child sexual abuse material from their platforms in India, an official statement said on Friday. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajiv Chandrasekhar said if social media intermediaries do not act swiftly, their safe harbour under section 79 of the IT Act would be withdrawn, implying that the platforms can be directly prosecuted under the applicable laws and rules even though the content may have not been uploaded by them.

“Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued notices to social media intermediaries X, YouTube, and Telegram, warning them to remove Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) from their platforms on the Indian internet.

“The notices served to these platforms emphasize the importance of prompt and permanent removal or disabling of access to any CSAM on their platforms,” the statement said.

The notices also call for the implementation of proactive measures, such as content moderation algorithms and reporting mechanisms, to prevent the dissemination of CSAM in the future.

“We have sent notices to X, YouTube, and Telegram to ensure there is no Child Sexual Abuse Material that exists on their platforms. The government is determined to build a safe and trusted internet under the IT rules.

“If they do not act swiftly, their safe harbour under section 79 of the IT Act would be withdrawn and consequences under the Indian law will follow,” Mr Chandrasekhar said.

The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, provides the legal framework for addressing pornographic content, including CSAM. Sections 66E, 67, 67A, and 67B of the IT Act impose stringent penalties and fines for the online transmission of obscene or pornographic content, the statement said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Elon Musk was ordered by a US judge to face most of a lawsuit claiming he defrauded former Twitter shareholders. (File)
| Photo Credit: AP

Elon Musk was ordered by a US judge to face most of a lawsuit claiming he defrauded former Twitter shareholders last year by waiting too long to disclose that he had invested in the social media company, which he later bought and renamed X.

In a decision made public on Monday, US District Judge Andrew Carter said shareholders in the proposed class action could try to prove that Musk intended to defraud them by waiting 11 days past a US Securities and Exchange Commission deadline to reveal he had bought 5% of Twitter’s shares.

The judge in Manhattan also dismissed an insider trading claim against Musk, the world’s richest person. Lawyers for Musk did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment.

Shareholders led by an Oklahoma firefighters pension fund said Musk saved more than $200 million by adding to his Twitter stake, and quietly talking with its executives about his plans, before finally disclosing a 9.2% stake in April 2022.

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The shareholders also said they sold Twitter shares at artificially low prices because Musk hid what he was doing. Musk’s lawyers argued that their client was “one of the busiest people on the planet,” and that any disclosure failure was “inadvertent.”

Carter said he could not infer that Musk was “too busy” to comply with SEC rules if he could find time to buy Twitter shares, meet with company executives, and post online about Twitter.

He also found evidence that Musk understood the 5% disclosure rule, including that he had testified about it under oath, and had properly disclosed stakes in his electric car maker Tesla and the former SolarCity at least 20 times.

Katie Sinderson, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, declined to comment. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October. Under the SEC rule, investors have 10 days to disclose when they have acquired 5% of a company.

Twitter shares rose 27% on April 4, 2022, to $49.97 from $39.31, after Musk revealed his 9.2% stake. Musk’s takeover valued Twitter at $54.20 per share.

The case is Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System v. Musk et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-03026.

New Delhi:

Social media platform X’s head of policy for India and South Asia, Samiran Gupta, has resigned, two sources said, a top departure that comes ahead of India elections and as the company fights a court battle with New Delhi over content removal. Mr Gupta was the most senior India employee for X, formerly known as Twitter, and responsible for “key content-related policy issues” and “defending Twitter’s position with new policy developments and support in-country sales organization,” according to his LinkedIn profile.

Mr Gupta, who was designated as X’s Head of Global Government Affairs for India and South Asia, declined to comment to Reuters. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Gupta’s tenure at X ended in September, according to his LinkedIn profile, which said he “enabled transition leadership for Twitter post acquisition by Elon Musk led X-Corp.”

He had joined the company in February, 2022, eight months before Mr Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc.

X counts India as a key market, with around 27 million users. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government officials are regular users of the platform.

There are roughly 15 X employees in functions like compliance and engineering in India, said one of the sources, but Mr Gupta was the only executive engaging with the government and political parties.

Interaction between X and government and party officials would intensify typically during the run up to polls, and a national election is due to take place in India next year.

X is appealing against an Indian court ruling that it had failed to comply with government orders to remove certain content, arguing it could embolden New Delhi to block more content and broaden the scope for censorship.

India in September told a court X is a “habitual non-compliant platform” and for years has not followed many orders to remove content, undermining the government’s role.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

 US government says Elon Musk should not be immune to testifying about X Corp. (File)
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The US government says the former Twitter’s request to end oversight of its data privacy and security practices is “meritless” and owner Elon Musk should not be immune to testifying about the company since he has “first-hand knowledge” of the conduct being investigated.

This includes decisions he made since acquiring the company — including mass layoffs, hasty product launches and an overall “chaotic environment” — that could be in violation of a government order limiting its privacy and security practices.

The company now called X Corp. had filed a motion in July for a protective order that would prevent Musk from having to testify about the company — and for relief from its 2022 consent order with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In a Monday filing on behalf of the FTC, the US Department of Justice said that in seeking to end the FTC’s order, X merely “complains the FTC asked too many questions after Elon Musk acquired the company”.

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But the FTC was asking questions, according to the filing, because of “sudden, radical changes at the company” after Musk took over. Within weeks, half of Twitter’s employees were terminated or resigned, “including key executives in privacy, data security, and compliance roles”.

There were also “alarming site outages, product malfunctions, and issues with data access controls,” the filing says — so the FTC had “every reason to seek information” about whether the company was still complying with the order.

The FTC has been watching the company for years since Twitter agreed to a 2011 consent order alleging serious data security lapses. But the agency’s concerns spiked with the tumult that followed Elon Musk’s October 27 takeover of the company.

In March it was disclosed that the FTC was investigating Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter and trying to obtain his internal communications as part of ongoing oversight of the social media company’s privacy and cybersecurity practices, according to documents described in a congressional report.

Twitter paid a USD 150 million penalty in May 2022, about five months before Musk’s takeover, for violating the 2011 consent order. An updated version established new procedures requiring the company to implement an enhanced privacy-protection program as well as beef up information security. The company’s July filing seeks relief from the consent order, saying that the FTC’s investigation has “spiralled out of control”.

But the government’s filing on Monday said the FTC was requesting information because it wanted to see if the company was properly protecting user data during its transformation from Twitter into X under Musk’s rule. The FTC heard from five former X employees during its investigation, who “revealed a chaotic environment at the company that raised serious questions about whether and how Musk and other leaders were ensuring X Corp.’s compliance” with the consent order.

For instance, Twitter’s former director of security engineering, Andrew Sayler, testified that he had “ongoing questions about Elon’s commitment to the overall security and privacy of the organisation” because “the manner in which Elon was requesting us to grant access to third parties that had not undergone our regular vetting process struck” Sayler as “having some degree of disregard for the overall sensitivity and security at that level of access”, according to the filing.

In another example from the filing, Musk “insisted on launching the new Twitter Blue user verification service on an accelerated basis, despite staffing limitations”.

The Tesla CEO, according to another former employee’s testimony, “insisted” that the service had to launch “right now” even though Twitter’s staffing was reduced so drastically that remaining employees were “struggling to keep the service up”.

Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Tuesday.

Musk has disbanded the Trust and Safety Council. (File)
| Photo Credit: AP

Elon Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter has sued the state of California over a law requiring social media companies to publish their policies for removing offending material such as hate speech, misinformation and harassment.

The first-of-its-kind legislation was signed into law a year ago by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In a lawsuit filed Friday against state Attorney General Robert Bonta, X Corp. challenges the “constitutionality and legal validity” of the law, saying it violates the First Amendment.

The California law requires social media platforms to post their content moderation policies — which they already do — and twice a year submit a report to the state on how they address hate speech, racism, misinformation, foreign political interference and other issues.

The law, “compels companies to engage in speech against their will, impermissibly interferes with the constitutionally-protected editorial judgments of companies such as X Corp.” and has pressures companies to remove or demonetize “constitutionally-protected speech,” says the lawsuit, filed in federal court in California.

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Since taking over Twitter in October 2022, Musk has upended the platform’s content moderation system, laying off workers responsible for weeding out problematic content and reinstating accounts banned for engaging in hate speech, promoting Nazi and white nationalist material and harassing users.

Musk also disbanded a key advisory group, the Trust and Safety Council, made up of dozens of independent civil, human rights and other organizations. The company formed the council in 2016 to address hate speech, harassment, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform. He has referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist” — though the billionaire has at times proven sensitive about critical speech directed at him or his companies. Last year, he suspended the accounts of several journalists who covered his takeover of Twitter.

The law’s author, Democratic Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, said it is a “a pure transparency measure that simply requires companies to be upfront about if and how they are moderating content. It in no way requires any specific content moderation policies – which is why it passed with strong, bipartisan support.”

“If Twitter has nothing to hide, then they should have no objection to this bill,” he added.

The attorney general’s office said it will review the complaint and respond in court.

Representatives for X did not immediately respond to messages for comment on Friday.