This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows bodycam footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, 43, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, N.Y., on Dec. 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Newly released video of a fatal New York prison beating shows correctional officers repeatedly pummeling a handcuffed man, striking him in the chest with a shoe, and lifting him by the neck and dropping him.

Body camera footage of the December 9 assault on Robert Brooks was made public Friday by the State’s Attorney General, who is investigating the officers’ use of force.

Brooks, 43, was pronounced dead at a hospital the morning after the assault at the Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison where was incarcerated in Oneida County.

Thirteen correctional officers and a nurse implicated in the attack will face termination, according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who said she was “outraged and horrified” by videos of the “senseless killing.”

The footage made public Friday shows correctional officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on a medical examination table.

As one of the officers uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, another yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table. The officers then remove the man’s shirt and pants as he lies motionless and bloodied on his back.

“These videos are shocking and disturbing and I advise all to take appropriate care before choosing to watch them,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

The final results of Brooks’ autopsy are still pending.

Preliminary findings from a medical examination indicate “concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another,” according to court filings.

The videos do not include audio because the body cameras had not been activated by the officers wearing them. The state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued a directive in the wake of Brooks’ death requiring that staff use body cameras in every staff interaction with incarcerated people.

James said her office was investigating the use of force that led to Brooks’ death, but did not say whether any of the officers would be charged with crimes.

With the release of the videos, “members of the public can now view for themselves the horrific and extreme nature of the deadly attack on Robert L. Brooks,” a lawyer for his family, Elizabeth Mazur, said.

“As viewers can see, Mr. Brooks was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job was to keep him safe,” Mazur said. “He deserved to live, and everyone else living in Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff.”

The union for state correctional officers, which viewed footage of the assault before its public release, said in a statement: “What we witnessed is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day.”

“This incident not only endangers our entire membership but undermines the integrity of our profession. We cannot and will not condone this behavior,” said the union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

Brooks had been serving a 12-year prison sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He had arrived at the Marcy Correctional Facility only hours before the beating, after being transferred from another nearby state prison, officials said.

Marcy is about 200 miles (323 kilometers) northwest of New York City, between the cities of Rome and Utica.

The Correctional Association of New York, a prison oversight group, said it had documented reports of pervasive brutality and racism inside the Marcy Correctional Facility during a monitoring visit two years ago.

The organization’s executive director, Jennifer Scaife, said the footage of Brooks being beaten “is sickening and appalling, but not surprising” given its previous findings. She called on the state prison system to “address the systemic issues that allow such brutality to flourish.”

Tina Luongo, a chief attorney at The Legal Aid Society in New York City, called for “complete transparency” on state correctional staff’s use of force and a “full accounting of this tragedy.”

“Like everyone who has seen this video, we are horrified, angered, and deeply saddened,” said Luongo, calling the assault on Brooks “a grotesque display of inhumanity that is utterly appalling.”

“Too often, the violence that occurs behind prison walls remains hidden or becomes normalized in the public eye once the headlines fade,” said Luongo, whose organization provides public defender services and has clients in state prisons.

David Condliffe, the executive director of the alternatives-to-incarceration nonprofit Center for Community Alternatives, said: “We don’t need to watch this footage to know what it reveals: generations of encouraged, calculated cruelty and abuse of power that fester and metastasize behind the blue wall of silence.”

“For every instance caught on camera, countless more acts of violence and murder in prisons are ignored, justified, or covered up,” Condliffe said in a statement. “Accountability must include, but cannot stop with, the firing of a few individuals. Their violence is not an anomaly; it is the product of a system steeped in impunity.”

Bluesky, a social media platform in its nascent stage, is facing a series of challenges while its user base continues to grow. With over 25 million sign-ups, it is gaining mainstream attention but also facing criticism and controversy.

The platform’s biggest controversy erupted last week when journalist Jesse Singal joined Bluesky, leading to backlash from LGBTQ+ groups. Mr Singal, who has written about gender transition reversals and is accused of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, became the most blocked user on Bluesky after a petition calling for his removal got over 25,000 signatures. While Bluesky did not directly address the controversy, it said that it does not remove accounts based on activities outside the platform. Mr Singal claimed he received death threats.

As Bluesky grows, its moderation team is struggling to manage a sharp increase in issues, including scams, fake accounts, and copyright violations. The platform received a record 42,000 moderation reports in a single 24-hour period in November. Aaron Rodericks, Bluesky’s head of trust and safety, acknowledged the challenges, including a surge in copyright complaints, particularly from Brazil following X’s suspension in the country.

Scammers have also flocked to Bluesky, with romance and “pig butchering” scams on the rise. Bluesky has taken aggressive measures to remove fraudulent accounts but faces growing pressure as bad actors adapt to the platform.

The site is also grappling with the issue of impersonation. Last month, Bluesky began labelling fake celebrity accounts that did not identify as satire or fan accounts. Though the number of celebrity impersonators is not as widespread as on larger platforms, fake accounts for figures like Ellen DeGeneres and Cristiano Ronaldo have been identified.

Bluesky has also been scrutinised for its unique verification system. Rather than verifying individual identities, the platform allows users to verify their accounts through an official website domain. This system has been criticised for being too technically complex for some users.

The platform is also dealing with increasing disinformation and potential propaganda, especially from state-controlled news agencies like China’s China Daily and Russia’s RT. While Bluesky relies on user tips and automated systems to track and remove inauthentic content, there have been signs of state actor activity on the platform.

Still, Bluesky continues to attract users, many of whom have migrated from Elon Musk’s X, and has not yet reached the scale of larger platforms like Facebook or X.

Less than a year ago, tech billionaire Elon Musk was Britain’s star guest at a conference, with the then Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, playing the role of a fawning interviewer to the world’s richest man. A year on, things have changed in Britain. The Labour government, which came to power in July, has decided not to invite Musk to a mega investment summit to be held in London on October 14.

The Tesla and X boss ostensibly did not like the snub and hit back at the UK government with full force, urging the guests not to go to the UK. “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts,” he said when he learnt he was not invited. 

Origin Story

It is true that many prisoners have been released recently under a government scheme to decongest overcrowded British jails. But there is no evidence to suggest that sex offenders or paedophiles were let out. Musk’s tweets have sparked controversy and raised concerns about the spread of misinformation, with the British media reminding the tech billionaire of his recent acts of “spreading disinformation” about the UK. A few weeks ago, Musk shared a baseless report that the UK was building internment camps in the Falkland Islands for rioters, though he swiftly deleted the tweet after facing backlash.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed Musk’s latest provocative comments during his recent visit to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. Dismissing them as being vastly different from the positive feedback received from investors, Starmer claimed that the latter have expressed strong interest in attending and that they praised their meeting with the UK government as the best they’ve had.

Why The Summit Is Important

The summit – in its third edition since 2021 – aims to attract significant investment to drive economic growth, a top priority for the Labour government. According to a government release, last year’s meeting generated a promise of nearly £30 billion of investment. This year, as Chancellor (finance minister) Rachel Reeves and Business and Trade Secretary (minister) Jonathan Reynolds join Starmer in showcasing the UK’s potential, the government hopes to secure an investment commitment worth around 60 billion pounds in sectors like technology, green energy and artificial intelligence (AI).

But the elephant in the room is the government’s cold shoulder to Musk. It has ignited debate about the UK’s true commitment to openness and whether it’s willing to engage with influential business leaders who are critical of the Labour government. As the government seeks to reset relations with global trading partners and promote innovation, Musk supporters and the opposition Conservative Party have raised questions about Starmer’s willingness to walk the talk. Despite the tech billionaire’s inflammatory comments, the Labour government’s decision to ignore him smacks of vindictiveness and pettiness. Musk is no ordinary man. His influence on modern business, technology, and society is undeniable. I rate him alongside the Israeli historian and thinker Yuval Noah Harari — both being the visionaries of our time, but with distinct approaches. I would like to say that while Harari focuses on the bigger picture, encouraging introspection and societal evolution, Musk actively shapes the future through groundbreaking technologies. There is no doubt that both visionaries inspire and challenge our understanding of human potential.

Musk, Agent Provocateur

The relationship between Musk and Starmer has been frosty at best since the Labour Party came to power in July. Starmer, many believe, and justifiably, is upset with the American billionaire for his unsavoury remarks on how the Labour government handled the nationwide riots in August. Following the horrific Southport stabbing that claimed the lives of three children, Musk donned the role of an agent provocateur as he unleashed a barrage of criticism against Starmer and his new government. In one of his tweets, he ominously forecast a ‘civil war’ in the UK. Musk has 193 million followers on X, which means whatever he says on the platform gets amplified across the world in seconds. There is no doubt that as violence and riots spread across the country, fueled by misinformation and far-right extremism, Musk’s misleading tweets added fuel to the fire.

The response from Labour MPs was swift and stinging. Leading voices within the party accused Musk of deliberately spreading disinformation and seeking to sow division within British society. One Labour MP described Musk’s intervention as “grossly irresponsible”, suggesting that his comments were intended to play into existing societal fractures for personal or ideological reasons.

But It’s Not Easy To Just Dismiss Musk

Starmer’s office, too, condemned Musk’s “civil war is inevitable” comment and said there was no justification for such remarks. But it’s not easy to silence Musk, who is seen in many right-wing circles as a defender of free speech. He doubled down on Starmer and posted a series of provocative tweets, even accusing the British police of being harsher on White protesters during the riots.

To Starmer’s comment on X that “We will not tolerate attacks on mosques and on Muslim communities”, Musk replied, “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on ‘all’ communities?” In another post, he claimed the UK was censoring online content, and asked “Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?”

Governments And Businessmen Have Clashed Often

The clash between Musk and the UK government is not an isolated incident. Throughout history, influential industrialists and businessmen have challenged governments, often sparking tensions and drama. Indian-born British industrialists, the Hinduja brothers, were embroiled in the “Hinduja Affair” during Tony Blair’s premiership. The brothers were accused of bribing Indian officials to secure defense contracts. Blair’s government faced allegations of improperly granting the Hindujas British passports. But an investigation cleared them. However, the scandal led to the resignation of Blair’s minister, Peter Mandelson. The episode underlined the complex relationships between business, politics, and national interest.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s showdown with the Margret Thatcher government began when he acquired The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers. Murdoch’s media empire was investigated for unexplained business dealings, which eventually led him to sell The Times.

It is a widely known fact that billionaire investor George Soros has long been a thorn in the side of Hungary’s nationalist government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Soros’s Open Society Foundation (OSF) promoted democratic values and human rights, which Orbán saw as a threat to his rule. His government launched a campaign against Soros, accusing him of promoting immigration and undermining Hungarian culture. The government also passed laws restricting NGOs, allegedly targeting OSF. Soros ultimately closed the OSF’s Budapest office, citing “unprecedented” government harassment.

Can Regulation Tame X?

Under the Online Safety Act, social media platforms are required to proactively remove illegal content, including inflammatory material, and prevent it from appearing in the first place. The UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, has the power to punish non-compliant platforms with fines up to £18 million or 10% of their global annual turnover. It is believed the new act, passed last year, gives the government enough power to tame social platforms if they were found to be spreading falsehood in society.

It is reported that some Labour MPs have quietly suggested that action must be taken against Elon Musk for his inflammatory tweets during the riots in August and he should be summoned by Parliament to face questions from MPs. But there are no strong indications of that happening. Not as yet. 

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

If you’ve been wondering why you see only a certain kind of content on your X feed, its owner Elon Musk has the answer. The billionaire, in a post on Monday, shed light on the platform’s inner workings.  

The X algorithm operates on a simple yet effective principle: “If you interact with content, you want to see more of that content.” This means your engagement such as likes, comments, and shares with posts directly influences the algorithm’s decisions on what content to display.

Mr Musk elaborated on one of the algorithm’s key signals – sharing content. “One of the strongest signals is if you forward X posts to friends, it assumes you like that content a lot because it takes effort to forward,” he wrote. This means that when users share a post, the algorithm interprets that action as a strong endorsement of the content, pushing similar items into their feed frequently.

However, Mr Musk also acknowledged a significant flaw in this logic. He pointed out that the algorithm does not understand the intent behind a user’s interaction, particularly when the motivation is negative. “Unfortunately, if the actual reason you forwarded the content to friends was because you were outraged by it, we are currently not smart enough to realise that,” he admitted.

The ???? algorithm assumes that if you interact with content, you want to see more of that content.

One of the strongest signals is if you forward ???? posts to friends, it assumes you like that content a lot, because it takes effort to forward.

Unfortunately, if the actual reason…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2024

In a follow-up post, Mr Musk shared his support for “freedom of speech”. “I like content that supports freedom of speech,” he declared, adding, “Long live X. Long live freedom of speech.”

I like content that supports freedom of speech

Long live ????

Long live freedom of speech

I’ll cage fight the dictator in Brazil if I have to

— Elon Musk (Parody) (@ElonMuskAOC) September 2, 2024

Going a step further, he wrote, “I’ll cage fight the dictator in Brazil if I have to.” This remark was aimed at Brazil’s Chief Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whom Mr Musk has previously labelled a “tyrant” and a “dictator.” 

The feud between the two began in April when Elon Musk announced he would unsuspend accounts linked to the 2023 Brazilian Congress attack in Brasilia, despite a court order to keep them blocked. 

In response, Alexandre de Moraes opened an investigation into the X owner, accusing him of spreading fake news, obstructing justice and inciting criminal activities. He also ordered Brazilian internet service providers to block access to X, threatened daily fines for users trying to bypass the ban by using VPNs, and even froze the finances of Mr Musk’s company, Starlink, in Brazil. 

Elon Musk fired back by accusing Mr Moraes of undermining democracy and has used X to criticise the judge’s actions.

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.)