August 2024 was an eventful month for the global social media landscape. Pavel Durov, CEO of the popular Telegram platform was arrested in France. In the same month, Musk’s X was banned in Brazil after a months-long confrontation with the Supreme Court. While autocratic states have had a history of banning social media platforms or arresting tech moguls, liberal democracies have been reluctant to take such drastic steps so far. Even India, which has had difficulty with WhatsApp and X has not taken such drastic steps yet. In this episode of All Things Policy, Pranay and Lokendra discuss the recent churn in the global social media landscape. They unpack the deeper shifts that these developments reflect and weigh in on some fundamental questions about platform liabilities, application of jurisdictional laws to platforms and striking the right balance between free speech concerns and third-party liability requirements. They also discuss these issues in the Indian context.
All Things Policy is a daily podcast on public policy brought to you by the Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru.
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