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Also in this letter:
■ ED raids Vivo offices over alleged money laundering
■ Govt sends show-cause notice to EV makers over fires
■ Delhi government issues final draft of aggregator policy
Twitter sues Indian government, alleges abuse of power
Twitter has sued the Indian government over some of its takedown orders, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In its lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, the company alleges the government abused its power by ordering it to remove several tweets.
Catch up quick: Last week we reported that the government had given Twitter India “one last opportunity” to comply with India’s Information Technology Rules, 2021 by July 4 or risk losing its immunity as an intermediary.
Twitter complied this week, the source told Reuters, so as not to lose liability exemptions available to it as a host of content.
Allegations: Now, Twitter has argued that some removal orders fell short of the procedural requirements of India’s IT Act, the source said, without specifying which ones Twitter wanted to be reviewed.
It said some takedown orders were related to political content posted by official handles of political parties, and that blocking these tweets would violate their freedom of speech, the source added.
It also said some of the orders failed to give notice to authors of the content.
Twitter vs govt: Tensions with the Indian government flared early last year when Twitter declined to fully comply with an order to take down accounts and posts which the government alleged were spreading misinformation about anti-government protests by farmers.
Also Read | India warns Twitter to comply with orders to block accounts
In May 2021, when the IT Rules came into effect, the IT ministry asked Twitter to appoint a resident grievance officer, a resident chief compliance officer and nodal contact person or risk losing protection as an intermediary.
Subsequently, Twitter appointed executives in all the required roles and informed the IT ministry.
After Xiaomi, ED raids Vivo offices over alleged money laundering
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating Chinese mobile manufacturer Vivo and its sister concerns in a money laundering case, sources in the agency told us.
Raids: The ED has raided 44 locations across north India under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Sources said the company was under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which passed on the case to the ED to look into alleged PMLA violations.
The Chinese company’s distributor in Jammu & Kashmir had earlier come under the scanner after the government found at least two Chinese shareholders in the company had submitted forged documents and false Indian addresses. The case was taken up by the Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing.
Xiaomi case: This is the second big case the ED has registered against a Chinese phone maker. In February, it had booked Xiaomi – the market leader in India – for allegedly making illegal foreign remittances.
In April, the agency seized Rs 5,551.27 crore belonging to Xiaomi Technology India Private Limited under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA). ED officials questioned Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi’s global vice-president, in connection with the case later that month.
Xiaomi filed a writ petition challenging the ED order and the Karnataka High Court put it on hold in May.
Earlier today (July 5), the court directed the competent authority appointed under FEMA to issue a notice of hearing to Xiaomi and pass an order on the matter, terming the company’s writ petition “premature”, LiveLaw reported.
Govt sends show-cause notice to EV makers over fires
The Centre has issued show-cause notices to EV scooter manufacturers, Ola Electric, Okinawa Autotech and others, asking them to explain why they shouldn’t face legal action for delivering faulty scooters to customers.
The government has given the companies until the end of July to respond, after which it will decide whether to take action against them.
Last week we reported that an expert panel formed to investigate the EV fires found the vehicles lacked ‘basic safety systems’. It identified issues with battery cells or design in nearly all instances.
The fires occurred because manufacturers such as Okinawa Autotech, Pure EV, Jitendra Electric Vehicles, Ola Electric and Boom Motors may have used “lower-grade materials to cut costs”, the probe found.
Tweet of the day
Delhi government issues final draft of aggregator policy
The Delhi government has released the final draft of its aggregator scheme, which aims to regulate tech companies in food delivery, ride-hailing, and ecommerce in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The draft, an updated version of the one issued in January, clearly defines companies operating across the three segments.
Tell me more: Tech companies such as Ola, Amazon, Flipkart, and Swiggy were broadly defined under the previous draft. These companies will now be categorised as last-mile delivery aggregators, passenger transport aggregators, or ecommerce entities.
The updated draft also gives aggregators two more years to fully electrify their fleets.
The draft policy was prepared using the guidelines from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in 2020 as a template. The Delhi government is the first to look at implementing such a policy. If successful, it could set a precedent for other states to emulate.
UK crypto exchange Nexo gives Vauld a lifeline
London-based crypto exchange Nexo will acquire crypto lending platform Vauld, pending due diligence — marking the latest sign of consolidation in the crypto market amidst falling prices.
Quote: “The completion of this transaction is pending due diligence – which both teams are working on as we speak. Vauld has strived to deliver long-term value to all customers, and we believe coming under the Nexo umbrella will significantly help achieve this,” said Darshan Bathija, cofounder and CEO of Vauld.
Catch up quick: On Monday we reported that Vauld had suspended all deposits and withdrawals owing to market volatility and financial troubles.
Ever since the collapse of the terraUSD stablecoin in May, several crypto lenders have found themselves in trouble and many, including Celsius, have paused withdrawals.
LazyPay halts BNPL product: Meanwhile, as regulatory uncertainty continues to hurt card-based credit fintechs, LazyPay, the lending arm of PayU India, has temporarily stopped support for its buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) product LazyPlus UPI.
On June 20, the RBI barred non-banks from loading online wallets and prepaid cards with credit lines, hampering the business models of many fintech firms.
Today’s ETtech Top 5 newsletter was curated by Zaheer Merchant in Mumbai and Ruchir Vyas in New Delhi. Graphics and illustrations by Rahul Awasthi.
