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The Supreme Court on Monday called it an “important concern” and sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea seeking a ban on streaming of sexually explicit content on OTT and social media platforms. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih said it was either for the legislature or the executive to come out with measures to deal with the issue.

“This is not within our domain. As it is, there is lot of allegation that we are encroaching upon the legislative and executive powers,” Justice Gavai said in an apparent reference to recent attacks on the judiciary.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the government would not take it as an adversarial litigation. “Kindly monitor it here. We will come out with something which balances the freedom of speech while (Article) 19 (2) is taken care of,” he said.

Mehta said some of the contents were not only obscene but also “perverse”. Though some regulations in this regard were in existence, he said, certain more were in contemplation.

Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for the petitioners, said it was not an adversarial litigation and the plea raised a serious concern over such contents on over-the-top (OTT) and social media.

Jain said such content was displayed without any checks or restrictions. “Mr solicitor, you should do something,” Justice Gavai told Mehta. The law officer said children were more exposed to all this nowadays.

“Some of the things which are in regular programmes, the language, the contents… is of such a nature that it is not only vulgar, it is perverse,” he said.

Mehta said some of the content was so perverse even two respectable men couldn’t sit and watch it together. He said the only condition was that such programmes were for viewers aged over 18 years but cannot be controlled.

The bench referred to the use of cell phones by children. “They (children) are quite adapt. It is a good thing, provided they reach the correct website,” Mehta said.

The bench observed, “On the last date itself, we had told him (Jain) that this is for either the legislature or the executive.” The apparent reference was to the remarks of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against the judiciary.

Dhankhar had questioned the judiciary setting a timeline for the president to make decisions and acting as a “super Parliament”, saying the Supreme Court cannot fire a “nuclear missile” at democratic forces.

Soon after, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said Parliament and assemblies should be shut if the apex court had to make laws.

Mehta on Monday said something was needed to be done to deal with the issue. When the bench offered to issue notice on the plea for responses from the Centre and others, including some OTT and social media platforms, Mehta said it may not be necessary.

“Let them be before the court,” Justice Gavai said, “as they also have some social responsibility”. “The present petition raises an important concern with regard to the display of various objectionable, obscene and indecent contents on OTT platforms and social media,” it recorded in its order.

The bench was hearing a plea filed by five petitioners who sought guidelines to constitute an authority to prohibit online dissemination of obscene content.

The plea claimed there were pages and profiles on social media sites sharing pornographic material without any filter and various OTT platforms were streaming content having potential elements of child pornography.

“Such sexually deviant material pollute the minds of youth, children and even grown up persons which gives rise to perverted and unnatural sexual tendencies thereby leading to an increase in the crime rate,” it said.

The plea said if left unchecked, the unregulated spread of obscene material could have severe consequences on societal values, mental health and public safety.

The petitioners claimed having made representations to the competent authorities to no avail. The plea sought the Centre to stop access to social media and OTT platforms until they formulated a mechanism to bar access to pornographic content, especially to children in India.

The petitioners, therefore, urged the top court to constitute a committee headed by a retired apex court judge and experts in the field to oversee and certify for publishing or streaming content on the lines of the Central Board of Film Certification until a law is enacted to regulate it.

It also sought a panel of psychologists recognised by the Rehabilitation Council of India and other experts to conduct a nationwide study and submit a report on the adverse impact of sexually explicit content on people. 

Huawei is set to host an “Innovative product launch” event on May 15 in Berlin. The Chinese tech brand is teased to unveil its new smartwatch range, presumably Watch 5 and Watch Fit 4, during the launch event. Just weeks ahead of the formal reveal, the Huawei Watch 5 and Watch Fit 4 series have allegedly appeared on a retailer website, revealing their design, price details and specifications. The Huawei Watch 5 is expected to be available in two sizes.

Huawei Watch 5, Watch Fit 4 Series Design (Expected)

The unannounced Huawei Watch 5 was spotted by Suomimobiili on Lithuanian retailer Bigbox. The publication snagged several images (before the listings were taken down) that show the device bearing a resemblance to other Huawei smartwatches. The Watch 5 model can be seen sporting a circular display with a digital crown. It is said to be available in 42mm and 46mm sizes, with steel and silicone strap options. 

The smaller wearable is allegedly listed in aurora green, moon white, stellar beige, and dawnlight colourways, while the 46mm size variant is said to be offered in midnight black, jupiter brown, twilight purple, and space silver shades.

The alleged renders suggest that the Huawei Watch 5 will feature some health tracking features, including a SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) and heart rate monitoring. It has a step counter and a calorie tracker. It is said to feature an AMOLED display with a resolution of 466×466 pixels. The smartwatch could boast an IP68 rating and a durable display protected by sapphire glass.

The report also includes alleged renders and specifications of Huawei Watch Fit 4 and Fit 4 Pro. They are said to have 1.82-inch AMOLED displays. The Pro is said to feature the TruSense health monitoring system, while the regular will pack the old sensors.

The Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro is shown with square-shaped dials and interchangeable bands. It is shown in black, blue, and green shades, while the regular Huawei Watch Fit 4 is listed in black, grey, purple and white shades.

Huawei Watch 5, Watch Fit 4 Price (Expected)

The Huawei Watch 5 price reportedly starts at EUR 449 (roughly Rs. 43,000) and goes up to EUR 649 (roughly Rs. 62,000). The Huawei Watch Fit 4 is said to be priced at EUR 219 (roughly Rs. 21,000). The Huawei Watch Fit 4 Pro is said to be priced at EUR 299 (roughly Rs. 28,000).

HMD announced on Monday that it will launch Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) phones in collaboration with FreeStream Technologies and other D2M partners. The announcement was made ahead of the upcoming World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, which will begin on May 1. Lava International, an Indian OEM, is also set to introduce D2M feature phones in the country. Some key features of the Lava handset have been teased by the company. The field trials of the D2M technology will take place in India soon.

HMD, Lava to Work With FreeStream, Sinclair, and Tejas Networks

HMD, in collaboration with FreeStream Technologies, Tejas Networks, and Sinclair, will unveil Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) phones in India during WAVES 2025, which will be held at the Jio World Centre, Mumbai, the company said in a press release on Monday. 

Lava said that its in-house R&D team and Tejas Networks have developed a feature phone that runs on the MediaTek MT6261 SoC with an integrated SL3000 chip by Saankhya. It will come with a UHF antenna for TV reception, GSM for voice calls, a 2.8-inch QVGA display and a 2,200mAh battery.

D2M is claimed to be a “next-generation broadcasting technology” which delivers OTT as well as live TV, video, audio, and text messages directly to mobile phones, without Wi-Fi or internet connectivity. The collaboration is said to support the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Design in India’ initiatives in the country. Large-scale field trials of the technology as scheduled to begin soon.

HMD also said that the upcoming devices will be low-cost feature phones, smartphones, and tablets that are powered by Tejas Networks. The technology is said to have been extensively tested in “live networks by Prasar Bharati in collaboration with IIT Kanpur and Tejas Networks.”

Tejas Networks Executive Vice President Parag Naik said that the upcoming HMD D2M phones will use Saankhya Labs’ SL-3000 chipset and will be equipped with a “Core Network platform for targeted ads, CDN offload, educational content, emergency alerts, and more.”

Sinclair Inc., an American telecommunications firm, said that the phones will use ATSC 3.0 technology, which is touted to be the next-generation digital terrestrial television broadcast standard. The company is said to be working on “the next version, Broadcast to Everything (B2X) technology,” with a focus on future 6G needs.

Bitget has partnered Avalanche as part of the latter’s efforts to invest in the Web3 sector in India. Aimed at driving grassroots-level adoption of Web3 technology in the country, the partnership was announced by the Web3 firms on Monday. While Bitget is a Seychelles-based crypto exchange, Avalanche is an open-source layer-1 blockchain created at Cornell University and later led by New York-based Ava Labs. As part of the agreement, both firms plan to boost India’s web3 infrastructure to support crypto services and highlight blockchain use cases in the country.

Avalanche and Bitget will launch awareness campaigns and educational workshops related to crypto safety and blockchain exploration throughout the year as part of the “HODL ON” tours. Through these tours, the partnership will offer a platform to Indian Web3 startups to showcase their work and secure funding.

Two community meetups have already taken place in Delhi and Bengaluru in recent weeks, as the first leg of the tour went live. The firms said that India’s tech talent is capable of delivering world class Web3 applications if supported by timely grants, mentorship, and international exposure.

“Empowering users with the right knowledge is essential to unlocking the full potential of blockchain in India’s digital future. We’re committed to bridging this gap through community programs, partnerships with universities, and accessible learning tools,” Jyotsna Hridyani, South Asia Head at Bitget said in a prepared statement.

Bitget is currently working with the Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND) to secure its mandatory registration that would legalise its operations in the country. Avalanche, meanwhile, is already working with state governments to shift public records onto its blockchain network.

India’s Growing Web3 Workforce

India is on track to overtake the US as the largest hub of Web3 developers by 2028, the India Web3 Landscape Report (2024) by Hashed Emergent claimed last month. The report claimed that India’s Web3 developer community grew by 28 percent in 2024, adding over 4.7 million developers to GitHub

Base blockchain developer, Jesse Pollak had also strongly backed the community of India’s Web3 developers last year. In conversation with Gadgets 360, Pollak had said that if developers could tap into some banking support in the country they would be able to create useful Web3 solutions.

Despite a lack of clear regulations to oversee Web3, the cluster of companies working around blockchain and crypto exceeded the mark of 400 last year. In its report last year, the Bharat Web3 Association (BWA) claimed that Karnataka has emerged as the hotspot for Web3 firms, housing at least 97 Web3 firms, followed by Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.

In recent years, several companies and venture capital firms have initiated funding programmes aimed at assisting bootstrapped Web3 startups. These firms include PwC India, AlgoBharat, and the Solana Foundation among others.

The new head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday said that the agency has stifled innovation for the cryptocurrency sector by fostering “regulatory uncertainty” in prior years.

“Market participants engaging in this technology deserve clear regulatory rules of the road,” Paul Atkins said in his first remarks since being sworn in as chairman of the agency as chairman earlier this week.

He spoked at the SEC’s crypto roundtable, which the Republican leadership launched to weigh how securities laws may apply to digital assets, an area of tension between the sector and the agency under previous leadership.

Atkins, who has worked with crypto firms in recent years, has widely been expected to take a softer tack with the industry. The agency’s previous chair, Gary Gensler, had targeted what he described as widespread noncompliance of the industry with US securities laws.

Even before Atkins’ arrival, the SEC has dramatically shifted its position on crypto in recent months, seeking to create new regulations for the sector and pausing or altogether walking away from enforcement cases.

When asked about the potential for the SEC to suspend trading of Chinese companies as trade tensions rise between the world’s two largest economies, Atkins said that the agency will take action if companies do not abide by US laws.

© Thomson Reuters 2025

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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