X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has deleted images and posts dating back to before December 2014. The deletion has affected many users, who have lost access to photos, videos, and other content they posted on the platform in the early years.This allegedly happened due to a technical glitch that affected tweets published before December 2014.Confusion around old tweetsBack then they were called tweets only and there seems to be some confusion around them. A report by The Verge indicates that the famous Ellen Degeneres selfie isn’t visible to users on X. However, former US President Barack Obama’s image of hugging Michelle Obama after being reelected as president in 2012 is still visible on the platform. So far, neither X’s official support account nor Twitter owner or CEO have mentioned anything about the glitch. The post deletion comes at a time when the billionaire owner of Twitter raised a rather controversial matter. No more ‘blocks’ on TwitterMeanwhile, Elon Musk has said that he believes the blocking feature on Twitter “makes no sense” and that it should be replaced with a “stronger form of mute.” He has also said that he plans to remove the ability to block users altogether.Musk’s comments have been met with mixed reactions. Some people agree with him that the blocking feature is too restrictive and that it can be used to silence dissenting voices. Others argue that the blocking feature is an essential tool for protecting users from harassment and abuse.Musk also said that “Instead of blocking, I think there should be a stronger form of mute” and that he is “definitely open to ideas on how to improve the blocking/muting feature.” It remains to be seen how Musk’s plans for the blocking feature will affect Twitter users. However, Musk’s comments have certainly irked a few and chances are he might just go through with it being a “free speech absolutist” – something he refers to himself as.

The partnership will open up Jio’s prepaid users for acquisition by Netflix and will enable the streaming company to leverage Jio as an effective distribution channel For the first time in India, Netflix has partnered with a telecom company to offer prepaid tariff plans that come bundled with its subscription The biggest issue, however, seems to be the affordability of the bundled plans in the price-sensitive Indian market When Netflix forayed into India at the outset of 2016, its senior executives flagged slow internet speeds as one of the key hiccups to its penetration. However, all of that changed in a few months as Reliance Jio waltzed into the telecom arena.  The telecom war spurred the rise of data consumption and penetration of high-speed 4G internet services across the country as telcos offered data at dirt-cheap prices. Seven years later, it seems life has come full circle for the two companies as Jio and Netflix have announced a new offering that has the potential to rejig the streaming space. For the first time in India, Netflix has partnered with a telecom company to offer prepaid tariff plans bundled with a subscription for the US-based streaming major. While Netflix has largely played it safe so far, targeting standalone subscribers and postpaid users, its latest move could spur its India numbers. To summarise briefly, Jio has launched two prepaid plans priced at INR 1,099 (2GB/ day) and INR 1,499 (3GB/ day) with a validity of 84 days. The former comes embedded with the Netflix (mobile) plan, which sells for INR 149 a month, while the latter includes the ‘basic’ plan of Netflix, which is worth INR 199 per month. While the INR 1,099 plan will offer Netflix subscription worth INR 447 over a period of almost three months, the INR 1,499 plan will enable users to avail INR 597 worth of services. To put things in perspective, Jio’s current 2GB per day data plans with 84 days validity sell anywhere between INR 719 to INR 749. On the other hand, Jio’s 3GB data per day plan for 84 days cost INR 999.  While the details of the financial partnership are not known, Jio and Netflix are banking on the playbook of offering bundled offerings at small concessions to woo new customers.  However, the stakes are much higher for Netflix, which has lately undertaken multiple changes at its India operations with an eye on alternate revenue streams. The streaming company has partnered with a host of companies and is looking beyond price as a way to increase the number of users. With the latest partnership with Jio, Netflix is looking to hook the users of the telecom operator, offering them a taste of global shows as well as some vernacular content.  Can Netflix Capitalise On Jio’s User Base?  Netflix’s previous partnerships with telecom operators only targeted postpaid customers, who accounted for just 8% of the total telecom subscriber base in the country at the end of March 2023, thereby limiting its reach. The new partnership with Jio will open up a huge swathe of prepaid wireless subscribers for Netflix. Jio, which commanded a market share of 38.17% in the Indian telecom space as of May 2023, is expected to serve as an acquisition channel for Netflix, which so far has failed to zero in on a strategy in the country to shore up its user numbers.  The partnership with Jio will offer Netflix a direct entry in the subscription slab and ensure that the telecom operator’s users scroll through the bundled offerings whenever they buy a plan.  The bundled offerings will also make Netflix’s content more accessible to the masses and the streaming giant can skip forging partnerships with multiple stakeholders to push its services. This mirrors the playbook of ALTBalaji and Eros Now, both of which debuted their shows for free on Jio Cinema and Jio TV to gain traction and popularise their respective platforms. Reliance owns a stake in both these companies.  The collaboration with Jio will also help Netflix build a different revenue model where it banks on Jio’s network of dealers to get revenue through mobile recharges in a country where penetration of online payments and debit cards is still low.  Netflix also plans to leverage the data-guzzling Indian population, which spends a good chunk of its days viewing shows on streaming platforms. As per a report by Eros Now and KPMG, an average Indian viewer spent around 70 minutes per day on OTT platforms.  As per Reliance’s Q1 FY24 results, the per capita data usage of Jio users stood at nearly INR 25 GB per month, offering Netflix a window to capture these content-crazy subscribers.  The move will also enable Netflix to shed its image as a predominantly Gen Z and millennial offering and open the floodgates for other demographics to experience the streaming service.  The partnership appears to be a win-win situation for both players, especially for Netflix which can bank on Jio’s infrastructure, billing system and customer care to build a better customer experience while attracting more user eyeballs. On the other hand, it will also enable Jio to keep customer churn lower.  “Netflix has strategically introduced an INR 149 plan catered specifically for mobile users. The bundling strategy not only helps OTT players and aggregators in garnering substantial viewership figures but also synergistically aligns with the core offerings of both products, it’s like a win-win for both,” Avinash Mudaliar, cofounder and CEO of content discovery platform OTTplay, told Inc42.  Netflix’s India Problem India has been a challenging market for the US-based streaming giant for a long time. In 2021, its founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings said that the company was still trying to figure out the product-market fit for India even as it potentially spent about $400 Mn in the country since 2019. Since then, Netflix has slashed corners, cut subscription prices and unveiled a host of locally produced shows to attract the predominantly vernacular audience in the country. While it burned a lot

Shares of Nykaa plunged nearly 10% this week following its underwhelming Q1 results, while DroneAcharya emerged as the biggest winner following key business updates from the startup New-age tech stocks saw a new addition this week, as blockchain and IT development startup Yudiz Solutions got listed at a 12% premium at INR 185 apiece on the NSE SME platform In the broader market, Sensex fell 0.57% to 64,948.66 and Nifty 50 declined 0.61% to 19,310.15 this week With the Q1 FY24 earnings season coming to an end, Indian new-age tech stocks succumbed to the weakness in the broader domestic and global equity markets and witnessed a significant slump this week.  A majority of new-age stocks, including Paytm, IndiaMart, Tracxn, Zomato, Cartrade Technologies, EaseMyTrip, and Nykaa, fell in a range of 0.1% and 10% this week. The decline in Nykaa and EaseMyTrip shares was largely driven by their Q1 financial results. Nykaa also emerged as the biggest loser, declining 9.8% this week, hurt by its lower-than-expected quarterly earnings. Despite pressure in the broader market, DroneAcharya, RateGain, ideaForge, Nazara Technologies, and PB Fintech rose this week, gaining in a range of 0.1% and over 5%.  DroneAcharya once again emerged as the biggest winner, with its shares zooming 5.5% on the BSE following several business updates from the startup. The drone startup said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a leading university in the Philippines to provide drone pilot training and drone data processing training to the local government units of the country. Besides, DroneAcharya also won a tender from the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC) under which it would supply various drone systems and provide drone pilot training courses to the staff of the Karnataka Forest Department. On the other hand, Nazara’s gains this week were led by the announcement of its $500K investment in Israel-based game developer Snax Games. Meanwhile, the list of new-age tech stocks saw a new addition this week, as blockchain and IT development startup Yudiz Solutions got listed at a 12% premium at INR 185 apiece on the NSE SME platform. In the broader market, Sensex fell 0.57% to 64,948.66 and Nifty 50 declined 0.61% to 19,310.15 this week. The market was shut on August 15 on the occasion of Independence Day. “World equity markets, including India, are under the grip of a sharp rise in US bond yields which has led to currency depreciation in China and other emerging markets. This has prompted investors to park their funds in safe haven dollar securities by exiting risky equity assets,” said Amol Athawale, VP of technical research at Kotak Securities. He said the consolidation phase in local markets could continue for some more time as worries over further interest rate hikes in the US and other key economies, high inflation and slowing growth in China would curb appetite for equity as an asset class in the near term.  It must be noted that India’s CPI inflation surged to 7.44% in July from 4.87% in June, its highest level since April 2022. Commenting on the outlook, Pravesh Gour, senior technical analyst at Swastika Investmart, said macroeconomic indicators, trends in global stock markets, and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) activities will be pivotal in shaping market trends in the coming days.  Now, let’s take a detailed look at the performance of some of the new-age tech stocks this week. The 16 new-age tech stocks under Inc42’s coverage ended the week with a total market capitalisation of $34.45 Bn as against 15 stocks ending last week at $34.96 Bn. The Worst Is Still Not Over For Nykaa Helped by the improvement in market sentiment for new-age tech stocks, shares of Nykaa had been witnessing some improvement since May this year. However, its shares slumped once again this week, falling almost 10% on the BSE, as its Q1 FY24 earnings failed to cheer up investors. The shares slumped to end the week at INR 131.9 on the BSE. In The News For: Commenting on the stock, Jigar S Patel, senior manager, technical research analyst at Anand Rathi, said that Nykaa is currently in a correction mode and it might fall further. The best price for buying the stock would be around INR 125-INR 127 level. The stop loss for the stock is around INR 115 and the target is INR 160, he added. Deep Discounts Hurt EaseMyTrip’s Bottom Line In Q1 Traveltech major EaseMyTrip on Monday (August 14) reported a 21.8% YoY decline in its profit after tax (PAT) to INR 25.9 Cr in Q1 FY24, which was also a 16% decline, sequentially. The bottom line took a hit despite a 41.5% YoY jump in operating revenue to INR 124 Cr and the startup reporting a record quarterly gross booking revenue (GBR) of INR 2,371 Cr in Q1. EaseMyTrip cited the discounts provided by it to its customers across segments from June 1-10, 2023 to celebrate its 15th anniversary as the reason for the fall in its profit. Following the results, EaseMyTrip shares slumped 7.5% in the next three consecutive sessions in the week, ending Friday’s session at INR 37.36 on the BSE. Anand Rathi’s Patel said that the stock looks a bit weak right now and might fall further till INR 30-INR 34 level, which would be the ideal price to buy the stock. After this, the stock is expected to bounce back and might jump to INR 40-INR 41 in the coming weeks, he added. RateGain Shares Touch A New All-Time High Shares of RateGain have touched several record highs following its Q1 earnings, published last week. This week the stock touched an all-time high at INR 604.85 on Thursday (August 17). Overall, the shares of the traveltech SaaS startup jumped 5.3% this week, making it the second biggest winner. It ended Friday’s session at INR 571.75 on the BSE as the shares fell 4.2% from Thursday’s close. RateGain’s PAT almost tripled YoY to INR 24.9 Cr in Q1 FY24, while operating revenue jumped

Googlethis week sent emails to its billions of users reminding them of changes in its ‘Google Account inactivity policy’. Google is updating the inactivity period for a Google Account to two years across all its products and services. This change has started rolling out will apply to any Google Account that’s been inactive, meaning it has not been signed into or used within a two-year period.An inactive account and any content in it will be eligible for deletion from December 1, 2023.It is important to note that once a Google Account is deleted, the Gmail address for the deleted account cannot be used again when creating a new Google Account.Why the updation in policyGoogle said that it is updating the policy for security and safety reasons. Explaining the reason in the email sent to users the company said that keeping their accounts safe means having strong privacy practices across its products. “We want to protect your private information and prevent any unauthorized access to your account even if you’re no longer using our services,” the company said.What this means for usersThese changes do not impact users unless they have left a Google account inactive for two years or have not used their account to sign in to any Google service for over two years. “If your account is considered inactive, we will send several reminder emails to both you and your recovery emails (if any have been provided) before we take any action or delete any account content. These reminder emails will go out at least 8 months before any action is taken on your account.” How to keep your account active?The simplest way to keep a Google Account active is to sign in to the account at least once every two years. If you have signed in to your Google Account recently in the past two years, your account is considered active and will not be deleted.Other ways to keep your account active include:* Reading or sending an email* Using Google Drive* Watching a YouTube video* Sharing a photo* Downloading an app* Using Google Search* Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service.Exceptions to the policyThere are some exceptions to this policy. Examples include: a Google Account with YouTube channels, videos or comments; an account that has a gift card with a monetary balance; or an account that has a published application, for example, one that hosts an app on the Google Play store.

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Besides revenue panic among real money gaming startups, there’s a fear that VCs might walk away from this segment at least for the next few months India’s real money gaming industry is on a precipice. The recently proposed changes for GST have thrown a major curveball for players such as Dream11, MPL, Zupee, WinZO, Rush by Hike, and a host of other startups that fear the worst. While the rules will only go into effect from October, the new GST rate could be applied retrospectively which has clearly created panic among many startups. We have already seen this in the case of MPL, Hike and Spartan Poker which have laid off employees, but more severe steps are likely to come. Besides revenue panic, there’s a fear that VCs might walk away from RMG and invest in other gaming models, denting the fortunes of some large companies. Let’s jump into these problems, but after these must-read stories from our newsroom this week: Skill-Lync’s Debt Trap For Students: Fake loan applications, personal loans masquerading as educational loans, no placements and a debt trap. The story of why hundreds of students are outraged at edtech platform Skill-Lync Unicorns As Job Creators? Inc42 data shows that Flipkart is the biggest employer among Indian unicorns, with 47,859 employees on its payroll. Where do the other unicorns stand? The Zyber 365 Mystery: Ahmedabad-based web3 & AI startup ZYBER 365 recently claimed to have become India’s 109th unicorn. But Inc42’s exclusive investigation shows this is a smoke and mirrors game RMG Vs The Tax Boss Let’s get one thing out of the way. The changes in the GST structure impact those online games that include wagering or an entry fee to play with a real-money payout. It covers “games of skill” as well as “games of chance”, but for the purposes of the startup ecosystem, it’s largely going to disrupt those gaming platforms that have fantasy sports, rummy, poker, card games and similar real money casual games as their primary models. The revenue models of each of these different games will be impacted distinctly by the new changes. Here’s a look at how things change in the two most popular categories: As we can see, the new GST rules make it more complicated for the latter category to be appealing to users who are chasing real money rewards. Players will need to consistently make 40% or higher profits on their entry amount to get any real outcomes from these games. The impact is slightly lower on the fantasy sports platforms, which typically involve a one-time entry fee that can be spread across multiple pooled competitions. In pooled competitions, the prize money is distributed to multiple players. With the new GST rules, the winners of pools might continue to get the same prize money, whereas second or third place players might not get the same payouts as they do now. So even within the real money gaming ecosystem — which accounted for 77% of the total gaming sector revenue of INR 13,500 Cr as per a FICCI-EY report — there is a clear disparity in terms of the impact. And the higher tax burden is set to hurt smaller companies more. VCs believe that even though the tax burden has risen, companies such as Dream11 have the revenue safety net to continue scaling up despite the disruption. With INR 142 Cr in profits in FY22 and being a market leader, Dream11 in particular, is in a better position than others to navigate this market. Other companies will have to not only bear the tax burden, but also compete with Dream11 which can count on high brand recall and a legacy in the fantasy sports arena. “It is the smaller companies that have to worry. They neither have the scale to justify a fund infusion to navigate the new GST world nor do they have the revenue to pay the taxes and also absorb the lower potential revenue,” according to a Delhi NCR-based gaming investor. Gaming Startups Stare At Layoffs  So what kind of impact can one expect? MPL has laid off 350 employees, Hike (Rush) has also let go of more than 100 employees and Spartan Poker has let go of 40% of its workforce. And this is just the beginning, according to many of those in the industry. Founders in the space tell us that cost-cutting has become necessary for many because if they want to survive, they need to solve the unit economics problem created by the potential slowdown in RMG adoption. This is particularly true for poker, rummy and other card games, where players are smart enough to see that they either have to be ready for higher losses or invest more and balance the tax burden vs the potential for winning. “In the initial few days of the GST changes going into effect, there will be a drop-off of the casual players who typically put in like INR 200-INR 300 per month. This is about 90% of the user base. It’s only a small percentage that pay fees in excess of INR 10,000 per month,” says the cofounder of a Delhi NCR-based RMG startup. The cofounder added that most startups are more or less writing off casual users. They expect to retain only a handful of the high value players. “RMG players were hiring multiple product managers and focussing on expanding on formats, but all of that has to be revisited now. As it is many of these companies were bloated and some of them needed to cut costs anyway. The GST disruption means they have no recourse now,” according to an exec from a game development company. VCs Are Walking Away The new unit economics battle in light of 28% GST is not only for creating sustainable models but also to attract investors. Any unit economics disruption in the current funding winter means delays of months in funding talks and investors are already walking away. Sources within the ecosystem tell us that

Earlier this week, Unacademy sacked a teacher, Karan Sangwan, days after his video went viral on social media Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Maharashtra Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi condemned Unacademy’s stance on the issue The challenge of handling controversies sparked by employees’ political opinion remains unsolved for global startups and corporates as well A recent incident at Unacademy, where the edtech giant sacked a teacher for voicing a political opinion during an online class, has again raised the question of employees’ rights to openly discuss political issues at the workplace. It’s also brought up some debate about whether Indian startups are ready for politics at the workplace even as they enter the mainstream ahead of the 2024 General Elections. Earlier this week, Unacademy sacked judicial services tutor Karan Sangwan, days after his video went viral on social media. During his class, Sangwan is seen urging students to vote for educated candidates, which brought up talk about political bias. In response to the video, Unacademy cofounder Roman Saini said, “We are an education platform that is deeply committed to imparting quality education. To do this we have in place a strict Code of Conduct for all our educators with the intention of ensuring that our learners have access to unbiased knowledge.” Sangwan was dismissed for seemingly being in breach of the Code of Conduct, the cofounder said. He added that the classroom is not “a place to share personal opinions and views as they can wrongly influence them.” The decision, however, sparked a controversy as many questioned whether Unacademy could take such a step for a teacher who simply urged students to vote for educated candidates. Many X (formerly Twitter) users called for boycotting Unacademy, with ‘UninstallUnacademy’ trending on the site. Even Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi condemned Unacademy’s stance on the issue. Startups In Political Crossfire Indian startups have been seen historically fostering an open culture but it seems they are not certain yet how to deal with heated controversies about political and social issues. We have seen similar cases in the case of Zomato and other companies in the recent past. Back in 2021, foodtech Zomato landed in a controversy after one of its employees told a customer, during a grievance redressal conversation, that everyone should know Hindi as it is the national language. The exchange triggered a controversy and many condemned the company for imposing the language on customers. As an immediate reaction, Zomato issued a public apology and informed the customer that it “terminated the agent for their negligence towards our diverse culture”. However, Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal later informed that the employee in question was being reinstated and added that call centre agents are “not experts on languages and regional sentiments”. While many lauded Goyal for supporting the employee in crisis, many raised questions about the startup’s guidelines on sensitive issues. In today’s digital age, social media has become a major communication channel for startups and their customers. Hence, it has become more important for them to have a clear strategy to deal with controversies but defending employee rights as well. Was Unacademy Right To Sack Karan Sangwan? The freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens under the constitution of India under article 19 (1) (A). The exercise of this right is subservient to “reasonable restrictions” being imposed under article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. While rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 deals with the involvement of a government employee in politics and elections, there is no definitive rule for private sector employees in this regard. However, private entities can put clauses in employee agreements to restrain employees from making sensitive political comments. According to a legal expert, not willing to be named, the termination of Unacademy teacher is illegal as he did not mention any political party, politician or any individual in his comment which was mostly generic. However, as of yet, there’s no sign of any legal action being taken against the company. Besides India, this issue remains unsolved for global startups and corporates as well. For example, Google updated its employee guidelines in 2021 to caution against unnecessary political debate and improper disclosure of company information which sparked controversies as well. Other companies such as Basecamp and Coinbase also tried to ban political discussions at work which resulted in a loss of number of employees. Given that Indian startups have become part of the mainstream consciousness and public debates, startups will definitely need to be more agile when it comes to navigating such challenges in the future. Technology has become a battleground for political stakes as we have seen in the past couple of election cycles, and with the 2024 General Elections on the horizon, startups are increasingly likely to see themselves being dragged into political debates.

PM Modi said India is willing to share its experiences in the domain of digital public goods with the world, especially the Global South Speaking at G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting, Modi called for a consensus on ‘G20 High-Level Principles’ for building a secure, trusted, and resilient digital economy Earlier this week, India inked an MoU with Trinidad and Tobago to share the India Stack and cooperate in the area of ‘digital transformation’ Touting India Stack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (August 19) said that the country’s digital public infrastructure could be scaled worldwide to tackle global challenges.  “India’s digital public infrastructure offers scalable, secure and inclusive solutions for global challenges,” said Modi in his virtual address during the G20 digital economy ministers’ meeting in Bengaluru.  Modi also said that India is an ‘ideal testing lab’ for solutions that can be replicated globally anywhere in the world. Citing his rationale, he said that products that succeed in India could be emulated globally.  The PM  also said that the country is willing to share its experiences in the domain of digital public goods, adding that India Stack has been envisaged to ensure ‘no one is left behind, especially those from the Global South’.  Mentioning state-backed and AI-powered language translation platform Bhashini, the PM said that its new offering will support digital inclusion in all diverse languages of India. Citing the potential global nature of security threats in the future, Modi also called on the delegates to build a consensus on ‘G20 High-Level Principles’ for building a secure, trusted, and resilient digital economy.  Speaking at the same event, Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also called for global collaborative efforts to combat digital security threats. He underlined three key areas – digital public infrastructure, digital economy security and digital skilling –  identified by India to foster democratisation of technology.  India Stack refers to a host of open application programming interfaces (APIs) and digital public goods infrastructure developed by the Indian government to promote interoperability, build payments networks and streamline data-driven services. India Stack in the umbrella term that includes a host of projects from UPI to the account aggregator network. India has been pitching to countries globally for the deployment of India Stack. Earlier this week, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Trinidad and Tobago to share the India Stack and cooperate in the area of ‘digital transformation.’  Apart from that, India has signed similar pacts with countries such as Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, and Antigua & Barbuda. Meanwhile, nations such as Mauritius and Saudi Arabia are also mulling deploying the India Stack. Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet also approved the expansion of the Digital India initiative with an additional outlay of INR 14,903 Cr.

Without giving any timeline or additional details, Navi said it was super excited for the upcoming launch of Navi UPI With this, Navi has joined a growing list of startups from CRED to Zomato that have recently launched their own UPI offerings The announcement of the new launch came a month after the IPO-bound startup Navi laid off 200 employees Sachin Bansal-led fintech startup Navi Technologies on Saturday (August 19) said it is foraying into the digital payments space with the launch of Navi UPI. “At Navi, we’ve been working hard on something new and are super excited to announce the upcoming launch of “Navi UPI” – our leap into the payments domain! We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with NPCI to help realise its mission to reach every single Indian and thankful to their team for guiding us through this process,” the IPO-bound startup said in a post on LinkedIn. However, it did not offer any further details on the gamut of services that will be offered by the platform. With this, Navi joins a growing list of consumer-facing internet startups from CRED to Zomato that have recently launched their own Unified Payments Interface (UPI) offerings. The new UPI product is likely a part of Navi’s strategy to augment its operations and create alternate streams of revenue.  The fintech startup could be eyeing government subsidies for digital payment enablers which could further add to its topline. It could also be looking to create an in-house system that would spare the need for routing payment transactions through third-party players and keep merchant data within the confines of the startup.  The development comes at a time when the digital payments ecosystem in the country has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years, with monthly UPI transactions nearing the 1,000 Cr mark. As per the data of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI processed 996 Cr transactions worth INR 15.34 Lakh Cr in July 2023, growing month-on-month (MoM) and year-on-year (YoY).  Founded in 2018 by Bansal and Ankit Agarwal, Bengaluru-based Navi Technologies is a fintech startup that operates in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and offers a gamut of services from insurance to micro-finance.  The company recently sold its subsidiary Chaitanya India Fin Credit Pvt Ltd for INR 1,479 Cr to Ananya Birla-led Svatantra Microfin.  Just a month ago, Navi fired about 200 employees. There is also no clarity on its proposed INR 3,350 Cr IPO. Navi Technologies, the parent of the startup, slipped in the red in FY22, reporting a net loss of INR 362 Cr as against a net profit of INR 71 Cr in FY21.

A new report by an ad quality and transparency platform has found that YouTube ads may have led to tracking of children by tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and Microsoft, among others. The findings by Adalytics suggest that over 300 brands’ ads for adult products, like cars, were displayed on 100 YouTube videos for kids. YouTube uses an AI-powered ad-targeting system from Google called “Performance Max” to pinpoint ideal customers. The report also said that the ads were particularly shown to a user not signed in to YouTube. They linked back to the advertisers’ websites, which would tag the user’s browser with tracking software from Google, Meta, Microsoft, and other companies. For example, there was an instance when ads for credit cards by BMO, a Canadian bank, were displayed to a viewer in the US on a Barbie-themed children’s video on the “Kids Diana Show” YouTube channel. Why this is a problemThe findings are a matter of concern because tracking the data of children below the age of 13 for the purpose of ads without parental consent violates the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Two US Senators have urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe whether Google and YouTube violated COPPA. “This behaviour by YouTube and Google is estimated to have impacted hundreds of thousands, to potentially millions, of children across the United States,” the senators told FTC. Here’s what Google has to sayMeanwhile, Google has denied violating COPPA saying that the findings were “deeply flawed and misleading.” Michael Aciman, a spokesperson for Google, responded to the report by Adalytics on Thursday, saying the findings were “deeply flawed and misleading.” Google told The New York Times it was useful to run ads for adults on children’s videos because the parents who were watching could become customers. It also said that the company did not run personalised ads on children’s videos and that its ad practices fully complied with COPPA. The company also clarified that ads that appear on children’s videos are based on webpage content, not targeted to user profiles. It added that it only notified advertisers or tracking services that the user had watched YouTube and clicked on the ad, and not whether a viewer coming from YouTube had watched a children’s video.The company added that it did not have the ability to control data collection on a brand’s website after a YouTube viewer clicked on an ad.