iWorld
Bombay HC grants no relief to ByteDance in tax evasion case
KOLKATA: TikTok’s parent company ByteDance continues to remain in limbo as Bombay high court granted no relief in the case where the company challenged Indian authorities’ decision to freeze the its bank accounts.
According to a Reuters report, the court heard the plea on Wednesday. Despite ByteDance counsel Prakash Shah submitting that the company was bleeding and needed to withdraw funds for operational expenditures like staff salaries and rent, the court gave no relief.
Shah also added that four of the company’s bank accounts have been frozen. The next hearing in the matter is set for 6 April.
According to media reports, In mid-March, authorities ordered ByteDance India's accounts at Citibank and HSBC to be blocked because of alleged evasion of certain taxes in online advertising dealings between the ByteDance unit in India and its parent entity in Singapore, TikTok Pvt Ltd. The Chinese tech company moved to court asking to quash the directive as it fears that the move will hit Indian operations hard.
In January 2021, ByteDance decided to cut down its Indian workforce amid the uncertainty over its biggest business TikTok’s future in India. Following the political conflict between India and China, the Centre imposed a ban on a number of Chinese apps including short-video app TikTok last June.
iWorld
What SMS letters G, T, S and P mean and how they help spot scams
Small alphabet tags on messages reveal whether texts are government or ads.
MUMBAI: Sometimes the smallest letter in a message can be the biggest clue. In an age where smartphone users receive dozens of alerts every day, the tiny alphabet appearing at the end of many SMS messages can reveal whether a text is official, transactional, service related or simply promotional. Understanding these tags can help users quickly identify legitimate messages and stay alert to potential scams.
Under telecom regulations in India, SMS senders are required to categorise messages based on their purpose. As a result, many texts end with a single letter that indicates the type of communication being sent.
If an SMS ends with the letter G, it typically means the message has been sent by a government authority. These alerts may include information about public services, government schemes, safety advisories or emergency notifications such as natural disaster warnings.
A message ending with the letter T signals a transactional SMS. These are usually sent by banks, financial institutions or digital services to confirm activities such as payments, account updates or one time passwords (OTPs).
The letter S represents a service related message. These notifications commonly come from companies and online platforms providing updates about services or orders. For instance, e commerce platforms like Amazon or Flipkart often send delivery updates and order confirmations that end with the letter S.
Meanwhile, SMS messages ending with the letter P are promotional in nature. These texts are typically marketing communications sent by businesses advertising products, offers or services such as education programmes, fashion sales or loan schemes.
Understanding these simple tags can also help users stay cautious about fraudulent messages. Cybersecurity experts note that scam messages often do not follow these regulated formats and may arrive without any category letter at the end.
While the absence of a tag does not automatically mean a message is fraudulent, it can serve as an early warning sign encouraging users to verify the source before clicking links or sharing personal information.
For those who wish to reduce marketing texts altogether, telecom operators also provide Do Not Disturb (DND) options.
Users of Jio can activate DND through the MyJio app by navigating to the menu, selecting settings and enabling the DND option with preferred filters.
Similarly, subscribers of Airtel and Vi can enable the same feature through their respective mobile apps to block promotional messages.
In a digital world flooded with alerts and notifications, recognising what a single letter means could make the difference between a harmless update and a potential scam.
