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SC postpones IBF petition on digitisation to 8 July
NEW DELHI: The supreme court has once again rejected an application by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) for staying the court proceedings in the Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh high courts.
Chief justice Altamis Kabir, justice Vikramjit Sen and justice S A Bobde fixed 8 July as the date for further hearing on the petition by the IBF challenging the orders in the Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh high courts.
It also listed along with these cases a petition by IBF against the multi-system operator Digicable.
Some more MSOs from Andhra Pradesh including Chalasani Narendra Varaprasad were allowed to be impleaded in the case.
The IBF petition seeks to ensure that digitization is implemented as scheduled and without hindrance.
When the special leave petition had been mentioned before the court on 16 April, it had declined the prayer to stay any of the proceedings in the various high courts as it was informed that the Karnataka high court judgment on the subject was due. The bench presided over by chief justice Altamas Kabir felt it would await the judgment of the high court before taking up the matter.
The Karanataka, Gujarat and Allahabad high courts have since dismissed as having no merit the petitions seeking extension of the switch-of dates for phase II of digitisation in Bengaluru, Mysore, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi.
Petitions challenging digitisation are currently pending in the Madras, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh high courts. These affect the cities of Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam Bhopal, Indore, and Jabalpur.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
