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No respite to Yahoo India on objectionable content issue
NEW DELHI: Criminal proceedings will continue against Yahoo India which had moved the Delhi High Court against a lower court order summoning it for allegedly hosting objectionable content.
Refusing to stay the criminal proceedings against the website, Justice Suresh Kait refused to pass any order “at this stage” and fixed the matter for 1 March, saying he will hear the case before the trial court hears it on 13 March.
Appearing for Yahoo India, senior advocate Arvind Nigam claimed that the company‘s name did not figure in the complaint and submitted that the high court should stay the proceedings.
Vinay Rai, the complainant before the lower court, submitted that he had not received a copy of the petition as yet and it would be difficult for him to file the reply.
Earlier on 20 January, the High Court had issued notice to the Delhi Police on a plea by Yahoo India challenging the summons issued to it by the magisterial court for allegedly hosting objectionable content. The court had then allowed Yahoo India‘s plea that its case be heard separately.
Yahoo India had said the complaint and the order of the magistrate dealt with alleged objectionable material retrieved from various websites including Zombie, Orkut, Youtube, Facebook, Blogspot and none of them pertained to Yahoo, which said it was only a provider of email and chat services.
The magisterial court had on 23 December issued summons to 21 websites for allegedly committing offences of criminal conspiracy, sale of obscene books and obscene objects to young persons.
The Centre had earlier filed a report before the lower court saying there was sufficient material to proceed against the 21 websites for alleged offences of promoting enmity between classes and causing prejudice to national integration.
Out of the 21 websites, Google India and Facebook India had also moved the high court against the magistrate‘s order, saying the summons be quashed as they did not commit any offence.
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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.
