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Summons to Yahoo quashed for lack of evidence
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today quashed the charge against Yahoo India of hosting objectionable content on its website, and set aside the summons issued to it by a trial court for initiating criminal proceedings.
Quashing the criminal proceedings against Yahoo India, Justice Suresh Kait accepted the plea that there was neither any material on record nor any allegations in the complaint against it. “There is no evidence on record against the petitioner,” he said.
While granting relief to Yahoo India, the High Court also warned it that the case against it can come up again if any credible piece of evidence is filed. The Court had earlier refused Yahoo India‘s plea for staying a trial court‘s proceedings against it.
Allowing the company‘s contention that it only provides email and chat services, the court said: “Being an intermediary, you are exempted.”
Yahoo was one of 21 websites facing criminal proceedings for hosting objectionable content.
The Metropolitan Magistrate had on 23 December summoned 21 websites, including Yahoo, Google and Facebook, to face trial for allegedly committing the offence punishable under Sections 292 (sale of obscene books) and 293 (sale of obscene objects to young person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Yahoo India had told the court that the suit against it was “motivated” and should be dismissed. The company said that there was neither any material on record nor any allegation in the complaint against it. The company also submitted that it could not be made a party in the case as the complainant did not disclose any cause of action against it.
Yahoo‘s counsel Arvind Nigam said it is not a social networking site like the other accused in the case, and only provides email and chat services. In any case, no objectionable material has been attributed to it and hence its case was different from others, he argued.
Earlier, complainant Vinay Rai had approached the trial court to remove objectionable content from 21 websites including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and YouTube. Among these, 12 websites are foreign-based.
The trial court had observed that the material submitted by the complainant contained obscene pictures and derogatory articles pertaining to Hindu deities, Prophet Mohammad and Jesus Christ.
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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.
