Ban | Business Upturn

Austria plans social media prohibition for children under 14

Savita Uppar — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 09:41:46 +0000

Austria is set to ban children under 14 from using social media platforms. The government plans to implement this by the start of the new school year in September 2026. State Secretary for Digital Affairs Alexander Pröll confirmed these plans. He stated that the government is looking into ways to enforce the ban and find technical solutions. This would help ensure that platforms can stop users under 14 from creating or keeping accounts on major social media sites. This move follows Australia’s new rule that prohibits under-16s from accessing social media, which took effect in December.

It also comes after France’s National Assembly approved a ban for those under 15. Austria aims to adopt a similar approach by placing the responsibility for enforcement on the social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and others would need to verify user ages or face hefty fines. However, the proposal is facing challenges within Austria’s ruling coalition. The liberal NEOS party supports protecting children online but disagrees with the Australian model due to concerns about data collection.

NEOS has suggested using Austria’s eID system for age verification, but this can’t be put into place until 2027. The Greens have called for mandatory age verification and stricter penalties for platforms that do not comply. Youth organizations are divided on the issue. Some appreciate the protection, while others caution that a blanket ban could take away important online experiences for young people. Austria is part of a larger trend in Europe, where France is also moving to ban under-15s and the UK is considering similar measures. Governments across the continent are looking for solutions to address children’s mental health and safety online. As of March 2026, no legislation has been enacted yet. Cross-party expert groups are still working to finalize the technical and legal framework.

Indian government extends onion export ban amid supply concerns and inflationary pressures

Matrika Shukla — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 10:38:37 +0000

The Indian government has prolonged the prohibition on onion exports until the culmination of the fiscal year. This extension, announced by Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh to PTI on Tuesday, signifies the Centre’s resolve to maintain adequate supply levels and curb inflationary pressures in the market.

The recent move by the Centre echoes its stance from late 2023. On December 8, 2023, a notification from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade amended the export policy of onions from free to prohibited until March 31, 2024.

In October 2023, the Centre had opted to increase the sale of buffer onion stock at a subsidized rate of Rs 25 per kg in retail markets to alleviate consumer burden. Additionally, in August 2023, India had initially imposed a ban on onion exports until December 31, 2023.

Following reports of the Centre’s potential decision to lift the export ban on onions, wholesale onion prices surged by 40.62 per cent to Rs 1,800 per quintal on February 19 in Lasalgaon, the nation’s largest wholesale onion market, compared to Rs 1,280 per quintal on February 17.

Given the upcoming general elections in the next couple of months, it’s improbable that the ban will be lifted even after March 31. Sources indicate that rabi (winter) onion production is anticipated to be lower due to reduced area coverage, particularly in Maharashtra.

The Indian government’s decision to extend the prohibition on onion exports until the end of the fiscal year underscores its commitment to stabilizing supply levels and mitigating inflationary pressures in the market. This continuation of the ban aligns with the Centre’s previous actions and reflects the ongoing challenges faced in the agricultural sector, especially with regards to onion production. With the looming general elections and anticipated lower rabi onion production, the likelihood of lifting the export ban remains slim.

West Bengal bans ‘The Kerala Story’ movie

News Desk — Mon, 08 May 2023 16:32:29 +0000

The West Bengal chief minister said Monday that the film The Kerala Story, directed by Sudipto Sen, would be banned in the state. Since the trailer was released, the film has been mired in debate. The video received backlash as it falsely claimed that 32,000 females in Kerala disappeared after joining ISIS.

The government of West Bengal has made the decision to censor the film The Kerala Story. Mamta Banerjee said this was necessary to prevent acts of violence and keep calm in the state.

The Kashmir Files? What is it?” The aim is to put down one group. What exactly happens in The Kerala Story?”It’s a twisted tale,” she continued.

The film’s producer, Vipul Shah, has threatened legal action if that is really what she has done. After Banerjee declared the ban on the film, the government promised to “do whatever is possible within the provisions of the law to fight.”

The film’s main female characters are played by Adah Sharma, Yogita Bihani, Siddhi Idnani, and Sonia Balani. The film, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, was at the center of a heated political debate.

The Kerala High Court previously remarked that a disclaimer stating that the film is a fictionalized and dramatized rendition of real events had been issued with the film. The disclaimer also made clear that the video makes no claims about the veracity of the events shown.

DGCA rescinds ban on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft

Sneha Sengupta — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 12:43:22 +0000

On Tuesday, India-based air safety regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said that it had cleared Boeing Co’s 737 MAX aircraft to fly with immediate effect. Earlier, DGCA had stopped operations of Boeing 737 MAX operations in India with effect from March 2019.

SpiceJet has 13 MAX in its scheduled flights. The Gurugram’s airline averred that it has entered into a “settlement” with a lessor of Boeing 737 Max planes- Avolon. The airline mentioned in an official note that it hopes to see these MAX aircraft flying again soon.

On April 20, 2021, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) lifted a partial ban on Boeing 737 Max aircraft in India, and has now permitted the international airlines to operate inside the national air space. Additionally, the aviation regulator has uplifted the curbs partially on the grounded 737 Max in India on the condition of its fleet of ‘operational readiness.’

“This is for those overflying and those being readied for return to service. These are the grounded aircraft belonging to lessors that have been exempted and can be flown away from India,” a senior official told Moneycontrol, a news media outlet in India.

India-based SpiceJet operates an overall of 13 Boeing 737 Max aircraft. However, these flights have been grounded with effect from 2019. The aircraft was imposed to take its fleet of all 737 Max aircraft, the same model associated with the twin attack.

Germany eases restrictions on travellers from Delta variant hit countries like India, Uk and others

Aayushi Singh — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 04:56:05 +0000

On Monday, Germany lifted a ban from travellers of India, the UK, and three other countries, where the delta variant of coronavirus was found in the samples of COVID-19.

In fact, the variant is the dominant one found in the UK which scuttled the Boris Johnson government’s plan to open up the country.

The Robert Koch Institute, which is a German Federal Government Agency responsible for disease control and prevention, said that India, Nepal, Russia, Portugal and the UK had been downgraded to high incidence areas from the current categorisation of areas of variant concerns, it would make entering the country easier for travellers who were not a resident of Germany.

Regardless of vaccination status, the rules in Germany only allows its citizens to enter the country from variant nations and would also have to go through a two-week quarantine.

The high incidence areas status would allow the travellers from these countries to enter Germany only if they test negative on arriving in Germany and would undergo a 10 days quarantine on arrival, the period could also be shortened to five if the test results for COVID-19 are negative. The new norms would start working from Wednesday.

Jens Spahn, German Health Minister, said in the previous week that the federal government would look into the situation for allowing the travellers from the delta variant to hit countries in the upcoming days.

First discovered in India, the relaxation in curbs had been driven by the fact that the vaccines were found effective against the delta variant.

Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, on Friday, said that they thought that in the foreseeable future people would be travel again without going into quarantine only if they had received double jabs.

Dubai in the previous month eased restrictions on Indian Travellers who had received both the doses of UAE-approved COVID-19 vaccines, such as Sputnik V, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinopharm, and Oxford-AstraZeneca.

However, the passengers from India have been requested to undergo a rapid PCR test four hours prior to departure to Dubai and on arrival in Dubai, and on arrival, the passengers must undergo quarantine until the results are received.

PUBG ban benefits Rival Game Call of Duty

Aditi Swarup — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 08:49:32 +0000

Like TikTok’s ban bosted other alternative platforms and apps, it seems that the PUBG ban is majorly benefiting its rivals like Call of Duty.

App analytics firm, Sensor Tower published a report saying that post the ban of PUBG(PlayerUnknown’s Battleground) Mobile, the downloads for Garena Free Fire and Call of Duty (COD) Mobile have risen consistently.
Between 3rd and 9th September, GFF and COD-Mobile were downloaded 3.7 million and 1.4 million times respectively.

After a statement was released saying that PUBG’s Chinese connections have been severed many fans are hoping that the ban will be lifted.

PUBG Corporation (subsidiary of South Korean Krafton) has issued a statement saying China's Tencent will no longer franchise the game in India.

10/10 expect Reliance Jio to be the local partner now & the ban to be lifted.

Modi always comes through for his dear corporate friends pic.twitter.com/wlANe2nzP9

— Saket Gokhale MP (@SaketGokhale) September 8, 2020

Mark Zuckerberg concerned about the Ban on TikTok

Aditi Swarup — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 11:36:59 +0000

In an All-Hands meeting of Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg was asked about the situation surrounding TikTok, an App by ByteDance.
The CEO of the social media giant expressed concern over the ban of its competitor, “I just think it’s a really bad long-term precedent, and that it needs to be handled with the utmost care and gravity whatever the solution is,” Mr Zuckerberg said, “it could very well have long-term consequences in other countries around the world.”
The discussion progressed further and Mr Zuckerberg was asked if Facebook had plans of acquiring or taking over TikTok, as Facebook has done previously with other competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp. The CEO said that he wouldn’t discuss the company’s Mergers and Acquisition strategy in an all-employee meeting.
The ban by the U.S. Government on TikTok stated that there are credible threats to U.S.A’s National Security because of the Chinese app. On this Mr Zuckerberg said, “I certainly think that there are valid national security questions about having an app that has a lot of people’s data that follows the rules of another country, a government that is increasingly is kind of seen as a competitor.”
The Facebook CEO has expressed these views on multiple occasions.