X shames the Indian government… and itself

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

X shames the Indian government… and itself

The company put out a statement claiming that the government ordered it to block 2,355 accounts—within one hour! Although the order was issued on July 3, X dragged its feet until Saturday evening. The accounts blocked included those of Reuters, Reuters World, the Chinese Global Times and Turkish public broadcaster TRT World. All accounts displayed the message: “Withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.” But they were restored 24 hours later when the government backtracked—in response to widespread outcry over the blocking of Reuters.

What the government says: We never did any such thing—or issued any such order. In fact, we worked tirelessly to rescue Reuters from X’s tyranny:

The Government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued with ‘X’ from the late night of 5th July 2025. ‘X’ has un-necessarily exploited technicalities involved around the process and didn’t unblock the URLs. However, after a lot of follow up on hourly basis, X has finally unblocked Reuters and other URLs after 9 pm on 6th July 2025. They took more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters.

What’s notable: X called out the move as blatant censorship, making it clear that officials did not provide any justification—and insisted the accounts “remain blocked until further notice.” This is not the first time the company has shamed the IT ministry:

In May, the Indian government had ordered X to block over 8,000 accounts in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor. These included accounts of international news organisations, The Wire, Free Press Kashmir, The Kashmiriyat and Maktoob Media. The government accused these accounts of spreading “provocative” content, misinformation and anti-national propaganda. That time, too, X had expressed reservations about these directives.

X is also the only platform to offer any resistance to the government’s increasingly totalitarian control over social media (see: amendments to IT Act). It has filed lawsuits in Karnataka challenging the Sahyog portal which empowers “countless” government officials to issue takedown orders—without any legal safeguards or oversight.

But, but, but: The very same X is busy tinkering with its chatbot Grok—to teach it the ‘right’ politics. A Business Insider investigation in February revealed that an “army of AI tutors” have toiled to make Grok an alternative to supposedly “woke" chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT:

Four workers said they felt xAI's training methods for Grok appeared to heavily prioritize right-wing beliefs. "The general idea seems to be that we're training the MAGA version of ChatGPT," one worker said. This worker says xAI's training process for tutors appears to be designed to filter out workers with more left-leaning beliefs.

The fallout: All that ‘tutoring’ is finally bearing fruit. While X was busy posturing in India on Tuesday, Grok was doling out antisemitic answers and abusing Polish PM Donald Tusk (why?). More broadly, almost any question on politics now displays a rightwing tilt. The reason: a new set of internal instructions:

While a previous system-prompt update two months ago warned Grok not to automatically defer to mainstream authority or media, its newest instructions tell it to “assume subjective viewpoints sourced from the media are biased.” It also tells it not to shy away from viewpoints that are “politically incorrect” as long as they’re substantiated.

So let’s review: Elon Musk is fighting for freedom of the press in India—while he gags the very same media by manipulating his chatbot. Wah!

Reading list: For more on censorship of Grok, we recommend reading Business Insider and Fortune. The Telegraph is best on the Reuters drama at home. CBS News and The Guardian report on Grok’s recent bad behaviour.

Israel’s real plan for Gaza: Concentration humanitarian camps

Benjamin Netanyahu met Donald Trump at the White House to supposedly talk about a ceasefire plan—which Trump is working hard to achieve. So much so that Bibi nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize (we kid you not). The two men held a series of meetings over two days—but there was no media access or announcement afterwards.

But, but, but: It is very obvious from informal comments in front of reporters that Bibi and Trump are working toward the same goal—the mass expulsion of Gazans from their home:

Netanyahu added that Israel was working “very closely” with the United States to identify countries that would be willing to accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza, and suggested that discussions with several nations were already “getting close” to fruition. Trump, seated across from the Israeli leader, said that “we’ve had great cooperation” from countries surrounding Israel and added that “something good will happen.”

More than wishful thinking: This plan to exile Gazans en masse was first put forward by Trump—to turn the strip into a “riviera.” That’s not just talk. According to The Guardian, ex UK PM Tony Blair’s thinktank worked with Israeli businessmen and US consultants to put together a shiny ppt—which was shared with the Trump administration:

It envisaged that private investors would have been attracted to Gaza once many of the inhabitants had been paid to leave. The plan outlined in the slides was reported to have been created to attract Trump’s attention and that of wealthy Gulf rulers. Among 10 “mega projects”, the document includes the “MBS Ring” and “MBZ Central” highways — named after the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — and an “Elon Musk smart manufacturing zone”.

The new plot twist: is that Tel Aviv is working on herding Gazans into a ‘humanitarian city’, as in an internment camp:

Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, [Defence Minister Israel] Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists. Israeli forces would control the perimeter of the site and initially “move” 600,000 Palestinians into the area — mostly people currently displaced in the al-Mawasi area. Eventually the entire population of Gaza would be housed there, and Israel aims to implement “the emigration plan, which will happen.”

We are guessing/hoping there will be no gas chambers.

The primary objective: is still the same. Make life so unbearable that the Palestinians will leave:

[Israel] will concentrate the population, control who enters, not allow anyone to leave, and then push the population out of Gaza to implement, according to the Israelis, the Trump plan of depopulating Gaza and taking over the enclave…

Quote to note: When asked about the ‘riviera’ plan last night, Bibi said: “It’s called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay. But if they want to leave, they should be able to leave.”

The big picture: is summed up by this excellent Charlie Hebdo cartoon that best sums up the state of affairs:

Reading list: TIME and Al Jazeera report on the latest Bibi-Donald lovefest. The Guardian has more on the grotesque Rafah camp—and the slideshow on post-war plans for Gaza.

IIT-Kharagpur recruits ‘mothers’ for its students

The context: Over the past year, IIT Kharagpur has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. First, teachers accused the then-director VK Tiwari of “nepotism” and “arbitrary faculty recruitment” in September—which was followed by major protests in December. Then in April and May, the institute reported four student suicide cases.

What happened now: The university’s newly minted director Suman Chakraborty unveiled a daring initiative called ‘Campus Mothers’. These are female professors and staff who live on campus—who “will be trained to provide emotional support and mentorship to distressed students.” This will mainly involve taking “distressed” students to “tea, coffee, or dinner and create a community gathering where students can chat and share their concerns.”

As for why mummies: “Many of these women have experienced motherhood themselves—some have grown up children who may now be living abroad or otherwise independent.” Of course, like all female domestic labour it will be unpaid.

Point to note: The institute already has 24/7 counselling available for students—no doubt staffed by employees who get a salary. (The Print)

Say hello to the first malaria drug for newborns

Novartis has developed a drug called Coartem Baby—specially designed for very young infants, including newborns: "The new infant version of Coartem is dissolvable, including in breast milk, and has a sweet cherry flavour to make it easier to administer." This is a huge deal because 76% of the deaths caused by malaria are children under the age of five. And countries in West Africa report infections ranging between 3.4% and 18.4% in infants younger than six months old.

A real game-changer: Until now, doctors had to administer drugs made for older kids to babies—“increasing the risk of overdose.” And there is no malaria vaccine approved for the youngest babies either.

What’s next: The medicine has been approved by authorities in Switzerland and is expected to be rolled out in eight African countries—Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda—amongst more, within weeks. Novartis plans to introduce it on a "largely not-for-profit basis." (Reuters)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Meta’s latest AI power play: Apple’s head of AI models, Ruoming Pang, is jumping ship to join Zuckerberg’s new superintelligence unit.
OpenAI is tightening internal security after accusing Chinese rival DeepSeek of copying its models.
Samsung has projected a steep 56% drop in second-quarter profit—blaming its weak AI chip sales on US export curbs.
IBM is back in the game—rolling out its first major Power series upgrade in five years with the launch of next-gen Power11 chips.
ChatGPT is quietly testing a new ‘Study Together’ mode—where instead of giving answers, it grills you with questions like a virtual study buddy.
In a record-breaking move, two global shipping giants are set to pump Rs 10,000 crore into India—marking the biggest FDI in the sector since it opened to foreign investment in 2005.

sports & entertainment

The IPL’s value has shot up to $18.5 billion in 2025—with RCB dethroning CSK as the most valuable franchise after their maiden title win, while MI slips into second.
Scarlett Johansson is now Hollywood’s highest-grossing lead actor—leaping past Samuel L Jackson and Robert Downey Jr, thanks to ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ raking in $318 million in just six days.

health & environment

In a seismic first, scientists have captured slow-motion earthquakes in real time—gentle tremors that unfold over days but could help predict tsunamis and major quakes.
A new study warns over 15 million kids born between 2008 and 2017 could face gastric cancer in their lifetime—with India clocking the second-highest projected cases after China.
Melting glaciers could blow the lid off volcanoes—Chile study warns the climate crisis may trigger explosive eruptions, even in Antarctica.
As Texas reels from deadly floods, experts warn this could be the new normal—with Trump allies gutting key federal disaster agencies meant to keep states safe.

meanwhile, in the world

Trump’s tariffs could sting American families for around $2,300 this year, says a Yale analysis. His copper tariffs sent prices soaring to a record.
The Guardian has a good read on how terror groups are harnessing AI and digital tools faster than governments can keep up—turning counterterror efforts into a high-stakes game of Whac-a-Mole.
Amnesty flags Saudi Arabia’s execution spree—nearly 600 people, mostly foreign nationals, put to death for non-violent drug offences over the past decade, with very little scrutiny.
As time goes by, the scale of Texas’s flood disaster grows—161 still missing in Kerr County, with the statewide death toll now at 111.
Washington Post, in an exclusive, details how an AI-powered fake Marco Rubio prank-called foreign ministers, a governor, and a member of Congress.
China’s visa doors are wide open—tourists from 74 countries can now stroll in visa-free for 30 days.
US student visa season is off to a sluggish start for Indians—March to May saw the lowest issuances since 2022.

meanwhile, in India

Ten central trade unions have called a Bharat Bandh on July 9—slamming the government’s “anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-national pro-corporate” policies.
Kerala has taken Swiss shipping giant MSC to court, seeking $1.1 billion in damages after one of its container vessels sank in the Arabian Sea in May—spilling fuel and polluting the coast.
With polls around the corner, Nitish Kumar has rolled out a 35% job quota for women in Bihar government posts. Speaking of, new ID rules could knock millions off the rolls in Bihar—where poor record-keeping may cost many their say in a crucial Indian election.
Schools are back in session in Kashmir—but parents aren’t thrilled about the 7:30 am starts and hybrid classes, calling it a heatwave plan made from “AC rooms.”
India is in talks with Australia for rare earth minerals—as China’s export curbs spark a global scramble.
As rains wreaked havoc in Himachal’s Mandi, it was a village dog’s bark that saved the day—alerting 67 people to flee before a landslide wiped out their homes.

Three Parisian things to see

Paris Haute Couture Week kicked off on Monday with a fab collection by Indian designer Rahul Mishra called ‘Becoming Love’—inspired by the works of Gustav Klimt—yup, the one who painted the iconic ‘The Kiss’. We put together some collages for you. You can see the rest of the collection in this thread.

Also this beauty:

Cardi B showed up wearing a custom Schiaparelli gown—and a crow on her arm!

Dutch designer Iris van Herpen showcased bioluminescent dresses—which lit up thanks to 125 million algae embedded in the dress. See it below. Design Boom has more on this dress. NDTV has the highlights of Rahul Mishra’s collection while Associated Press has the Cardi B controversy.