Rush Hour: UP schools to stay open on Christmas, Meta blocks Congress’ AI videos on PM Modi & more

Schools in Uttar Pradesh will not observe a holiday for Christmas on December 25 but will stay open to commemorate the birth centenary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. An order issued by the state’s Basic Education Department said that attendance for students would be mandatory on Thursday.

The department directed schools to organise speeches, cultural programmes and remembrance activities to honour Vajpayee. The order applies to government primary and upper primary schools in the state.

The decision reportedly came amid demands made by the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal in Saharanpur district to celebrate December 25 as “Bal Gaurav [child pride] and Good Governance Day” instead of Christmas. Read on.

Meta restricted access for Indian users to two artificial intelligence-generated videos posted by the Congress showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adani Group chairperson Gautam Adani. The social media conglomerate took the action after it received takedown notices from the Delhi Police, it disclosed to the Lumen Database, a Harvard University project.

The company said that the videos did not violate its community standards, but it would risk losing safe harbour protections and would put its local personnel at risk of criminal penalties if it failed to comply with the notices.

Losing safe harbour protections would mean that the platforms would be...

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