New Delhi, Oct 7: Meta on Wednesday announced a series of new AI-powered measures aimed at strengthening its fight against child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram, as the company revealed it took action against 5.3 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content in India during the first six months of 2026.

The social media giant said more than 98 per cent of the violative content removed in India between January and June this year was proactively detected by its systems before being reported by users.

“Between January to June 2026, we actioned 5.3 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content on Facebook and Instagram in India, with over 98 per cent found and proactively addressed before anyone reported it,” the tech giant said.

Globally, Meta said it actioned 33.2 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content across Facebook and Instagram during the same period, with over 97 per cent identified proactively.

“Globally between January to June 2026, we actioned 33.2 million pieces of child sexual exploitation content from Facebook and Instagram, over 97 per cent found and proactively addressed before anyone reported it,” it added.

According to the company, online predators are increasingly using sophisticated tactics to evade detection, including advertisements that appear harmless but covertly direct users to illegal content hosted outside Meta’s platforms.

In response, the company has upgraded its ad review systems and deployed additional artificial intelligence tools to identify such activity more effectively.

Meta said the new safeguards include large language model (LLM)-based detection systems designed to identify “signposting” content that may appear benign but is suspected of directing users to child sexual exploitation material or related harmful activities.

The company has also enhanced its ability to assess the destination of advertisements, enabling it to block links leading to violative content and take action against the accounts responsible.

“Once a link is blocked, we search for and then delete other content – such as ads, posts or comments – that contain the link. We take steps to prevent people from posting content containing a blocked link on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, and ads containing blocked links would be rejected at upload,” Meta said in its official statement.

New Delhi, Oct 7: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday permitted a senior director of Vivo Mobile India to travel to Bangkok for four days for official meetings and directed suspension of the Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against him during the period.

A single-judge Bench of Justice Sachin Datta allowed Harinder Dahiya, the company’s Senior Director of Finance and Accounts, to travel to Thailand, from October 12 to 15 for official meetings concerning statutory audit matters, audit and control transformation, litigation, and business and finance strategy at Vivo India.

The High Court also permitted release of his passport and directed that the LOC against him will remain suspended during the four-day period.

Dahiya had challenged the March 19, 2026 order of the Patiala House Courts, which had rejected his plea seeking setting aside of the LOC, permission to travel abroad and release of his passport.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the application, contending that Dahiya, as Director and Chief Financial Officer of Vivo India, had played a crucial role in the alleged siphoning of proceeds of crime stated to be around Rs 20,241 crore.

The federal anti-money laundering agency also said that the official meetings could be attended virtually and relied on another order of the High Court, by which the travel application of co-accused Guangwen Kuang alias Andrew Kuang was dismissed.

However, the Delhi High Court said the earlier order concerning Kuang did not assist the ED as it was based on his foreign nationality and the absence of an extradition treaty with China.

Dahiya, an Indian national travelling to Thailand, stood on a different footing, it said.

As part of the conditions, Dahiya has been directed to deposit original title documents of his immovable assets with the High Court Registry as security until his return and furnish his travel itinerary, flight details, address of stay and contact number in Thailand to the investigating officer and trial court.

He has also been directed to intimate the investigating officer and trial court within 24 hours of his return, re-deposit his passport within the same period and appear before the trial court on the next date fixed.

The High Court also directed that Dahiya will not contact any witness, tamper with evidence or do anything prejudicial to the proceedings.

The LOC will automatically revive after October 15.

The High Court clarified that its observations were confined to the present application and would not amount to an expression on the merits of the main case.

New Delhi, Oct 7: The outlook for onion availability has strengthened considerably with robust market arrivals and the commencement of fresh Kharif supplies, with the improving supply position already translating into a broad-based moderation in prices of the staple vegetable across mandis and major consumer markets, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said on Wednesday.

The weighted average mandi price in Maharashtra has declined by nearly 13 per cent, from around Rs 4,030 per quintal on September 16 to about Rs 3,475 per quintal on October 3. The sustained moderation in mandi prices indicates that the increase in market arrivals is translating into improved supply conditions, a ministry statement said.

The easing trend is also visible across retail markets. As many as 126 cities have reported a decline of Rs 1–21 per kg in retail onion prices over the past two weeks, with moderation observed in major consuming states, it said.

Fresh Kharif onion arrivals have commenced from major producing states, including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan, while availability from stored stocks continues to meet market demands. Arrivals from these producing regions are expected to increase further in the coming weeks, improving overall availability in the consuming markets during the upcoming festive season, the statement said.

The production outlook for the Kharif crop is encouraging. All-India Kharif onion acreage is estimated to be around 5 per cent higher than last year’s already strong level, with crop conditions remaining favourable across major producing regions. The rainfall outlook by IMD during the harvesting period also provides support to the crop, with no forecast of excessive rains in key Kharif onion regions in the coming weeks to facilitate harvesting, drying, and movement of onions and reduce the risk of moisture-related crop damage.

The government is also augmenting supplies to consuming centres through buffer stock release. As on date, the government has disposed off more than 2.0 lakh Quintals through 8 Kanda Express and 467 trucks across 123 cities and is planning to deploy additional rail rakes, enabling larger quantities of onions to reach high-consumption markets. These efforts are being further strengthened ahead of the festive season, with additional rail movements being planned to improve the speed and efficiency of supply distribution, the statement said.

The combination of fresh Kharif arrivals, availability from stored stocks and continued movement of buffer onions to consumption centres provides multiple channels of supply to the market. The government is maintaining close oversight of arrivals, stocks and price movements and is taking appropriate measures to facilitate orderly distribution and adequate availability wherever required, the statement added.