/
Navigation
C
Chronicles
Browse all articles
C
E
Explore
Semantic exploration
E
R
Research
Entity momentum
R
N
Nexus
Correlations & relationships
N
~
Story Arc
Topic evolution
S
Drift Map
Semantic trajectory animation
D
P
Posts
Analysis & commentary
P
Browse
@
Entities
Companies, people, products, technologies
Domains
Browse by publication source
Handles
Browse by social media handle
Detection
?
Concept Search
Semantic similarity search
!
High Impact Stories
Top coverage by position
+
Sentiment Analysis
Positive/negative coverage
*
Anomaly Detection
Unusual coverage patterns
Analysis
vs
Rivalry Report
Compare two entities head-to-head
/\
Semantic Pivots
Narrative discontinuities
!!
Crisis Response
Event recovery patterns
Connected
Nav: C E R N
Search: /
Command: ⌘K
Embeddings: large
VOICE ARCHIVE

Varsha Bansal

@varshaabansal
30 posts
2025-07-30
Inside the collapse of London's hottest AI startup https://builder.ai/. This is a story about AI washing with the founder claiming higher AI capabilities than what was going on internally & the power of adding AI to your company name to raise funds. https://restofworld.org/...
2025-07-30 View on X
Rest of World

An inside look at ex-unicorn Builder.ai's demise, which oversold its AI platform's abilities and frustrated customers with delivery delays and buggy products

In our new feature, we set out to find the truth. X: Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : Inside the collapse of London's hottest AI startup https://builder.ai/. This is a story about ...

2024-06-12
In the midst of immense government support, Koo tried har to get PM Modi on to the platform. Many former employees told me that they had a dedicated team for the PMO to convince him to join the app. Two years in a row they expected Modi to join Koo, but that did not happen [image]
2024-06-12 View on X
Rest of World

Sources detail struggles at Koo, an Indian rival to X, including laying off ~80% of its workforce in recent months and being unable to raise more funds

and even a Twitter alternative. But four years after launch, the Indian company is doing layoffs and has been unable to raise more funds to keep things afloat. By @VarshaaBansal ht...

Koo had a bunch of highs: first when they won the government's aatmanirbhar app challenge; then when they tied up with right-wing channel Republic Bharat. Mainly though, their popularity grew on anti-Twitter sentiment, especially in 2021 when the govt & Twitter were in a standoff [image]
2024-06-12 View on X
Rest of World

Sources detail struggles at Koo, an Indian rival to X, including laying off ~80% of its workforce in recent months and being unable to raise more funds

and even a Twitter alternative. But four years after launch, the Indian company is doing layoffs and has been unable to raise more funds to keep things afloat. By @VarshaaBansal ht...

2024-05-21
Please read this feature co-written with @NilChristopher which unravels the various ways in which AI is being used by politicians. There are calls, videos, songs, resurrections and more! Thanks @amitkatwala for the smooth and swift editing! https://www.wired.com/...
2024-05-21 View on X
Wired

How Indian politicians are using deepfakes for voter outreach; an estimated 50M+ AI voice calls were made in the two months before the elections in April 2024

India's elections are a glimpse of the AI-driven future of democracy.  Politicians are using audio and video deepfakes of themselves …

NEW: Indian voters have received more than 50 million AI-generated calls in the voice of politicians including PM Modi in the months leading up to & during India's general elections. Our in-depth story for @WIRED on the use of AI this election season. https://www.wired.com/...
2024-05-21 View on X
Wired

How Indian politicians are using deepfakes for voter outreach; an estimated 50M+ AI voice calls were made in the two months before the elections in April 2024

India's elections are a glimpse of the AI-driven future of democracy.  Politicians are using audio and video deepfakes of themselves …

2023-08-09
IIT grads have long dominated India and global tech. Of India's 108 unicorns, 68 have been founded by at least one IIT alum. My feature for @restofworld on how the IIT network plays out in helping each other, transcending borders. https://restofworld.org/...
2023-08-09 View on X
Rest of World

A look at the Indian Institutes of Technology, established in the 1950s and 1960s to emulate MIT and now comprising 23 schools offering a path to tech success

Indian tech entrepreneur Kesavan Kandadai has many accomplishments under his belt: launching Amazon Prime Video in India and founding … X: @restofworld , @vickiturk , @restofworld ...

2023-08-07
On July 10, UC launched an in-app video for partners, part of which I have watched, where the founder Abhiraj Bhal explains their reasons for introducing these strict rules. They are gonna be stricter by December, under their improvement plan called Project Shakti [image]
2023-08-07 View on X
Wired

Some workers say on-demand home services startup Urban Company, which helped Indian women enter the gig economy, pushed them out for not meeting steep targets

Urban Company Was the Last Good Gig Work Company in India My investigation on the recent spate of protests by Urban Company workers and a mysterious death. Here are three exclusive details 🧵 https://www.wired.co.uk/...
2023-08-07 View on X
Wired

Some workers say on-demand home services startup Urban Company, which helped Indian women enter the gig economy, pushed them out for not meeting steep targets

Mysterious death: Workers received a video of the death of a UC beautician who allegedly took her own life coz her a/c was blocked & she couldn't earn anymore. Due to the isolation created b/w gig workers by platforms they haven't been able to figure out exactly what went down [image]
2023-08-07 View on X
Wired

Some workers say on-demand home services startup Urban Company, which helped Indian women enter the gig economy, pushed them out for not meeting steep targets

Gamified stock options: UC was the first Indian co. to give stock options to partners & made it seem like it's guaranteed. But they have gamified to the extent that it's almost impossible to achieve. One worker called it a marathon, another said it's not worth working so hard [image]
2023-08-07 View on X
Wired

Some workers say on-demand home services startup Urban Company, which helped Indian women enter the gig economy, pushed them out for not meeting steep targets

2022-03-22
“Their focus on resellers has come down. It looks like they don't care about us anymore,” said a homemaker from Surat who has been with Meesho for four years. https://twitter.com/...
2022-03-22 View on X
Entrackr

India's Meesho, which started as a social commerce platform in 2015, pivoted to direct selling in 2021, affecting many of its resellers who have lost customers

Varsha Bansal / Entrackr : Tweets: @malpani , @iankursingh , @neeleshmisra , @sureshnakhua , @varshaabansal , @upadhyay_harsh1 , @entrackr , @varshaabansal , @arpitahindu , and @n...

NEW: Meesho's reseller woes For years Meesho spoke about women empowerment for its 15 million resellers. But last year they started catering to customers directly, taking away business from its resellers & souring their relations with friends & family. https://entrackr.com/...
2022-03-22 View on X
Entrackr

India's Meesho, which started as a social commerce platform in 2015, pivoted to direct selling in 2021, affecting many of its resellers who have lost customers

Varsha Bansal / Entrackr : Tweets: @malpani , @iankursingh , @neeleshmisra , @sureshnakhua , @varshaabansal , @upadhyay_harsh1 , @entrackr , @varshaabansal , @arpitahindu , and @n...

2021-08-24
My latest story for @restofworld is about a decade long struggle to bring Tulu script into Unicode. But it's also about a larger worldwide problem of trying to keep languages alive in a digital age. 192 Indian languages are in danger of disappearing. https://restofworld.org/...
2021-08-24 View on X
Rest of World

A look at the decade long struggle to bring the script of Tulu, an Indian language, into Unicode, and the problem of keeping languages alive in the digital age

Varsha Bansal / Rest of World : Tweets: @xor , @restofworld , @mvzelenks , @restofworld , @restofworld , @cengizyar , @dlberes , @raju , @varshaabansal , and @restofworld Tweets: ...

2021-02-11
For MIT @techreview I write about India & its ambitious plans of vaccinating 300mn ppl by Aug. The country has massive experience in vaccinating a large population but instead of using tried & tested methods, it's depending on this new software: Co-WIN. https://www.technologyreview.com/ ...
2021-02-11 View on X
MIT Technology Review

Instead of using its successful door-to-door vaccination approach, India is scaling up a glitchy biometric software system, hampering its vaccination goals

Instead of using its successful door-to-door approach, it's scaling up a new system linked to fingerprints and iris scans.  —  hide Tweets: @charlottejee , @varshaabansal , @engage...

2021-01-19
NEW: India is one of the largest creators & consumers of child sexual abuse material. I write for @restofworld about a special operation by Kerala Police to fight the spread of child sexual abuse material on WhatsApp & Telegram. They arrested 136 people. https://restofworld.org/...
2021-01-19 View on X
Rest of World

Inside India's digital crime unit leading the effort to catch groups on WhatsApp and Telegram that create and spread content promoting child sexual abuse

bringing the total arrests to 136. Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distributi...

In 2020, three mass sweep took place across the state of Kerala. The first raid was in June arresting 52 people, then in October with 43 arrests and the latest one was in December when 41 offenders were apprehended — bringing the total arrests to 136.
2021-01-19 View on X
Rest of World

Inside India's digital crime unit leading the effort to catch groups on WhatsApp and Telegram that create and spread content promoting child sexual abuse

bringing the total arrests to 136. Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distributi...

They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distribution. In Nov 2020, they arrested a man who was creating videos with his young niece who had moved into his place during the pandemic.
2021-01-19 View on X
Rest of World

Inside India's digital crime unit leading the effort to catch groups on WhatsApp and Telegram that create and spread content promoting child sexual abuse

bringing the total arrests to 136. Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distributi...

WhatsApp and Telegram groups have become a thriving market for child sexual abuse material or CSAM. Between June & July 2020, researchers from Cyber Peace Foundation identified 1,299 groups circulating pornography on WhatsApp, and 350 such channels on Telegram. https://twitter.com/...
2021-01-19 View on X
Rest of World

Inside India's digital crime unit leading the effort to catch groups on WhatsApp and Telegram that create and spread content promoting child sexual abuse

bringing the total arrests to 136. Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distributi...

Officers told me there's been a radical shift in the kind of content in these groups. 2 years ago, most of it used to be from outside of India but it's becoming more local. They hear Malayalam being spoken or notice Manorama magazines in the backdrop of these images & videos.
2021-01-19 View on X
Rest of World

Inside India's digital crime unit leading the effort to catch groups on WhatsApp and Telegram that create and spread content promoting child sexual abuse

bringing the total arrests to 136. Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distributi...

This is not a Kerala-only phenomenon. In 2019, nearly 2 million cases of child sexual exploitation were registered across India, highest in the world. https://www.missingkids.org/ ... https://twitter.com/...
2021-01-19 View on X
Rest of World

Inside India's digital crime unit leading the effort to catch groups on WhatsApp and Telegram that create and spread content promoting child sexual abuse

bringing the total arrests to 136. Varsha Bansal / @varshaabansal : They conduct coordinated raids & make multiple isolated arrests of people involved in CSAM creation & distributi...