New Delhi: In a major development in the online media sector, Huffington Post India has closed its website.
Readers were surprised to read a message of regret which conveyed its abrupt closure.
"As of November 24 HuffPost India will no longer be publishing content. For more great global content, please visit HuffPost.com. We thank you for your support and readership," read the message.
The website had carried out notable reports and was particularly lauded for its courageous investigative reports.
Ardent readers of the site took into Twitter to mark their shock to the development. Few of the social media accounts attributed the closure to Modi government's cap on FDI in media industry.
Some of the tweets are here:
Modi Diktat on FDI for digital media claims first scalp. @HuffPostIndia shuts shop. When @BuzzFeed bought @HuffPost, it kept Brazil & India out of deal. India was no go because of new FDI cap and regulatory uncertainty. 12 jobs lost to atmanirbhar policy. https://t.co/g4MAHmQ3TP
— Siddharth (@svaradarajan) November 24, 2020
This is such a loss. HuffPost has been home to some superb reporting at a time when independent journalism in India has been under huge pressure. https://t.co/e3BFR18cZL
— Nicholas Dawes (@NicDawes) November 24, 2020
Today is @huffpostIndia's last day. Pound for pound, story for story, reporter for reporter, this is the greatest newsroom I have worked for; (and I still can't quite believe I had the privilege to lead)
— Aman Sethi (@Amannama) November 24, 2020
Thank you everyone for reading our stories and supporting our journalism
On November 17, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had issued a detailed notification asking media companies to strictly comply with the 26% cap on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) sanctioned last year.