Big Tech companies such as Meta, Alphabet and Amazon, which have faced intense scrutiny from governments around the world. This has coincided with strong macroeconomic headwinds that have forced them to conduct mass layoffs after two years of unprecedented hiring.
While European lawmakers have been doing everything they can to ensure these companies fall in line, India has drawn up or proposed legislation — the IT rules, the draft Digital Data Protection Bill, and the proposed Digital Competition Act and Digital India Act – to regulate data collection and break the monopolies of these companies.
More than any other regulator, it was the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that kept Google and its Big Tech peers on their toes. The competition watchdog imposed two huge penalties, totalling Rs 2,274 crore, on Google within a week in October.
It also imposed fines worth a combined Rs 392-crore on Indian companies such as MakeMyTrip, GoIbibo and Oyo in October as part of its crackdown on tech companies.
Google vs CCI
In October,
the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs 1,337 crore on Google for abusing its dominance in the mobile operating system market. The CCI concluded that mandating device manufacturers to pre-install its entire suite of apps with no option to uninstall them was anti-competitive.
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Less than a week later, it imposed Rs 936 crore in fine for anti-competitive practices with regard to its Play Store billing policy.
In December, Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai told ET in an exclusive interview that he was
“definitely concerned” by some aspects of the CCI rulings as they can “really set back user privacy and security”.
On being asked about India’s overhaul of tech and telecom regulations, Pichai said that a balance is required. “… that’s what I see in a lot of the proposals (draft regulations) and we will be a constructive partner (to the government),” he added.
Summons for tech companies
In August, top executives of Big Tech companies deposed before a parliamentary panel discussing issues related to alleged anti-competitive practices. According to a PTI report, the panel talked about preparing a legal framework to curb anti-competitive practices of these firms.
Certain members of the panel termed the market dominance of tech players as “precluding competition” and “killing” Indian players.
Earlier this year, the government also introduced the Competition Amendment Bill, 2022, which has proposed a broader framework with regards to anti-competitive practices and mergers & acquisitions.
Facebook, Twitter, Amazon
While Google was handed huge fines by the CCI, Meta and Twitter were questioned about their content moderation, compliance with the IT rules, privacy policies, and more.
Amazon India also came under the CCI’s radar for its deep discounting practices and alleged bias for certain sellers. In April, the antitrust watchdog raided top sellers on Amazon and Flipkart as it probed these allegations.
Meanwhile, Twitter dragged the central government to court over its orders to block certain accounts.
In June 2022, the ministry of electronics and technology (Meity) “served a letter setting out serious consequences of non-compliance, including, but not limited to, criminal proceedings against Twitter’s chief compliance officer, and granted last opportunity to comply…”.
The government letter also warned that Twitter stood to lose its so-called safe harbour status – which gives it immunity for the content posted by users on its platform – if it did not comply.
Twitter became the second major tech company to sue the government after WhatsApp, which challenged the IT Rules, 2021.
Digital Competition Act
On December 23, a
parliamentary panel’s report highlighted “anti-competitive practices by companies including Google and Meta, and suggested the creation of a ‘Digital Competition Act’.
The panel noted that tech companies with a huge market share have engaged in “anti-competitive” practices and restricted the reach and growth of smaller market players.
The Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Lok Sabha MP Jayant Sinha also noted the various ways Big Tech companies sideline smaller firms.
Digital Personal Data Protection Bill
After withdrawing the previous draft of the data protection bill in late August, the government released a new version, called the
Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2022, in November.
The new draft proposes stiffer penalties for data breaches and softer data localisation provisions.
It proposes penalties as high as Rs 500 crore for non-compliance by any company, and a Data Protection Board to ensure compliance.
Meanwhile, the CCI’s probe into WhatsApp’s privacy policy, introduced in 2021, did not find a resolution all through 2022, but the case is set to be heard in January.
Draft Telecom Bill
In November, the government released a
draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022 for public consultation, proposing comprehensive legislation to replace three laws: the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933, and the Telegraph Wires (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1950.
However, the main focus of the bill is to fix accountability on tech platforms that provide communication services, such as WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram. Under the proposed law, such platforms may need to secure licences, much like telecom companies, if they want to operate in India.
IT Rules updated
This year the government also made
amendments to the Information Technology (IT) rules, which were introduced in 2021. Among other things, it suggested that a government panel be formed to hear complaints from users about content moderation decisions of social media platforms.
Under the new rules, government-appointed appellate committees were to be set up to resolve the grievances of social media users.
Social media firms are already required to have an in-house grievance redress officer and designate executives to coordinate with law enforcement officials.
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