Meta worries over government regulation of internet apps in proposed telecom law

Meta is concerned that a proposed legislation in India could bring over-the-top (OTT) applications, such as WhatsApp and Signal, under regulatory control. The law aims to give the Indian government broad authority over telecom companies, according to reports from Moneycontrol.

Following the introduction of the Telecommunications Bill, 2023 in Parliament on December 18, Shivnath Thukral, Meta's policy head in India, in an internal communication to colleagues said that the government might opt to extend the proposed legislation to Over-the-Top (OTT) services, which would include Meta's own internet applications like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram at a later date.

As per Moneycontrol the email from Thukral said, “The revised Bill text is now (in) the public domain. In a very positive movement, all explicit references to OTTs have been removed from the Bill…However, some ambiguity remains - as the definitions of “telecommunications services”, “telecommunications identifier” and “messages” could be interpreted to implicitly include OTT services, even if without explicit mention.

“Arguably, even after the removal of OTTs from these definitions, the Govt could have sufficient discretion to designate OTTs as a telecommunications service, and bring them under an authorisation regime, in case it chooses to do so via delegated legislation at a future date,” it added.

However, the email also mentions Thukral having a conversation with a certain Minister who assured him that the government does not intend to regulate OTTs under telecom law.