Solving the big tech revenue share issue will be PM’s priority in third term: Rajeev Chandrasekhar
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State, Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India spoke at length about the existing revenue share issue with big tech platforms at Storyboard18 DNPA Conclave and Awards 2024.
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The government is addressing the significant imbalance between digital publishers and big tech as a top priority. The Narendra Modi government, in its third term, will prioritise addressing this issue said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology in the Government of India, at the Storyboard18 DNPA Conclave and Awards 2024.
“We are concerned about the deep asymmetry between the content creators and those who can help them to monetise it. From a policymaking point of view, we want the internet to be open and we certainly do not want monetisation on the internet to be the in the purview or to be controlled by just one or two or three companies,” the minister said.
The government has been proactive in addressing the issue.
There are cases around the same issues pending across courts in the country.
Back in October 20, 2022, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), fined Google with a penalty of Rs 1,338 crore for abusing its dominant position in the mobile operating system (OS) market. Google was also asked to pay another penalty of Rs 936 crore o its anti-competitive Play Store policies on Android devices.
“We are very clear on that we don’t want monopolies and duopolies in the space,” the minister said.
“We are certainly not of the opinion that our internet with 120 crore Indians that are going to be consuming internet by 2025 should be catered to by the big islands on the internet be on e-commerce or search or social media or ad tech. That is the basic principle that guides our approach to this issue as a government,” Chandrasekhar said.
The minister highlights how the pre consultation draft of the Digital India Act lays the foundation of solving the visible asymmetries between the digital publishers and the big tech companies.
“These big tech platforms are gatekeepers to monetising the content and that asymmetry, needs to be legislated, or at least a regulated through rules of a new legislation. And I'm hopeful that after Narendra Modi ji resumes office this year, this will be his priority,” Chandrasekhar added.
