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New Delhi, February 6, 2024: There is an asymmetry between digital news publishers and Big Tech platforms over revenue-sharing and the upcoming Digital India Act aims to address the disbalance – that’s the message Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for for Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), delivered at the DNPA Conclave & Digital Impact Awards hosted by Storyboard 18 and the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) at Hotel Shangri-La in New Delhi on February 6, 2024.
“We are concerned that there is a deep asymmetry between those who create content and those who help content creators monetise that content,” MoS Chandrasekhar said in a candid keynote address that set the tone for the day-long, one-of-its-kind conclave. He pointed out that the much-anticipated Digital India Act, once rolled out, would “deal with this very pronounced and very visible asymmetry between the small guy or the medium guy in the Indian digital ecosystem and the big [tech] platforms, the gatekeeper for monetising that content”.
The Minister’s remarks headlined the second annual edition of the conclave where policymakers, stakeholders, and industry insiders from India and abroad got into an enlightening huddle, discussing and debating the challenging road ahead for the digital media ecosystem, especially in the Indian context.
Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO, along with leading international experts such as Elena Perotti, Executive Director, Media Policy and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA, are expected to deliver eye-opening insights at the big event, held under the theme: ‘Navigating Digital Transformation in the Media Industry’.
Global experts Florian Nehm, Senior Advisor, Axel Springer; and Paul Deegan, President and CEO of News Media Canada, among others, are also lined up to exchange ideas and debate the future of digital media in these exciting times of AI-led transformation of the internet landscape. They are joined by prominent corporate leaders at the conclave, including Abhay Bhutada, Managing Director, Poonawalla Fincorp.
MoS Chandrasekhar pointed out to the need for having a legislation in place that would democratise India’s vast internet space. “From a policymaking point of view, we want the internet to be open. We don’t want the internet or the monetisation from it to be controlled by just two or three companies. We are clear about that,” he said.
“We don’t like monopolies and duopolies, as you recently saw in the action taken by the NCLT at the Competitions Commission of India (CCI) against Google,” Chandrasekhar said, adding that by 2025, about 120 crore Indians are expected to use the internet, and the Indian authorities “don’t want them to be catered to by these big islands, whether in ecommerce, social media, or adtech”.
Stressing on the need to iron out the asymmetry, the MoS said, “The asymmetry needs to be legislated, or at the very least, regulated through rules of a new legislation, and I am hopeful after the Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] resumes office [after the 2024 elections], it will be a priority.”
Chandrasekhar made it clear that, as yet, the Indian government has no intentions to actively engage in arbitration. “The government would prefer not to be an abiter. It only seeks to play a role to ensure that rules are in place,” he said.
Over the last decade, he pointed out, social media platforms suddenly got the reach that traditional news platforms never had. “Unfortunately, some social media platforms have not behaved responsibly. They feel they have immunity. But since October 2022, that has changed. We now have a conditional safe harbour. It means, if you behave correctly, you have safe harbour, otherwise you will be prosecuted or punished,” the Minister said.
He noted that in the last couple of years, thanks to the Indian authorities’ constructive role in democratising the digital landscape, “the conduct and responsibility of social media platforms have undergone a significant improvement”.
“Social media platforms have a robust ecosystem of influencers and content creators, and they are playing pick and choose and playing God in a certain way,” Chandrasekhar explained. “Essentially, some of them abuse their market power to disallow you to reach your audiences or monetise. It’s something that should be challenged in front of a competition commission.”
Chandrasekhar hailed the rise of Indian digital innovators and tech startups as no less than “spectacular”, and also underlined the importance of AI increasingly taking centre stage in the ongoing digital transformation.
“Is AI eating into content creation? Well, that’s an existential question. Many generative AI platforms are scraping the internet and using publicly available content to train their AI models,” he observed, pointing out that a high-profile legal tussle in the US between The New York Times and OpenAI “will be defining case on what are the rights of digital news platforms or individual content creators”.
The 2024 DNPA Conclave & Awards features speeches, conversations, fireside chats, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, and a gala awards night where Indian digital innovators will be recognised in various categories.
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