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UPSC REGULATING DIGITAL NEWS INTERMEDIARIES - English

REGULATING DIGITAL NEWS INTERMEDIARIES

Why in News?

Recently, Canada introduced a Bill that seeks to make Internet platforms such as Google and Facebook pay news publishers for use of their content.

About

The bill seeks to regulate digital news intermediaries “to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contribute to its sustainability.”

The legislation is expected to produce four outcomes.

• A framework that supports fair business relationships between digital platforms and news outlets.
• Sustainability in the news ecosystem.
• Maintenance of press independence.
• Diversity within the news landscape.

Nature of Publisher-Platform Relationships

• Use of Tools and Strategies - Their relationship has till recently been largely about how publishers can use tools and strategies to better use the reach provided by these platforms. Google and Facebook provide much of the traffic for a lot of traditional news publishers.
• Making Money - All over the world the platforms are able to make much of the money from this arrangement while publishers struggle. The publishers also have to contend with frequent changes to the platform algorithm, which comes with the real threat of them losing a large amount of readers all of a sudden.

Importance of Such Law for India

• The Canadian order on the issue is likely to boost the chances of India’s news publishers getting a fair revenue-sharing system in the country.
• ndia in December 2021 said that it had no plans to make tech giants, such as Facebook and Google, pay local publishers for news content.
• However, following a complaint by Digital News Publishers’ Association (DNPA) the Competition Commission of India ordered investigations into Google earlier in 2022.
• In the process of the order, the watchdog did take note of the legislations in Australia and France.
• India, once the world's largest unconnected country, will soon be one of the world’s biggest internet-enabled nations, with over 800 million online.
• Technology will likely be a big part of our economy, accounting for almost a fifth of our overall output.
• Unregulated social and digital media could pose a threat to India’s rise as a trustworthy and responsible nation, as also Indian democracy, the world’s largest.
• These challenges can be addressed by regulating social media efficiently and modernizing our laws and institutions.

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