Regulating Digital News Intermediaries | 11 May 2022

For Prelims: Article 19

For Mains: Need to Regulate 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.

What is the underlying Idea?

  • 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.

What is the 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.

What is the importance of Such Law for India?

  • About:
    • 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.
  • Need to Regulate:
    • 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.

What is the Status in Other Countries?

  • Google and Facebook face legal battles over compensation for using news content worldwide.
    • They also face antitrust lawsuits from regulators and publishers.
  • With news publishers in Australia, the UK, the European Union, and France having enacted or planning to enact laws to enforce a fair revenue-sharing model, the tech giants seem to be fighting desperately to hang on to their alleged monopolistic system to rake in huge revenues.

Source: TH