Global Tech Giants Should Not Go Unchecked
More than 40 percent of top views on Facebook in West Bengal were found by the company to be fake and unauthentic. That comes hardly as a surprise considering that the giant is spending only 13 percent of its content moderation budget on markets outside the US, and India gets just a fraction of that. Moreover, Facebook has so far built zero capacity to flag content in Hindi or Bengali, and Indian users are left with virtually no protection against misinformation and hate speech over the popular social media.
At the same time, the combined gross revenues from ads of Facebook India and Google India for FY 2020-2021 are ₹23,213 crore. This is almost three times higher than the combined proceeds from ads of India’s top 10 listed traditional media firms which amount to ₹8,396 crore. On top of that, the local branches of the two tech giants take up to 80 percent of the Indian digital advertising market.
Notably, the two big tech companies work as advertisement resellers in Bharat as they buy ad space from a global subsidiary of their US-based mother firms and resell it to clients in India. Thus, 90 percent of Facebook India’s gross revenues and 87 percent of Google India’s proceeds go out of the country to these subsidiary companies.
Issue Brought to the Attention of the Rajya Sabha
The problems with the compromised safety of Indian users and the financial disparities didn’t go unnoticed as BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi brought the subject to the upper house of parliament’s Zero Hour in December.
“India must form an independent regulatory body that ensures a legislative framework which shall oversee the activities of these big tech companies and also ensures that these platforms dedicate proper budgetary allocation towards content moderation and revenue sharing with traditional media,” Modi urged for action.
The former Dy CM of Bihar and current MP Sushil Modi pointed out to the example of other countries that have already tackled the issue: “To ensure this, following an EU directive, countries like France, Germany and Australia have already legislated neighboring rights in which platforms like Google are made to pay traditional media outlets for use of their content.”
Online Gaming Addictions also Addressed by MP Modi
In a previous Zero Hour submission, senior BJP leader Sishil Modi addressed another aspect of Indian online space that urgently needs to be regulated – online gaming. He pointed out that during the pandemic the issue had become more acute with weekly average gaming time jumping to 4 hours from the 2.5 hours that it used to be before Covid-19.
“Crores and crores of youngsters have become addictive to online gaming. As it is online, it is very difficult to prevent kids from getting addicted. And now this online gaming has been converted into gambling or betting. And now there is a controversy whether it is a game of skill or it is a game of chance,” Modi said.
Comprehensive National-Level Regulation is Needed
Quoting studies revealing that the Indian online gaming market currently is worth ₹13,600 crore and involves 43 crore gamers and projecting these figures to reach ₹29,000 crore and 65,7 crore by 2025 respectively, MP Modi highlighted that the needed solution lies in a comprehensive national-level regulation and a licensing regime.
“Online gaming is becoming a big addiction. I would like to highlight that this sector, like the crypto industry, certainly has a regulatory lacunae. So, I would urge the government to bring a uniform tax on online gaming. I urge the government to make a comprehensive framework of regulation for online gaming,” Modi said in parliament.
For example, a regulated and licensed real money online casino in India would not only pay taxes in the country, but will have to conform to responsible gaming requirements the way they are adopted by the legislator. Contemporary responsible gaming mechanisms are designed in such a way as to protect consumers from addictions and problem gaming, excessive losses and malpracticing operators.
The integrity of the random number generator (RNG) and return-to-player (RTP) algorithms of online roulette for real money and other digital games can be guaranteed by a strict licensing procedure to ensure fair play and that no unfair losses are inflicted to users.
State Blanket Bans Have Failed
During his speech in parliament, Sushil Modi highlighted the failed attempts of several states to impose blanket bans on online gaming through amendments in their existing laws. Instead of solving the issues, the recent gaming prohibitions of states such as Tamil Nadu were struck down by high courts as unproportional and contradictory to the constitution.
Thus, instead of having licensed and responsible platforms operate and pay taxes in India, desi online space remains open for shady sites to funnel money out of the country exposing online gamers to risk.
