The statement of Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav regarding the digital sector in India has brought relief news for the media industry. Over the past few years, digital news platforms and news publishers, particularly Google and major tech comp.es, have been vocal against monopolies. He said that the business practices of these comp.es are an alarm bell for Indian digital industries and strict rules are needed to protect them.
monopoly of big tech comp.es
Big tech comp.es like Google and Meta have dominated the digital media sector for a long time. These comp.es earn big money from the content created by news publishers, but do not pay them properly in return. Indian digital news platforms that invest in newsrooms and follow journalism principles are facing this situation. The “take it or leave it” attitude of these comp.es is creating problems for these platforms, as there is no possibility of any kind of transparent revenue sharing or communication.
global action
In the last few years, lawsuits are going on against big tech comp.es all over the world. Countries like Australia, Europe, Britain, Canada and America have taken action against these comp.es. In India too, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has started investigating the functioning of these comp.es, although no detailed report has come out yet.
Vaishnav’s statement and future direction
Over the past 18 months, the debate over the issue of regulation of digital media has intensified. Earlier, the Information Technology Minister had also expressed the need to keep an eye on big technology comp.es. Now Ashwini Vaishnav’s statement, in which she has taken serious note of the irresponsible operations of these comp.es, shows that the government is understanding the threats faced by digital news media and is planning to take steps in this direction.
Fake news and AI are becoming a threat
Major news publications have always raised the growing problem of fake and unverified news, which appears more frequently on the search engines of these large comp.es. Because of these comp.es’ algorithms, sensational and misleading news often takes precedence over credible journalism, which is dangerous for society and democracy. Minister Vaishnav has raised this issue at the right time.
Moreover, the emergence of AI tools like Chat GPT and Gemini has brought a new twist in the media landscape. This platform presents the reality of India from a Western perspective, which may distort the Indian social and political context. The growing influence of this type of AI generated content could undermine the local perspective and media autonomy in India.
Expectations and future direction from the government
Now the digital news platform hopes that the government will take some decisive steps. The government should create a guideline that ensures that news publishers are paid fairly for their contributions and empower them to deal with AI and other technological changes. This is an important opportunity for the Indian government, as it now has to adapt its policies to the rapidly changing world of digital media. The use of AI tools needs to be closely monitored to balance journalistic principles and innovation.
