Govt Plans Light Touch Regulation, Disclosure Norms For Big Tech

The government is considering bringing in light touch regulation for big techs including Apple, Google and others in a bid to balance innovation and fair play.

“Google and Apple have made innovation and investments in their platforms, so it’s not fair to ask them to onboard all apps by domestic players, but by asking them to provide valid reasons for saying yes to some and no to others, there would be a perfect balance between promoting innovation and ensuring there’s fairplay in business practices,” a source said as quoted in the Financial Express report.

The government has decided to step in as big tech firms may slow down their India investment plans in the country after the heavy penalty imposed on Google by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for its monopolistic business practices, as per the report.

It would not be mandatory for tech giants, Google and Apple, to open their operating system and app store to all domestic players who would be free to install/uninstall apps of their choice.

Rather, they will be asked to give disclosure on not onboarding apps on their platform under the regulatory guidelines that are in works. Currently, there is no such law in this regard.

The source also said the big tech companies cannot take the citizens of India for granted, they have to offer wherever there is choice and have to be very clear when they are declining to onboard people into their ecosystem.

CCI- Big Tech Tussle

It is pertinent to note that the competition watchdog CCI fined Google INR 1,337.6 Cr and INR 936 Cr for abusing its dominance over its Android operating system and the Play Store, respectively. Google is reportedly working on a strategy to challenge the CCI orders.

In the first case, CCI found Google guilty of taking advantage of its position and entering into self-serving contracts with smartphone OEMs for its Android operating system.

Additionally, Google was accused of abusing dominance over its Play Store policies in the second case. Currently, two more trials are ongoing in India against Google.

CCI is investigating the allegations of creating barriers for firms that want to use, or develop, in-house operating systems for their smart TVs and allegedly abusing its dominant position in the news aggregation space through Google News.

Meanwhile, CCI is also conducting an antitrust probe against Apple over its app store policies. Against such a backdrop, the new regulatory policy will have a significant impact on India’s app economy.