PIL In Delhi HC Seeks Regulation On Google, Facebook, Amazon

Credits: Wall Street Journal

SUMMARY

Petitioner Resmi P Bhaskaran has filed the plea alleging Indian financial regulators to show a "lackadaisical approach" towards the fintech firms

Plea suggests bringing in regulations to prevent fintech companies from entering into the financial sector

The plea also seeks framing of regulations which makes sure that data collected while providing financial services are not monetised

Tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon have found themselves in a spot as a PIL has been filed against them in the Delhi high court which asks for a detailed legal framework for regulating operations of these companies which have now entered the financial sector.

Petitioner Resmi P Bhaskaran who is an applied scientist has alleged that Indian financial regulators of having a “lackadaisical approach” towards the fintech firms and claims that this could harm India’s financial stability.

The petition further claims that the unregulated operation of these companies in the financial sector can create havoc and would eventually bring a huge financial crisis and leakage of personal data.

Therefore, it also suggests bringing in regulations immediately to prevent fintech companies from entering into the financial sector or providing financial services through any mode without prior registration or approval from regulators.

The plea also seeks framing of regulations that makes sure that data collected while providing financial services are not monetised or used for any other purpose by such companies, reported ET.

Recently, the Supreme Court had issued notice to Centre, Google, Amazon and Facebook/WhatsApp over a petition filed by CPI MP Binoy Viswam seeking data protection of transactions made over Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Amazon, Facebook and Google have been jolted by certain data regulation proposals tabled by a government panel.

Moreover, a data protection bill has been drafted with stringent norms that seek to regulate “non-personal” data recorded by tech giants such as Amazon, Facebook and Google. Apart from these recommendations, tech giants have been facing numerous roadblocks with respect to the use and storage of data, especially for financial services.

The committee has held several consultations with stakeholders, while also questioning Indian consumer internet companies such as Paytm, Ola and Uber, as well as global tech giants such as Twitter, Facebook and Google, among others, on critical aspects of data collection and storage.

For example, Google Pay also has had its share of problems with litigation. In September, a petition was filed in the Delhi High Court claiming that the payments platform had “unauthorised access to the Bhim Aadhaar – Unified Payments Platform”.