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The Governance & Public Policy Initiative-Centre for Policy Research (GPPI-CPR) organised a roundtable discussion on ‘Regulating the Big Tech (FB, Twitter & Others) on 10 December, 2019. This was done as part of a series of discussions focusing on the social implication of technology and policy requirements.
There is a growing movement by governments, stakeholders and critics to
regulate the big tech companies particularly by the EU, US and various privacy
activists. These movements were fuelled by the events that took place globally
over the past couple of years.
The growing market capture and political and social
influence of large technology companies has become a serious concern globally.
Often referred to as ‘Big Tech’, there is now a growing ‘tech-lash’ against
large technology companies, because of issues such as market monopolisation and
tampering with democratic processes by influencing voter behaviour.
Central to the emergence of big technology companies is the
question of data – its collection, usage, and storage. With the Tech companies
having access and control over so much personal data and information, there is
not only an increased sense of threat to personal privacy and integrity but
also a concern that such control over data gives them immense power over the population and
the market.
The issue of privacy becomes more important with the latest
Whatsapp hack on Indians with the Pegasus spyware. The privacy breach targeting
many Indian activists, lawyers and journalists has worldwide ramifications.
Against this backdrop, this discussion with the policy
makers attempted to address the implications of Big Tech in the Indian context.
Deepak Maheshwari, Director, Government Affairs, India,
ASEAN & China – Symantec; Dr. Urvashi Aneja, Founding Director, Tandem
Research; and Smitha Krishna Prasad is Associate Director, Centre for
Communication Governance, National Law University in Delhi deliberated on the
topic through detailed presentations.
The discussion was attended by close to 20 newly elected Lok
Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha Members and political leaders and party
spokespersons.
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