To regulate WhatsApp and Big Tech, India’s competition panel needs more teeth – and fresh thinking
The Competition Commission of India needs legislative tools, an army of technical experts and a proactive approach for being relevant in the digital age. An hour ago India’s current competition law operates on a traditional understanding of markets, but the digital medium is a new kind of space. | Narinder Naanu / AFP
The Competition Commission of India is keen to regulate big tech. Last month, the regulatory body ordered an investigation into WhatsApp’s privacy policy update alleging that the Facebook-owned company has breached antitrust provisions through its “exploitative and exclusionary conduct”. This move comes after the much-publicised “take-it-or-leave-it” kind of privacy policy update from WhatsApp in January 2021.
February 25, 2021
We’re hosting our very first call for members of MediaNama’s membership program tomorrow (Friday, February 26th, 2021) at 3pm IST, to discuss the Information Technology Rules (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), 2021. Our coverage of the Rules is here, based on the initial leaked document. We will update this tomorrow (although the changes are minor)
When we launched the membership program, we had mentioned that we will host
Exclusive members-only calls on critical developments. This, we feel, is one such development, given the implications for privacy, free speech, ease of doing business, creative express, and online news, all at the same time.