Make Big Tech accountable to communities and society: MoS Electronics & IT

Nations must cooperate to make firms like Facebook, Google answerable: Min

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT, said there is a need for countries to come together and collaborate to make big tech players such as Facebook and Google accountable.

“If we are to bring some sanity and some consistency in the way big tech platforms should be accountable to communities and the society at large, countries will have to come together and cooperate. Often, this attempt of regulation or even to create some sort of sanity, rules and accountability is spun as a challenge to free speech,” said Chand­rasekhar, while addressing the 30th Nasscom Technology & Leadership Forum 2022.

He further added that India should take the lead in having this dialogue as it has one of the most-connected consumer markets in the world.

“We are one of the largest connected democracies in the world. And, we have a lot to teach the world in terms of how we manage digitisation. How do we manage to increase digital options? How do we manage inclusion, and ensure that the Internet is safe, trusted, open and accountable? We have done that. We were one of the first countries to come up with IT rules,” he said.

Chandrasekhar also said the Bill of Data Protection may take some more time to take shape as law because the government does not want to rush into it.

“The provenance of that Bill is about three years old, and significant changes have happened since then. The Bill has been referred back to the ministry. My view is that it is important to get the next leg of legislation right. By right I do not mean the details but in terms of its ability to be flexible and evolutionary. I think we will be making a big mistake as we move into legislation that is very hard coded and very embedded in terms of principles that may not be necessarily evolvable.”

He also stated that the Bill has seen tremendous participation from industry and companies alike with suggestions and recommendations. Referring to the clearing of the law by a Parliamentary panel, the minister said his office is flooded with both support and criticism of the Bill. Many are also making further suggestions, due to which the discussions are continuing.

The minister said safety, trust, accountability and openness are contradictory principles. And often, convenience has influenced the choices, but for public policy, safety and trust are very important.

“While digitising our democracy is important, keeping our democracy safe and ensuring technology is deployed in a trusted and accountable manner is equally important,” he said. “Down the road, what we are suggesting with the new digital law is we will set the bar in terms of what jurisprudence around the Internet should be like,” he added.

The comments from the minister come amid concerns expressed in some quarters over frequent requests for removing content or accounts on platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook citing domestic exigencies, which are blamed as assault on free speech.