- Friday, May 03, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday (30) sought a debate on responsibility and accountability of big tech companies that enjoy huge power and influence as “non-state players”, saying such issues could not be brushed under the carpet on the pretext of “freedom of speech”.
The diplomat’s remarks came in the midst of growing tensions between the government of India and American social media giant Twitter on various issues, including the country’s new information technology rules.
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Speaking at a virtual interactive session with former British prime minister Tony Blair at the India Global Forum, Jaishankar said a vigorous debate on big technology firms is underway in India as it is in other parts of the world. While he admitted that it could not be denied that those firms are “forces of progress”, he also said, “But, in a democratic society, we have to ask ourselves, big tech is there; it is in my life, very visibly in my life. You have a big presence, (but) where is the responsibility which comes with it.”
‘This issue is not limited to India’
“They have huge power, where is the accountability. This is again not an issue limited to India. They harvest our data as they do across the world. So you have, in a sense, the opposite of the American Revolution, which is to have representation and no taxation,” he said.
When asked about the power of technology and the issues related to it, the Indian external affairs minister said they are serious questions that needed to be debated.
“I think they cannot be brushed under the carpet, saying you should not question them because then you are attacking freedom of speech. I think that’s a cop-out. Obviously, it serves their interests. So it’s a very, very legitimate debate,” he said.
Jaishankar added that there are various aspects to such issues, including political and the influence which is commanded by the technology giants. “I think these are issues; because today what big tech has done — one part is looking at it as a governance issue, as a political issue as a democratic issue I would say,” he said.
“The other is to look at the influence they command. International relations have been devised on the basis of State-based players. What happens when you have non-State players who in some ways are bigger than many States,” he added.
American e-commerce giants like Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart, too, have found themselves under the scanner in India as they have been accused of flouting Indian laws to gain unjust advantage over the local traders.
