How to regulate WhatsApp and Big Tech?
How to regulate WhatsApp and Big Tech?The Competition Commission of India needs legislative tools, an army of technical experts and a proactive approach for being relevant in the digital age. Apr 11, 2021 · 07:30 am Archana SivasubramanianLecturer and Program Lead for Technology,Law and Policy, School of LawThe 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.What is ironic about this order, though, is its timing. The commission has called for the probe a month after the government notified the Information Technology Rules (Intermediary Guidelines), 2021, to regulate social media intermediaries, over-the-top services and digital news. Under these new guidelines, the government mandates a “traceability” requirement that compels social media platforms including entities like WhatsApp to trace the originator of a particular message.
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