The micro-blogging site Twitter has expressed concerns over the possibility of India imposing a fine on the company for failing to remove certain content from its platform through the IT laws which are already implemented or in the process of being rolled out.
After a draft bill of the Data Protection Bill, 2019 was tabled in the Lok Sabha in December 2019, many OTT platforms and social media companies were resistant to uphold the intermediary guidelines stated in the bill citing that it would harm the position of the companies and make them liable for whatever content was flagged for removal as it has also proposed to term social media companies as publishers, which will make them accountable for the content on their platforms.
The guidelines were also touted are being harmful to tech start-ups and emerging apps in the country by experts.
The proposed Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, has provisions that impose heavy penalties on companies for non-compliance.
Twitter and other internet-based platforms have complied with the new rules proposed by the bill after being under pressure by the government last year.
In its annual filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm stated that it was facing difficulties in the monetization efforts of its products due to the usage of feature phones in India and neighbouring Pakistan, including
“challenges related to different levels of Internet access or mobile device adoption in different jurisdictions.”
The filing is part of a report on the financial performance required from all publicly traded companies in the US.
“We are subject to legislation in Germany that may impose significant fines for failure to comply with certain content removal and disclosure obligations.
Other countries, including Brazil, Turkey, Singapore, India, Australia, and the United Kingdom, have implemented or are considering similar legislation imposing penalties for failure to remove certain types of content,”
Twitter had said in its SEC filing on February 16.
Other than Twitter, Google owner Alphabet Inc and Meta platforms Inc have also brought up concerns over Data laws and legislations in certain countries in their SEC filings this month.
Meta named India’s upcoming privacy laws as a cause for worry in its SEC filing on February 2, stating that the legislation requires in-house processing and local storage, which could increase the cost and complexities of delivering their services.
Twitter has pointed out that compliance towards data protection, data localization, and cybersecurity guidelines can also present issues, although India wasn’t explicitly named this time.
The company said it might face legal action or incur liability due to content published or made available through its products and services, and it could give rise to significant costs investigating and defending these claims.
The microblogging site also reported facing tough competition from regional websites and applications.
“Increased competition from largely regional websites, mobile applications, and services that provide real-time communications and have strong positions in particular countries, which have expanded and may continue to expand their geographic footprint,”
it said.
One of the more well-known apps is Koo, developed under Bombinate Technologies Pvt Ltd as an alternative to Twitter for Indian users to share their views using regional languages.
It has had over 20 million downloads in the past year and has started expanding internationally. Other apps include the regional language short video platform, Sharechat, backed by Twitter, which has seen exponential growth since its release with over 100 million downloads in the country.
However, whether the Data Protection Bill will be passed in the coming months or wholly scrapped for a new one is up for speculation.
A report by the economic times came out citing that the government may have plans for a new data protection bill in the works.
Edited By- Subbuthai Padma
Published By- Satheesh Kumar
