BJP MP demands body to ensure big techs like Facebook, Google shares ad revenue with traditional media

Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi said Google and Facebook together take away around 75 per cent of the total digital advertising market in India.
Google and Facebook logos (Photos| AP)
Google and Facebook logos (Photos| AP)

NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader Sushil Modi on Monday demanded in the Rajya Sabha setting up of an independent regulatory body for big tech giants like Facebook and Google to ensure they share advertisement revenue adequately with traditional media houses for using their content.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, he said the regulatory body should also ensure that such entities allocate adequate budget for content moderation activities to check hate speeches and fake news.

Modi said Google and Facebook together take away around 75 per cent of the total digital advertising market in India.

According to him, Rs 9,326 crore goes to Facebook and Rs 13,887 crore to Google, which adds to Rs 23,213 crore, from digital advertisement from India.

"They earn a share higher than the combined revenue of the top 10 listed traditional media companies (which stands) at Rs 8,396 crore," Modi said, and added that Facebook sends 90 per cent of its gross advertisement revenue to its global subsidiary and Google India pays 87 per cent to its parent entity.

"The issue is that these big tech firms are getting rich at the expense of traditional media," he said.

Modi further said that these tech giants do not pay traditional news platform sufficiently, despite making huge money by displaying their journalistic content on their platforms.

Nations like France, Germany and Australia have already put in place mechanisms to ensure that platforms like Google are made to pay traditional media outlets for the use of their content.

He further alleged that Facebook is undermining the safety of the largest user base of 34 crore users in India.

"It does not flag problematic content like fake misinformation and hate speech," he asserted.

Modi made a strong case for India forming an independent regulatory body that ensures a legislative framework to "oversee the activities of these big tech companies" and ensure such firms allocate a proper budget towards content moderation and "revenue sharing with traditional media".

He also called for action against social media giants for violation of norms.

The BJP leader also cited the recent hacking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account and claimed that a cryptocurrency lobby group was behind the incident.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com