Digital media feel threatened by Big Tech, MIB discusses revenue sharing

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting held an inter-ministerial meeting with various departments to discuss issues regarding revenue sharing between Big Tech companies and digital news publishers.

The meeting was chaired by Sanjay Jaju , Secretary, MIB. Senior officials from MCA, CCI, MeitY, DPIIT, and Department of Legal Affairs were also present.

The government has been approached by Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) regarding the dominant position Big Tech players have in ad-revenue share agreements. This is in the context of the draft digital competition Bill proposed by the MCA.

DNPA claims that large digital enterprises are not transparent in their data and revenue-sharing policies. They are into bundling, tying, and collecting user data to improve their own products, allowing bidding on keywords, leading to infringement of registered trademarks, among other issues. “CCI should have pre-factum power for checking abuse of dominant position by large digital enterprises before revenue-sharing agreements are entered into with news publishers,” says DNPA.

In an attempt to resolve the issue another meeting with the industry associations is scheduled today.
BCS Bureau