Various dimensions of digital technology are expanding rapidly in India. A large number of people and publishers are engaged in creating digital content. But due to the monopoly of big technology companies on Internet related resources, digital publishers are not getting proper benefits and a large part of the profits go into the accounts of the companies. The government is also worried about this imbalance. Union Minister of State for Information Technology Rajiv Chandrashekhar has said that this issue is among the priorities of the government. He has underlined that the government wants that the Internet should be a free zone and the right to determine earnings and profits there should not be limited in the hands of a few companies. The government is preparing to bring Digital India Law soon. The issue of content publishing and earning has also been considered in the discussion on its format. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur has also said that the government is trying to take policy initiatives for fair distribution of digital advertising and earnings. It is noteworthy that the European Union, Britain and Australia have made such regulations in which big companies like Google, Facebook etc. have a provision to give a fair share of the advertising income to the news publishers. Big tech companies don’t create content themselves. They provide a platform to share the content of newspapers, magazines or individuals.
It is because of that content that people and advertisers visit their platforms. With the spread of digital technology, the market of digital advertising has expanded significantly across the world including India. One of its disadvantages is that in many countries, especially the West, advertising in traditional media has declined and small publishers have been affected. On the other hand, the earnings of big tech companies have increased rapidly and their scope has also increased. In such a situation, they have become a monopoly in the digital sector. It is important for India to correct this imbalance quickly. Big tech companies and media publishers need each other. This relationship should be based on mutual trust and cooperation. This is necessary for the proper development of the Internet economy. It has often been seen that tech companies arbitrarily keep changing their rules and impose them on content publishers. If there are policy provisions and concrete rules for Internet regulation are made, then such behaviors can be stopped.