The Battle between social media giants hots up as the deadline for following new government guidelines ends today . Yesterday notices where served to the offices of twitter in Delhi and Gurgaon . The tussle pertains to the new guidelines issued by the Modi government , ashes are a set of rules the government wants to use to reign in big tech in India . Which includes Facebook , Instagram , WhatsApp , YouTube and Instagram , let’s look at the business and the number of users each of these social media giants have in India .
Facebook has 2.80 billion active users world wide with 1.84 billion users who sue their service everyday . In India Facebook has 320 million active users that’s 10% of its global user base therefor India is a big market for Facebook .Its revenue world-wide is 86 billion dollars .Its revenue year end 2020 was up 43% from last year and stood at 1277 crores , its net profit jumped by 107% to 137 crores . Facebook also owns WhatsApp and Instagram worldwide and in India . Twitters revenue grew by 74% in India year ending 2020 with an annual revenue of 75 billion worldwide China and India are big markets with high profitability for Twitter .It has a worldwide user base of 353 million worldwide .
WhatsApp has 390.1 active users in India it has a world-wide revenue of 5 billion dollars . Instagram which was bought by Facebook and also integrated on its platform has 120 million active users in India that is second only to the United Sates . Thus it is clear b y the numbers that India is a very viable and profitable market for these tech gains and non of them would like to lose their dominance in India . Facebook and Twitter both have asked for more time form the IT Industry and government policy makers who are serious now about implementing the new laws and guidelines . The tech giants have said they need to study the guidelines intently and have discussion form their bosses in the US .
The key contention is the law that they will have to share first sender information to the police or law enforcement agencies so that the originator of the post can be tracked .This WhatsApp says is very difficult to do as their messaging service is end to end encrypted to protect user privacy . They cannot give data share information with the police on a case to car basis . To comply to this law they will have to open encryption for all users which is against their privacy policy .The government has threatened if the new guidelines are not adhered to when the deadline is over Social media companies will lose the immunity they enjoy as an intermediary and would be held liable for all content posted on there site . Which means they can be taken to court by anyone in a liable case and they will have to face criminal proceedings under the current India Penal system and the IT ACT section 69A .
The government has again stated that there has to be a complaints reprisal officer living in India with his name and contact details clearly mentioned off the site who will handle complaints and redressal . The Social media against have not adhered to this rule as well . So the gloves are off as the police raided Twitters office to hand the management their legal notice . The government is using strong arm tactic and the giants are fighting back seeing the government questioning the rules and the difficulty in implementing them . At www.tikkustravelthon.in we will be tracking this big fight for the next few days as this could inherently change the social media landscape and game in the coming future . OTT platform have been asked to rain in nudity , child abuse and other harmful content as will and have been bough under the ambit of the new guideline as well along with other streaming platforms .So wait and watch how this battle unfolds in days to come follow it on www.tikustravelthon.in
