With the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’s (NCLAT’s) order in the Competition Commission of India (CCI) versus Google case being largely viewed as balanced, the government now wants to step in and put in place a regulatory framework for Big Tech firms.
Sources said that the Digital India Act, which is in the works, would address issues like disclosure norms for technology giants like Google and Apple to ensure fair business practices by them when it comes to dealing with smaller players in the ecosystem.
The thinking is that companies like Google and Apple, which own operating systems like Android and iOS, would need to provide valid and justifiable reasons for not on-boarding apps on their platforms. The proposed regulation will basically ensure that they do not abuse their dominant market position but instead provide their competitors and other developers equal scope to promote their apps. “This would ensure a balance between innovation and fair play,” sources said.
“Because they (Google and Apple) control a significant market share, they have to lend themselves to regulation based on disclosure. The disclosure of reasons for rejecting apps will be cast on them as an obligation,” sources said, adding that the government is thinking on these terms and the same would be incorporated in the Digital India Act.
The government is currently holding consultations on the Digital India Act, which will focus on openness of Internet, safety, trust and accountability as basic principles in detail.
Through light-touch regulations of Big Tech companies, apart from balancing innovation and fair business practices, openness and transparency would also come into the system, sources said. The thinking within the government is to also create an ease-of-doing business ecosystem for app developers especially those that are closely competing with Google.
The development is significant considering that the recent NCLAT order has set aside the CCI’s direction that allowed side-loading of apps. Further, Google can continue to impose restrictions on developers of app stores to distribute their app stores through Play Store and can deny access to its Play Services APIs.
Side-loading is the installation of apps with open versions on a smartphone without using the app’s official distribution channel (i.e. an app store). Currently, Google tries to prevent side-loading through a multi-step process and issues security warnings that require users to make changes to the device’s default settings and manually grant various permissions.
With regard to on-boarding apps by domestic players, government officials believe that the companies would have to give choices to the consumers wherever it is possible and clearly specify when rejecting to on-board certain apps.
The competition regulator is also investigating alleged anti-competitive practices of Apple with regard to its app store policies.
Currently, India has about 600 million smartphone devices and out of that 97% run on Android, while the remaining 3% on iOS.