The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued the Telecom Consumers Protection (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2024 and the Telecommunication Tariff (Seventieth Amendment) Order, 2024, available on TRAI's website. These amendments follow a consultation paper released on July 26, 2024, and an Open House Discussion held on October 21, 2024. The salient features of the regulations are:

1. To mandate separate Special Tariff Voucher (STV) for Voice & SMS to give consumers an option to pay for the services they require in general and to provide benefit to certain segments of consumers especially the elderly persons and those living in rural areas;

2. the cap on validity period for STV and Combo Vouchers (CV) has been increased from existing ninety (90) days to three hundred and sixty-five (365) days for the benefit of consumers;

3. Colour coding of vouchers as it exists in the physical form has been done away with in view of the prominence of online re-charges;

4. The reserving of denomination of ₹10/- and multiple thereof only for top-up voucher has been done away with, while retaining mandate of at least one Top Up voucher of denomination of ₹10/- provided by TTO (50th amendment) Order 2012.

The move is expected to help around 150 million 2G users and those who have two SIM cards, with one being kept exclusively for voice calls and SMS.

• Google offers to loosen search deals in US antitrust case remedy

Google proposed loosening its agreements with Apple and other partners to address a U.S. ruling that found it unlawfully dominates online search. The proposal suggests making its distribution agreements non-exclusive and, for Android manufacturers, unbundling the Google Play Store from Chrome and search. Google also proposed allowing browser developers that set its search engine as the default to reconsider that choice annually. The company argued that these measures are a balanced alternative to the government's more drastic suggestion of forcing Google to sell its Chrome browser, which it claims could stifle innovation in a rapidly evolving AI-driven market.

• Japan’s antitrust watchdog to find Google violated law in search case, Nikkei reports

Japan's competition watchdog, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), is set to find Google guilty of violating antitrust laws, potentially issuing a cease-and-desist order to stop its monopolistic practices in web search services. The investigation, launched last October, follows similar antitrust actions in Europe and other regions concerning Google's market power, particularly its role in advertising through the widely used Chrome browser. This development adds to the growing global scrutiny of Google's practices, with the U.S. Department of Justice advocating for Google to divest Chrome.

• EU privacy regulator fines Meta 251 million euros for 2018 breach

The European Union's Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined Meta €251 million ($263.5 million) for a 2018 Facebook security breach that exposed 29 million users' data by exploiting a vulnerability in the "View As" feature. The DPC, based in Ireland, oversees compliance for major U.S. tech firms operating in the EU under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Meta, which has faced nearly €3 billion in GDPR fines, including a record €1.2 billion fine in 2023 currently under appeal, announced plans to appeal this latest decision as well. The company stated it promptly addressed the issue, informed affected users and the DPC, and has implemented extensive measures to enhance platform security.

• Polish e-commerce Allegro's unit sues Alphabet

Ceneo, a subsidiary of Polish e-commerce platform Allegro, filed a lawsuit against Google and its parent company Alphabet seeking 2.33 billion zlotys ($567.6 million) in damages, alleging losses from Google prioritizing its own price comparison service in search results. Ceneo claims these practices harmed its business and are tied to the $2.7 billion EU antitrust fine imposed on Google for leveraging its dominant search engine position to disadvantage smaller European rivals. The damages sought include 1.72 billion zlotys for losses, 615 million zlotys in interest payments from 2013 to 2024, and statutory interest from the filing date until payment. Google has disputed the claims, highlighting its long-standing support for shopping services across Europe.

• 18 OTT platforms blocked in 2024

The Indian government has blocked 18 over-the-top (OTT) platforms due to their involvement in hosting and distributing obscene, vulgar, and pornographic content, as per the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, L. Murugan, announced this action in Parliament, emphasizing the government’s zero-tolerance approach toward such material. The Rules also provide for a Code of Ethics for publishers of news and current affairs on digital media and publishers of online curated content (OTT platforms).

Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) provided data on cybercrime that Indian citizens lost Rs 120.3 crore through digital arrest scams, Rs 1,420.48 crore to trading scams, Rs 222.58 crore in investment scams, and Rs 13.23 crore in romance scams. The Indian Prime minister raised the issue in his recent ‘Mann ki baat’ episode. Digital arrest sees fraudsters claiming to be officers of an investigative government agency or law enforcement like CBI, Narcotics, RBI, TRAI, customs and tax officials. They approach the intended target using audio or video calls to first intimidate people and then extort money from them while confining them in one location — most usually the victim's own home — under the false pretense of an 'arrest'.

-        Report suggest that Google to develop AI that takes over computers

Google is developing artificial intelligence technology that takes over a web browser to complete tasks such as research and shopping, The Information reported on Saturday. Google is set to demonstrate the product code-named Project Jarvis as soon as December with the release of its next flagship Gemini large language model, the report added, citing people with direct knowledge of the product. This product is designed to take over routine tasks for users, like searching for information, booking flights, or buying products online. This type of AI, known as a “computer-using agent,” is part of a bigger trend. Other companies, like Microsoft, Apple, and OpenAI, are also working on similar tools. The development is significant as it may add to already existing Google hegemony and control over the digital space which has come under scrutiny in recent times

- The Indian government launched 1000 Cr startup funds for space technology

Indian government approved the establishment of a Rs.1,000 crore Venture Capital (VC) Fund dedicated to supporting India’s space sector. This pioneering initiative, developed under the aegis of IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center), aims to propel the growth of space startups, strengthen India’s space economy, and position the country as a global leader in space technology. The establishment of this fund is to promote innovation, economic growth, and self-reliance in high-tech industries. The Rs. 1,000 crore VC Fund is structured to align with India’s strategic vision for the space sector and supports the goals set forth in the 2020 space reforms. The fund is designed to address the unique needs of private companies operating in the high-risk, high-reward field of space technology.

-        HarmonyOS Next: China's Huawei Unveils New OS, Marking Official Break From Android

In a key development, China's Huawei has taken a key step toward breaking itself from the Google digital ecosystem. They have launched their own mobile OS. Huawei has officially started the public beta testing of the HarmonyOS Next for its devices powered by Kirin and Kunpeng chips in China. The operating system is said to bring new home and lock screen customisation options, faster animations and app launch speeds, and AI-powered features. The key to success will be the mobile apps to run on the platform. In this regard, Huawei claimed that at the time of its announcement, over 15,000 HarmonyOS native applications and meta-services were also launched. This is a very credible number, however, very miniscule in comparison to millions of apps present on the playstore. The development is interesting as the US has already put several sanctions on Huawei and see them as a threat of national security. On the other hand, digital entrepreneurs are watching the development closely as if the OS succeeds it may emerge as an alternative to Google ecosystem.

ONDC records 5.5 million transactions in December 2023

December 2023 saw more than 5.5 million transactions through the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), the most in a single month since the platform's inception.

In January 2023, ONDC had 2,000 orders.

Of the total transactions in December 2023, 3.4 million (63%) were in the mobility category while 2 million (37%) were in the retail category.

Food and beverages category made up 32.5% of orders in the retail segment, followed by fashion (29.6%). The remaining transactions were divided among other categories, including groceries (10.1%), electronics (5.7%), home and kitchen (12.6%), beauty and personal care (8.5%), and groceries (10.1%). The biggest single-day orders that ONDC has ever received were roughly 217,000.

By the end of March 2024, the network hopes to have facilitated 6.5 million to 7 million transactions.

By the end of the year, ONDC targets to have up to 8 million monthly transactions. A peak of over 95,000 retail orders in a single day has already been observed.

The network also aims to reach a gross merchandise value of $48 billion and increase the e-commerce penetration in the country by 25% during the next two years. There are currently roughly 40,000 sellers on the network, distributed throughout 200 cities.

UPI transactions crossed 100-billion mark in 2023, marking an overall 50% increase from 2022

According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the total number of transactions performed through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) surpassed the 100 billion last year, marking a new milestone.

In 2023, UPI processed 117.6 billion transactions in total. Additionally, data indicated that previous year, the UPI rails processed a little over Rs 182 lakh crore in total value across the payments infrastructure.

In December 2023, the number of UPI transactions in the nation reached 12.02 billion, with the payments worth Rs 18.23 lakh crore being processed by the service. This indicated an annual 54% increase in volume and a 42% increase in transaction value.

This growth demonstrates the remarkable expansion of the nation's UPI payments service, which had around 74 billion transactions in 2022 and 38.7 billion in 2021.

Furthermore, according to NPCI’s data, there was a 49% increase in monthly UPI transactions from January to December of last year.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)'s recurring payment mechanism, known as UPI Autopay, has been gaining traction as well. It is mostly used throughout the nation for bill and subscription payments.

The growing amount of use cases that UPI Autopay may be applied to, could potentially be the reason for its growing popularity. This includes paying national credit card bills, insurance premiums, and mutual fund bills.

Additionally, the UPI Autopay feature has grown in terms of volume and value as a result of the recent changes to transaction limits, which were raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

Government of India may amend IT Act to accommodate new rules for AI, GenAI models

The Government of India is anticipated to revise the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021, and enact regulations governing generative AI models and artificial intelligence (AI) businesses.

It is anticipated that the revisions will require platforms that train their machines using artificial intelligence algorithms or language models to ensure that they are free from any type of "bias."

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, is expected to announce the revisions soon. They require that AI algorithms and language models that are trained on datasets that contain prejudices or that have biases built into them be prohibited from being released for public use.

As mentioned by a high ranking government official, the parameters that now define bias include, but are not limited to, caste, religion, community, and national security. Platforms will be required by law to make sure that all of these guidelines are followed, broadening the scope of online safety and trust.

In order to assure safety, they will consult on parameters other than the ones that are currently known and understood to minimise prejudice. Another official stated that before the product is released into the market, these AI models must go through stress and sandbox testing to make sure that such biases are absent.

The IT Rules revisions may introduce new regulations around deepfake and synthetic content, in addition to providing safeguards against bias in AI and language models and clear guidelines for platforms on loan apps.

The decision of the GoI to amend the IT Act, 2021, to include such provisions, could be due to the fact that the Digital India Bill, which was supposed to have provisions that seek to empower users to seek algorithmic accountability from internet intermediaries and social media companies, is still some time away from being finalised. The fact that developments around generative AI is developing rapidly, cannot be ignored.

CBDC payments hit RBI goal of 1 million transactions in a day

On December 27, 2023, the number of central bank digital currency transactions surpassed one million for the first time, and it has since peaked at more than 2 million a day.

Although the e-rupee initiative, or CBDC, is still in the experimental stage, the RBI had set a goal of a million transactions per day for 2023, which they managed to achieve.

Prior to starting the retail e-rupee pilot, the RBI had started with wholesale CBDC in the government securities market and had recently expanded it to the call money market.

There is no timeframe for finishing the pilot, according to Governor Shaktikanta Das and his deputies, and the trial's learnings would be incorporated into the final design.

The use of digital payments through UPI and other tools has increased rapidly in India since the high currency notes were demonetised in November 2016. The RBI is attempting to position e-rupee as an additional payment option in response to users' inquiries about the necessity of switching from the current electronic payment options to CBDC.

The e-rupee has been used by a few state-run banks to distribute employee benefits in recent weeks, which has contributed to an increase in transaction volume.

With a small group of clients, RBI had collaborated with SBI and IDFC First Bank initially, which was introduced in December 2022. Other banks were brought in after things settled, and as more customers were brought in, banks started to provide trial access more liberally.

The Alliance of Digital Indian Foundation (ADIF) is a policy think tank committed to fostering innovation and growth of digital startups in India. Stay informed on policy updates through a free subscription to ADIF blogs. Kindly share your feedback and comments with us at office@adif.in. Your insights are valuable to us

POLICY

National e-commerce policy may be announced soon, is in its final stages

The Union Minister For Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Shri Piyush Goyal stated on Thursday, 28^th of December, 2023, that the planned National e-commerce policy being developed by the Government of India is nearing completion and will be unveiled very soon. The proposed regulation was the subject of an in-depth discussion back in August 2023 between representatives of e-commerce companies and a domestic traders' association, and it was hosted by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The government had already released two national e-commerce policy drafts previously.

The 2019 draft planned to address six main sectors of the e-commerce ecosystem, namely data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory challenges, promoting the local digital economy, and export promotion through e-commerce.

Through a simplified regulatory framework for ease of doing business, adoption of contemporary technologies, integration of supply chains, and increased exports through this medium, the e-commerce policy seeks to prepare strategies for creating an environment that is favourable for the inclusive and harmonious growth of the e-commerce sector.

The National e-Commerce Policy's general framework aims to distinguish clearly between the marketplace and a warehousing-based model.

ONDC

CBDT clarifies the applicability of TDS liability for online retailers for orders placed on ONDC

On Thursday, the income tax authorities provided clarification regarding the TDS liability of online businesses using the ONDC. According to the FAQ released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), convenience, packaging, and shipping fees charged by e-commerce trading platforms for orders placed on ONDC shall be included in the gross sale amount and a 1% TDS will be deducted from it.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) launched the ONDC as a new initiative, and due to that, the CBDT had received comments asking for clarification on who is responsible for complying with IT rules regarding Tax Deducted at Source (TDS).

As mandated by law, all e-commerce companies must deduct TDS at the rate of one percent on the total sales amount of products or services sold on their platform.

The CBDT has made it clear that when several e-commerce operators (ECOs) are using the ECO platform to complete a single transaction, the supplier side must complete the TDS compliance before the payment is released to the supplier.

CYBER RISKS

Cyber risks take the top spot as the biggest threat faced by Indian organizations

According to PwC's 2023 Global Risk Survey - India’s survey, cyber threats are the biggest concern that Indian organizations face, with 38% of respondents feeling highly or severely exposed to them. As a result, compared to 2022, cybersecurity has risen from number three to number one on the risk radar. 35% of business leaders in India are also very concerned about other digital and technological risks.

According to the results, 55% of the respondents want to invest in cybersecurity tools and AI, machine learning, and automation technologies in the next one to three years to address the difficulties faced by Indian companies.

71% of Indian organizations are collecting and analysing IT and cybersecurity data for risk management and opportunity identification to support these investments. 61% of businesses worldwide implement the same practice.

The report shows that not only are Indian business leaders showing a greater willingness to take risks, but they are also reasonably adept at identifying the opportunities that risks present.

Additionally, the survey revealed that 99% of Indian corporate executives are optimistic about their company's ability to successfully manage risk and balance growth.

When it comes to generative AI (GenAI), 69% of Indian executives view it as an opportunity, compared to 60% globally, indicating that Indian firms view technology disruptors as opportunities.

The report also showed how businesses are using cutting-edge technology like GenAI for risk management, with 48% of Indian businesses using AI and machine learning extensively for automated risk assessment and response.

AI REGULATIONS

Government of India issues advisory to social media platforms to comply with IT rules regarding deepfakes and misinformation

With a focus on deepfake technology-fuelled misinformation, the government on Tuesday sent out another advisory to all social media and internet intermediaries, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and Google, urging strict adherence to the current IT regulations.

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, stated that “a formal advisory has been issued incorporating the ‘agreed to’ procedures to ensure that users on these platforms do not violate the prohibited content in Rule 3(1) (b) and if such legal violations are noted or reported then the consequences under the law will follow.”

According to the IT Ministry, platforms were not adhering to the guidelines about content that was prohibited, concerning deepfakes and misinformation.

Hon’ble minister emphasized that the ministry will "closely observe" how social media and internet intermediaries are adhering to these guidelines over the coming weeks and will bring in changes to the IT Rules or legislation as needed.

All businesses have been required by the IT Ministry to provide an "action-taken-cum-status" within a week. The move to issue the advisory is the most recent in a string of letters and notifications that intermediaries have received requesting that they abide by the rules that forbid hosting, displaying, or disseminating specific types of content, such as images of child sexual abuse, pornographic material, or advertisements for unlicensed loan applications on their network.

Platforms are expected to take more steps to allow the promotion of illicit lending and gambling apps that have the potential to scam and mislead users. The advisory read that the intermediaries will have the sole responsibility for any consequences.

IT Ministry seeking inputs to build responsible AI

To create locally developed "tools and frameworks" that support the just and ethical development of artificial intelligence across themes like machine unlearning, synthetic data generation, fairness tools, bias mitigating strategies, and others, Government of India has invited proposals from academic institutions and research and development organizations.

According to the proposal paper, machine unlearning algorithms aid in the elimination of unwanted learned behaviours, which advances the creation of more precise, dependable, and equitable AI systems in a variety of fields.

The applications will be accepted from government-run establishments with pre-existing lab infrastructure, including workstations, servers, and other dedicated staff, such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIIT), R&D, and private academic organizations.

However, these institutions must demonstrate that the project will be completed in the next two years and guarantee that it aligns with the main objective of encouraging the ethical and just application of AI. By January 12^th, 2024, the proposals must be submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Meanwhile, Indian businesses are also gearing up for responsible AI adoption.

According to a report by the industry group NAASCOM, about 60% of businesses say that they have either started formal measures towards adopting such responsible practices or have already established Responsible AI (RAI) policies and practices. About 30% of respondents said they were only vaguely aware of the RAI imperatives and lacked a defined plan or structure.

Industry leaders are working extensively to invest in cutting-edge RAI technologies and methods while prioritizing openness in their AI activities due to the growing demand for RAI among AI users and stakeholders.

As Responsible AI adoption continues to evolve, large-scale implementation and adoption are contingent upon the resolution of multiple technical, commercial, and regulatory obstacles.

The largest obstacles to RAI adoption continue to be the lack of access to high-quality data and the shortage of qualified technical and management staff, even as businesses continue to focus on trust and transparency in the commercial development and use of AI and AI-enabled technologies.

The Alliance of Digital Indian Foundation (ADIF) is a policy think tank committed to fostering innovation and growth of digital startups in India. Stay informed on policy updates through a free subscription to ADIF blogs. Kindly share your feedback and comments with us at office@adif.in. Your insights are valuable to us

ANTITRUST

Google to pay $700 million to US consumers and states to settle a lawsuit accusing the Big tech of unfair practices in Play store

As part of an antitrust settlement with U.S. states and consumers, Google will reportedly pay $700 million and redesign its Play app store to promote greater competition, the firm announced in a federal court on Monday in San Francisco.

As per the settlement, Google is contributing $630 million to a consumer settlement fund and $70 million to a state-use fund.

Google was accused of overcharging customers by imposing unlawful restrictions on the Android app store's app distribution and charging exorbitant fees for in-app purchases.

"The changes Google is required to adopt will result in more innovation among app developers and lower prices for consumers, and that was always our number one goal," Attorney General Josh Stein stated on Tuesday.

He also mentioned that no other U.S. antitrust enforcer has yet been able to secure remedies of this magnitude from Google or another significant digital platform.

According to the lawsuit, Google suppressed rivalry with its Android app store in an effort to increase revenue.

The state solicitors general claimed that Google's practices unduly increased the cost of digital transactions within apps that users of Android smartphones downloaded from the Play Store.

Adobe, Figma withdraw $20 billion deal after hitting regulatory roadblocks

Due to antitrust issues in Europe and the UK, Adobe shelved its $20 billion deal with cloud-based designer platform Figma on Monday. This would have been one of the largest buyouts of a software business.

Announced in September of last year, the cash-and-stock deal was the most recent to come under intense scrutiny from authorities concerned about Big Tech acquisitions that involve startups viewed as potential competitors or threatens to increase the market dominance of dominant businesses.

Adobe has agreed to pay Figma a $1 billion termination fee.

The EU's concerns about potential reduction of competition were echoed by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which stated that the pact will hinder innovation for software used by a large majority of UK digital designers.

The CMA was in the news recently for opposing Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.

DATA USAGE & PRIVACY

Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) rules may be released within a fortnight

The government may release the administrative rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules within the next two weeks and announce the final version of the bill by the end of January 2024.

Senior representatives from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, met with executives from social media and internet intermediaries on Wednesday. During the meeting, key topics like child gating, the consent architecture that needs to be framed, and the rights and responsibilities of data principals were covered.

The DPDP, which was passed in August of this year, requires that any business or individual that collects, manages, or uses data from other users, have their explicit consent by informing them of the reasons for which the data is being used.

Additionally, the DPDP Act requires that these businesses that gather, handle, or process data adhere to the commitment for which consent was received.

After five years of development, the Act came into effect in August earlier this year with the President's assent. The executive rules, which specify the guidelines for implementing the law, have not yet been released by the administration.

X, adult content websites under the scanner of the Digital Services Act in the EU

As part of its initial investigation under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Union is looking into social networking platform X for possible violations of duties.

Large online platforms and search engines are required by the DSA, which went into effect in November of last year, to take stronger action against unlawful content and threats to public safety.

The investigation will concentrate on preventing the spread of illicit content within the EU and evaluating the efficacy of steps taken to prevent the manipulation of information, such as the "community notes" system.

X's "Community Notes" function, which was released earlier this year, lets users flag erroneous or misleading content in posts by leaving comments. This effectively crowdsources fact-checking, eliminating the need for a dedicated crew of fact-checkers.

The investigation will also look into several facets of the business, such as the data access that X offers to researchers.

The European Union on Wednesday also added three adult content organisations to its list of businesses that will be subject to strict regulations under the DSA.

The Digital Services Act (DSA), which replaced the previous regulations, mandates that businesses manage risk, submit to external, independent audits, and exchange data with government agencies and academic researchers.

The EU had named 19 companies in April under the regulations, including two Meta Platforms divisions, two Microsoft companies, X, and Alibaba's AliExpress.

These corporations will be subject to fines of up to 6% of their worldwide sales if they don't take immediate action to combat misinformation, provide consumers with greater protection and choice, and guarantee better child safety.

ONDC

ONDC ties up with bigger players to facilitate seamless services

Meta launched a cooperation with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), a government-backed e-commerce network, to upskill small businesses and use Meta's business and technical solution providers for smooth, conversational buyer and seller experiences on Whatsapp.

ONDC will help the businesses become seller apps and onboard onto their network.

As part of the collaboration, Meta will also improve the services provided by Sahayak, the ONDC's Whatsapp chatbot for seller support.

As per ONDC’s CEO, T Koshy, big businesses have the engineering know-how to support individuals in enhancing their potential. Through this relationship, small firms will be able to take advantage of the robust technical tools that larger companies like Meta bring to the table in order to compete on an equal footing.

In addition to making the network possible, it will make small businesses aware of its existence in the market, be connected to it, and prepare them for the changes that come with digitalization.

In order to provide customers with a seamless end-to-end experience in open mobility, ONDC is also collaborating with Namma Yatri and Google Maps to integrate mobility alternatives like local trains, autorickshaws, taxis, and metro.

Developing an integrated cart is the goal. Any good or service that can be catalogued ought to be available on the network.

In the long run, ONDC's long-term goals of standardising ride-hailing and mobility app protocols and uniting them into a single ecosystem will enable businesses like Namma Yatri to construct public infrastructure at lower rates.

AI

Generative AI could add a total of $1.2-1.5 trillion to India's GDP by FY30

By FY2029–2030, generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) could boost India's GDP by a total of $1.2–1.5 trillion over the course of the next 7 years.

The study released by EY India, titled 'The AIdea of India: Generative AI's potential to expedite India's digital transformation' offered valuable perspectives on the industry's readiness and obstacles in adopting Gen AI.

According to the analysis, India may possibly gain USD 359-438 billion in FY2029–30 alone by fully utilising Gen AI technology and its applications across sectors, representing a 5.9–7.2% growth over and above baseline GDP.

It is anticipated that industries like business services (including IT, legal, consulting, outsourcing, rental of machinery and equipment, and others), financial services, education, retail, and healthcare will account for over 69% of the total contribution.

The expected outcome is likely to enhance work productivity, heighten operational effectiveness, and customise client interaction.

Organisations however, face two main challenges: skills gap (52%), and the availability of unclear use cases (47%). 36% of organisations also view data privacy as a threat associated with the use of Gen AI.

Use of Indian languages in AI essential, will bring down bias in technology: Meity secretary

According to Shri S Krishnan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), Government of India, Artificial intelligence (AI) programming in Indian languages will reduce biases in the future generation of technology that uses only a few or specialised languages.

He stated at an event that India will have leadership opportunities once basic models for AI around languages are built for widespread adoption in the nation.

The government is now developing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to allow people all throughout the nation to converse easily with one another through digital translation tools created as part of the Bhashini programme.

According to Shri S Krishan, the significance of developing technologies—whether they take the shape of language or other aspects—is growing.

The inherent biases that arises when using data that is obtained only from specific segments or certain languages do go down as more content that is available in Indian languages and as more Indian languages are included into large language models (LLMs) and other forms.

Shri S Krishan also stated that it is imperative that we use local languages if we want to democratise it, increase engagement, and make people feel as though they are part of the process.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of a multilingual internet in this multicultural nation with 22 official languages and dialects beyond counting.

The Alliance of Digital Indian Foundation (ADIF) is a policy think tank committed to fostering innovation and growth of digital startups in India. Stay informed on policy updates through a free subscription to ADIF blogs. Kindly share your feedback and comments with us at office@adif.in. Your insights are valuable to us

ANTITRUST

ADIF, along with the Indian startup ecosystem, see Epic’s victory over Google in the antitrust case as a big positive

Epic Games gained victory over Google in the hugely popular antitrust dispute, a decision that might have significant effects on the app store economy. In the dispute, Epic Games claimed that Google was acting as a monopoly in its Play store.

In its case, Epic Games claimed that Google intentionally killed competition by charging developers exorbitant fees of upto 30% for in-app purchases.

According to Epic Games, Google unlawfully links its Play store and billing services, so in order for developers' products to be listed in the store, they had to use both.

Additionally, attorneys representing Epic Games demonstrated that Google engaged in anti-competitive behaviour. One of the more dramatic claims was that Google has a mechanism in place to remove internal messages and texts in order to hide its anticompetitive actions.

The court will start deliberating over potential remedies in January next year. Should the decision stand, developers might have more control over how their apps are marketed and how much money they can generate from them.

The decision may also serve as a model for future antitrust trials involving Big Tech firms globally, including Google's own.

Indian software developers and startup owners are celebrating Epic Games' victory over Google, citing a sense of "vindication" and anticipating "positive ripple effects" on cases akin to theirs in India and other countries.

The judgement aligns perfectly with ADIF's steadfast commitment to fostering equitable competition in the business ecosystem. ADIF acknowledges the pivotal role of startups in propelling economic growth and actively promotes innovation, creating an environment conducive to the growth of startups, which the Epic Games verdict will definitely facilitate.

India has been actively fighting against dominant entities resorting to unfair and discriminatory practices, especially in the last few years. This is effectively illustrated by the judgements passed by the CCI in recent times against Bigtechs abusing their dominance

ADIF has been working assiduously against the exorbitant commissions charged by Google for in-app purchases. ADIF believes that this will go a long way in promoting a fair, transparent, and contestable digital ecosystem, which will be beneficial for our nation and our developing start-up industry.

Apple maybe handed a huge penalty by EU antitrust order in its fight with Spotify

EU regulators are finalising a ruling that would ban Apple's practice of preventing music providers from discouraging its customers from using the App Store in favour of other subscription services. Apple may also face a significant fine from EU authorities.

The decision is expected to be made early in the following year, and Apple may be fined up to 10% of its annual sales.

The investigation was initiated by a complaint filed by Sweden's Spotify Technology about four years ago. The company said that it was compelled to increase the monthly subscription price in order to pay for expenses related to Apple's App Store regulations.

Earlier this year, the European Commission filed a chargesheet against Apple, claiming that the conditions are baseless and could result in higher costs for customers.

Apple attempts to resolve further antitrust woes as it offers to let rivals access tap-and-go tech in EU antitrust case

According to reports, Apple has offered to let competitors access to its tap-and-go mobile payment systems, which are used for mobile wallets. This might resolve EU antitrust allegations and avert a potentially large fine.

Last year, the EU competition watchdog accused Apple of restricting competitors' use of its tap-and-go Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology, which made it harder for competitors to create competing services on Apple products.

The European Commission will probably wait until next month to get input from competitors and consumers before determining whether to accept Apple's offer.

In Europe, nearly 2,500 institutions as well as over 250 fintechs and challenger banks accept Apple Pay. Tap-and-go payments on iPhones and iPads are made possible via the NFC chip.

POLICY & REGULATIONS

India drives discussions on ethical AI use and guardrails in the recently concluded GPAI Summit 2023

Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), aimed at guiding the responsible development and use of artificial intelligence, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth, constitutes 29 nations including the US, UK, EU, Germany, Israel, Singapore, Australia, Belgium, France, and others.

In the recently concluded GPAI meet, the New Delhi Declaration was unanimously adopted by all the 29 nations. The proclamation committed to developing AI applications in healthcare and agriculture jointly and taking the needs of the Global South into account when developing AI.

Participating countries also agreed in the declaration to use the GPAI platform to develop a worldwide framework for AI trust and safety as well as to make AI benefits and solutions accessible to everyone. In order to complete the suggested framework in six months, India also submitted a proposal to host a GPAI Global Governance Summit.

During the next few months, as India assumes the presidency of GPAI, the focus will be on combining expert resources with those of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to broaden the scope and improve the capacity to identify the most effective approaches to the governance and application of AI for the benefit of society.

On January 10, the Centre will present its official AI policy as part of the India AI Programme. The Korea Safety Summit, scheduled for mid-2024, will serve as a platform for additional global debates on the creation of AI rules.

INDIAN ECONOMY

Indian consumer tech market likely to see a threefold increase to $300 billion by 2027

According to a recently published report, the size of the Indian consumer internet segment will almost triple to $300 billion by 2027 from its current level, with the fashion, mobility, and media sectors leading the way.

The report also mentions that the online retail market is expected to reach $160 billion by 2028 and grow at a rate of somewhere between 23% and 25% annually.

By the end of 2023, the online retail market is predicted to be worth $57–60 billion, up 17%–20% from the previous year. In Indian online shopping, this translates to 240 million to 260 million annual transacting shoppers. However, online purchasing will still account for only 5 to 6 percent of total retail spending. By contrast, internet retail accounts for about 35% of retail spending in China and roughly 24% of total retail spending in the US.

By 2028, 60–70 million families in India are expected to fall into the upper-middle and upper-income categories, which will then likely make up at least 80% of e-retail expenditure.

Quick commerce currently drives about 50% of online grocery shopping. Although metros and tier-1 cities account for 80% of quick commerce volume, more and more shoppers are coming from non-metropolitan areas, with 70% of them originating from tier-2 cities and beyond. Additionally, over 30% of shoppers are younger, having been born in 1997 or later, according to the report. Around 30 percent of internet buyers were from low- to low-middle-class backgrounds.

ANTITRUST

Meta faces €550m lawsuit from Spanish media over alleged dominance in the Adtech domain

Citing unfair competition in the advertising industry, a coalition representing 83 Spanish media sites has filed a €550 million (approximately $600 million) complaint against Meta Platforms. The newspapers together filed the litigation with a commercial court last Friday, alleging that Meta had violated EU data protection legislation from 2018 to 2023.

The plaintiffs claim that Meta has an unfair advantage in producing and providing personalised ads because of its "massive" and "systematic" usage of users' personal data from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms. They claim this unfair competition.

According to the complainants, the majority of Meta's advertisements use personal information that was acquired without the clients' express authorization. They contend that this is against the EU General Data Protection Regulation, which came into effect in May 2018 and requires websites to obtain permission before retaining or using personal data.

The case represents legacy media's (forms of mass media institutions which were more prevalent before the dawn of internet, such as print media, radio and television broadcasting etc) most recent attempt to defend its territory in court against tech behemoths. One of the most notable cases was when the Google News service was shut down by the Spanish government in 2014, which then reopened in 2022 under new rules allowing media outlets to negotiate prices directly with the internet giant.

Many nations, including Canada earlier this year, have implemented laws aimed at forcing tech behemoths to pay for news recently.

Meta’s paid ad-free service violates EU consumer regulations, claims complaint

The largest consumer organisation in Europe, European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), said last week that Meta Platforms' paid no-ads subscription service, which it launched in Europe last month, violates EU consumer regulations.

Claiming that Meta's new service amounted to paying a fee to ensure privacy, the BEUC and eighteen of its members jointly filed a complaint with the network of consumer protection authorities (CPC), two days after advocacy group NOYB filed a complaint with the Austrian privacy watchdog on the same issue.

In addition to this, the BEUC identified a number of other problems.

In a statement, they said that by employing unfair, dishonest, and forceful tactics, such as partially barring users from accessing the services to pressure them into making a decision right away and giving them inaccurate and partial information in the process, Meta is violating EU consumer legislation.

According to BEUC, even if consumers choose the new service, their data would probably still be gathered and utilised for other purposes. Additionally, it criticised the "very high subscription fee for ad-free services" as a potential turnoff to users.

Customers will merely agree to Meta's tracking and profiling at this price, which is precisely what the tech behemoth wants. It is not appropriate to charge people for maintaining their privacy, the Deputy Director General of BEUC said.

For Web users, the monthly fee for the ad-free service is €9.99 euros, while iOS and Android customers need to pay €12.99.

AI & DEEPFAKE

EU's landmark AI rules, which could be voted into law by the EU parliament later this month, still being ironed out

The groundbreaking legislation governing artificial intelligence (AI) in the European Union is currently being negotiated in what some believe to be the last round of talks. The decisions made could serve as a model for other governments creating regulations for their own artificial intelligence sectors.

Governments and parliamentarians are still discussing a number of important topics prior to the meeting, including how to regulate the rapidly expanding field of generative AI and how law enforcement should use it.

The primary problem stems from the fact that the initial draft of the rule was prepared in early 2021—nearly two years before ChatGPT, one of the fastest-growing software applications ever—was released by OpenAI. The act's original risk categories did not clearly apply to ChatGPT and other generative AI tools, which has led to a continuing debate about how they should be governed.

The European Union has proposed regulations pertaining to foundation models, which require enterprises to maintain a comprehensive record of their system's training data and capabilities, attest to the fact that they have taken precautions against potential hazards and submit to audits by outside experts.

However, some of the EU’s most powerful nations, France, Germany, and Italy have contested that in recent weeks. In their view, rather than imposing strict regulations, the creators of generative AI models should be given the freedom to exercise self-regulation, which they argue is essential if European companies are to compete with dominant U.S. players like Google and Microsoft.

Legislators in the EU seek regulations that safeguard citizens' fundamental rights, but member states also want certain latitude so that technology can be utilised for national security purposes, such as by border protection agencies or the police.

The bill might potentially be voted into law by the EU Parliament later this month if a final version is agreed upon. Even then, it might not take effect for nearly two more years.

Governments and lawmakers in the EU may alternatively negotiate a "provisional agreement" in the absence of a final accord, with the details worked out over the course of several weeks of technical discussions.

GoI taking a tough stance on deepfakes, state that violation may lead to action under IPC as well as IT Rules

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), together with senior government officials, met with executives from social media and other internet-based intermediaries to "review" their progress in addressing the 'deepfake' issue. Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, presided over the meeting.

The government issued a strong message to social media and internet intermediaries, stating that they risk legal action not only under the Information Technology (IT) Rules of 2021, but also under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for failing to address deepfake, synthetically altered content, and 11 other user harms mentioned in the rules.

According to Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar, a new amendment to the IT Rules is "actively under consideration" to guarantee social media and other platforms comply with laws regarding deep fakes and other matters to protect public safety and confidence.

The next meeting with the internet intermediaries and social media companies will be held after 7 days.

In order to address the problem of deep fakes, key executives from social media and online intermediaries were met by Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar earlier this month.

Following their meetings with these corporations, Shri Vaishnaw and Shri Chandrasekhar declared that deep fakes posed a threat to democracy and stable governance and that they needed to be addressed right away.

While Shri Chandrasekhar stated that all companies should first warn users about the dangers of uploading synthetic and deepfake media at every step of their contact with the platform's interface, Shri Vaishnaw suggested introducing new legislation to deal with deep fakes.

The IT ministry had issued an advisory in November to all social media intermediaries that they take prompt action against deepfake content. The ministry had stated that social media intermediaries must make sure that users of their platform do not host any content that impersonates another person, citing Section 66D of the IT Act as well as Rules 3(1)(b)(vii) and Rule 3(2)(b) of the IT Rules.

POLICY

Consensus eludes EU gatekeeper status as Meta appeals against it for Messenger, Marketplace

In September, the European Union selected 22 "gatekeeper" services, which are operated by six of the largest tech companies globally, to be subject to new regulations as part of its most recent campaign against Big Tech.

These gatekeepers must let consumers choose which apps to pre-install on their devices and interoperate their messaging apps with rival apps in accordance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Services from Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, will be subject to the DMA.

Google and Microsoft have agreed to comply with the EU legislation.

Those who object to the label and its conditions can file a complaint with the General Court of Luxembourg, which handles matters pertaining to trade, the environment, and competition law.

Meta on the other hand filed an appeal on Wednesday against being designated as a "gatekeeper" for its Messenger and Marketplace platforms.

The business declared that it would not contest Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp's classification.

Industry insiders reckon that TikTok could challenge its status as well. TikTok had previously declared that the gatekeeper designation was fundamentally incorrect.

EU antitrust authorities are looking into whether Apple's iMessage and Microsoft's Bing should abide by the new regulations.

PRIVACY & USER PROTECTION

Amazon's consumer protection measures under scrutiny as EU opens probe against the Bigtech

In an effort to stack up Amazon's consumer protection policies to a recently passed EU internet regulatory law, the European Commission on Wednesday said that it will be looking into the online retail behemoth.

The information was requested to assess Amazon's risk assessment and mitigation strategies, which are mandated under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) "especially with relation to the protection of fundamental rights and the dissemination of illegal products."

Amazon must respond to the queries by December 6th.

The details will shed light on the risk assessments and mitigating actions it takes to safeguard customers' rights and interests online.

After the implementation of DSA, Amazon is classified as a "very large online platform," which means that it has to abide by new regulations (including those pertaining to increased openness, data sharing, and risk management) or face stiff fines of up to 6% of its worldwide sales.

If Amazon doesn't reply, the European Commission has the authority to demand the information by decision (indicating or imposing a penalty) and can impose periodic penalty payments for inaccurate or misleading information.

IT Act, IPC needs stronger provisions to fight deepfake menace

Experts warned that while provisions in the current IT law can prevent deepfakes from being created and distributed, they may not be enough to address the problem. As a result, lawmakers should take action to mitigate the harm that deepfakes can do. The harms caused by deepfakes are only partially addressed by the criminal provisions under the IT Act and the IPC.

State Minister for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar advised victims to "avail remedies provided under the Information Technology rules" and report incidents to the police. Additionally, social media companies received an advice informing them that if they do not remove detected deepfake content within 36 hours, they risk losing their "safe harbour immunity" under the Act.

But experts pointed out that these are ex-post remedies. When deepfakes and AI-generated false material are disseminated, their harm could cause irreversible damages.

Calls for stringent regulations for AI has grown louder as a result.

A legislation on artificial intelligence (AI) is necessary to regulate the complications surrounding AI and related applications. It also has to outline legal obligations in circumstances of AI-related incidents and offer responsible frameworks to safeguard people in the firing line.

Meta, Alphabet, ByteDance, Snap face lawsuits for social media addiction and mental health deterioration among minors

Major social media giants Alphabet, Meta, and Bytedance attempted to have a statewide lawsuit against them dismissed on Tuesday, but a federal judge rejected their arguments. The lawsuit claimed the companies had illegally lured and hooked millions of minors to their platforms, causing mental health harm.

The ruling encompasses hundreds of claims brought on behalf of specific children who claimed to have experienced detrimental impacts on their physical, mental, and emotional well-being due to their usage of social media, including suicidal thoughts and feelings, anxiety, and sadness.

Among other remedies sought in the lawsuit are damages and a stop to the defendants' alleged wrongdoings.

According to the corporations, the law shields users from liability for anything they post on their platforms and mandates the dismissal of any claims. In a 52-page decision, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California dismissed claims that the corporations were shielded from litigation by the federal Communications Decency Act and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

However, Rogers noted that the plaintiffs' accusations went beyond just highlighting content from third parties, and pointed out that the defendants failed to explain why they shouldn't be held accountable for offering faulty parental controls, failing to assist users in setting screen time limits, and putting up obstacles in the way of account deactivation.

She cited an example that businesses might have alerted parents when their kids were online by using age-verification systems.

As a result, they present a tenable argument that suggests that users suffer injury from defendants' platforms' inability to properly verify users' ages, harm that is different from harm resulting from users viewing third-party content.

Due to their legal standing as product manufacturers, the corporations owed their customers a responsibility. They may face negligence lawsuits for failing to create reasonably safe products and notify users of known problems.

Meta and Snap must detail child protection measures by December 1: EU

The European Commission announced last Friday that Meta and Snap have been given until December 1st by the EU to provide further details about how they shield youngsters from harmful and unlawful content.

The request for information on the measures the companies have taken to improve the protection of minors comes a day after a similar message by the EU to YouTube and TikTok.

The Commission also issued urgent orders to Meta, X, and TikTok last month, requesting them to provide information on the steps they had taken to stop the spread of violent content, hate speech, and terrorist-related content on their platforms.

If the Commission is not pleased with the corporations' answers, it may launch investigations.

Major internet platforms now have to take additional steps to remove dangerous and unlawful information under the recently enacted Digital Services Act (DSA), or risk fines of up to 6% of their global revenue.

ONDC

ONDC introduces Network Gift Card for corporate gifting and employee engagement

A network-level gift card called the "ONDC Network Gift Card" has been made available by the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) so that businesses can use it for employee engagement and corporate gifting for the forthcoming holiday season.

The Rupay Network powers these gift cards, which can be loaded with up to Rs 10,000.

Thampy Koshy, the chief executive of ONDC, noted that unlike traditional gift cards, which are restricted to a particular platform or brand, ONDC's gift cards provide customers the option to buy from any brand or product.

Customers can use any ONDC buyer app to make purchases from the network's thousands of vendors using these cards.

The network will be reaching out to more business organisations to encourage them to use the gift cards.

While many other banks and fintech firms are also working to offer ONDC-enabled gift cards, sponsoring organisations can currently contact YES Bank and Omni Card to issue these gift cards.

POLICY

Data Protection Board to be operational within the next 30 days

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, announced on Wednesday that the Data Protection Board (DPB) established by the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act would be operational within the next 30 days.

The DPB will be established in accordance with the DPDP Act, with a chairperson and members chosen by the national government. Upon learning of a breach involving personal data, the DPB is empowered to order any immediate corrective or mitigating actions, investigate the incident, and apply penalties in accordance with this Act.

Even though it is not in place currently, according to Shri Chandrasekhar, the law is still in effect. He also said that the board will investigate any violations that arise after it is established.

The government on Wednesday held an industry consultation regarding the rules for the DPDP Act, which came into effect last August.

Sri Chandrasekhar stated that the majority of the Act's provisions, with the exception of age-gating, are expected to transition within a year.

For eKYC and age-gating compliance, the minister stated time can be given because the necessary infrastructure needs to be put in place.

End-to-end encryption on Messenger and Instagram a point of contention between Meta and UK

After the Online Safety Bill was approved by the British parliament, Britain urged Meta not to implement end-to-end encryption on Instagram and Facebook Messenger without safeguards to shield children from sexual assault.

End-to-end encryption was planned to be implemented across Messenger and Instagram direct communications, according to Meta, which currently encrypts messages on WhatsApp. The company claims the technology reinforces safety and security.

Suella Braverman, the British Home Secretary, stated that Meta has failed to provide assurances that they will keep their platforms safe from abusers. She added that they must create suitable safeguards to go with their end-to-end encryption plans.

In the new law, end-to-end encryption is a point of disagreement between businesses and the government.

WhatsApp and other messaging companies are opposed to a clause that they claim might force them to compromise end-to-end encryption.

The measure, according to the government, does not put a stop to the technology; rather, it mandates that businesses take steps to prevent child abuse and, as a last resort, develop technology to scan encrypted data.

UK focuses on transparency and access with new guidelines on AI

Britain outlined principles on Monday that emphasise the need for accountability and transparency in order to avoid a small number of tech giants from controlling artificial intelligence (AI) models to the disadvantage of consumers and enterprises.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the nation's anti-trust watchdog, is attempting, like other governments across the world, to curtail some of the potential drawbacks of AI without inhibiting innovation.

The seven guidelines it outlined attempt to control fundamental models like ChatGPT by holding developers responsible, preventing Big Tech from entangling technology in their walled platforms, and putting an end to anti-competitive behaviour like bundling.

The proposed guidelines also include flexibility for enterprises to employ different models and diversity of business models, including both open and closed models.

The CMA's draft guidelines, which come six weeks before Britain holds a summit on global AI safety, will serve as the foundation for its AI policy as it obtains new authority to regulate digital markets in the coming months.

The antitrust regulator declared that it would now solicit opinions from top AI developers like Google, Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Anthropic as well as from academics, governments, and other regulators.

ANTITRUST

Google’s last roll of the dice to overturn $2.6 billion EU antitrust fine

Alphabet's Google made a last-ditch attempt at Europe's top court to reverse a 2.42 billion euro ($2.6 billion) EU antitrust penalty levied for market abuse relating to its shopping business, claiming that authorities had not proven that its actions were anti-competitive.

After the General Court dismissed Google's appeal of the penalty imposed by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in 2017, in 2021, the company resorted to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Attorney for the Commission Fernando Castillo de la Torre rejected Google's claims, claiming the corporation had violated EU antitrust regulations by using its algorithms to unfairly favour its price comparison shopping service.

What Google was not entitled to do, according to him, was to use its control over general search to strengthen its position in comparison shopping by promoting results from its own services, adorning them with appealing features, and using algorithms that are likely to push down rivals' results and display those without appealing features.

The CJEU will make a decision on this in the next few months.

INDIAN ECONOMY

ONDC set to disrupt B2B digital commerce across retail, financial services, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), particularly in the retail, financial services, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors, is poised to disrupt B2B digital commerce.

ONDC seeks to democratise the e-commerce market by building an open marketplace for small and medium-sized businesses. As long as both the buyer and the seller's platforms are connected to the ONDC network, they can trade even though they are on different platforms.

Small and medium-sized firms (SME) and empowered consumers will characterise India's forthcoming growth phase, which is consistent with ONDO's objectives.

With a unique offering centred on agility, security, and profitability at the same time, ONDC streamlines value chains, fills in gaps, and supports innovation, clearing the way for the next generation to pursue uncharted territory.

Ecommerce already makes up 4.3% of the retail sector, and ONDC is projected to expand it, particularly in the industrial, agricultural, and financial services sectors.

Brands can interact with shops thanks to ONDC, and distributors can use it to locate new markets. "Plug and play" services like real-time ordering, quick delivery, and credit management are provided by ecosystem members and may be used by both brands and retailers. Additionally, the network will facilitate more efficient connections with clients and suppliers.

Regarding financial institutions, ONDC offers a special chance to interact with both the buyer and seller of a transaction as well as to extend to untapped geographic and demographic areas.

Offerings to customers are anticipated to drastically change as a result of digitising small- and medium-sized firm data and utilising services like transaction data, fintech, and account aggregators.

The network has the potential to increase operational efficiencies in the manufacturing sector by 5–10% by serving as a one-stop shop for supply chain entities and facilitating access to unmet demand for small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

In the food delivery sector, ONDC has also established itself as a formidable rival after recording 50,000 eateries for live orders in August—a significant rise from 500 in February. The largest manufacturer of food and beverages, Pepsico, joined ONDC last Monday.

India's DPI will be key in India’s digital journey, will reach 50 countries in the next 5 years

India has shown that there is a reasonable and realistic chance for every country, large or little, to also embrace a tremendous digital journey through its digital public infrastructures (DPIs) and One Future Alliance.

A new normal that is open source, nimble, consumer-driven, and "non-intermediated" replaces the old normal, which was characterised by giant tech companies controlling the market. India is establishing its DPI as a fundamental service for each person.

Particularly among the nations of the Global South, who have long believed that digitisation and technology were reserved for wealthy nations, India's narrative about DPI has found a lot of encouragement.

According to Nandan Nilekani, chairman of Infosys and founding chairman of the Aadhaar project, a global coalition of multilateral organisations, including the World Bank and the IMF, will export India's digital public infrastructure (DPI) model to 50 countries over the course of the next five years.

Using an open architecture, he continued, this new way of thinking about digital infrastructure at population scale will become more and more common and pervasive around the world over the following several years.

In order to support the growing demand for financial transfers to bolster vulnerable areas and populations and emergency finance after extreme climate events like floods, the DPIs will also play a crucial role in climate adaptation and mitigation.

According to Nilekani, one of the effects of climate adaptation will be the need to provide anticipatory funding for the construction of more resilient homes in the event of rising sea levels.

The DPIs' technology can be used to build an interoperable network for accessing batteries and charging stations as electric vehicle use rises.

Over 10 billion UPI transactions recorded in August 2023

The National Payments Corporation of India's (NPCI) Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a real-time payment system, passed the 10 billion transaction threshold in August.

According to NPCI data, the number of transactions on the platform increased to 10.5 billion in August from 9.9 billion in July 2023. UPI reported Rs 15.7 lakh crore in funds paid in August, which is an increase from the Rs 15.3 lakh crore figure for July.

There are now 473 banks actively using UPI.

NPCI reported 6.5 billion transactions in August of last year and 3.5 billion in August of 2021, which helps put the platform's growth in context. The payment method has increased nearly three times in just two years.

Peer-to-peer and merchant transactions have both increased on the network, showing widespread consumer acceptance.

The aim set by NPCI is 30 billion transactions every month, or one billion transactions each day.

Fintech-led businesses to rise to $400 billion by 2030

According to a forecast by early stage venture investor Elevation Capital, the Indian fintech sector will generate almost $400 billion in revenue over the next seven years, expanding four times from current levels.

By FY2030, the industry will draw from a revenue pool of about $70 billion, out of a total of $620 billion total financial services revenue pool.

India currently boasts the third-largest fintech ecosystem in the world, behind the US and the UK, with over 9,000 fintech businesses.

Retail loans and digital payments have gotten between $70 billion and $80 billion apiece. According to the research, the SME financing industry has brought in about $55 billion, while wealth management has brought in between $40 billion and $45 billion.

According to the research, equity injection increased from about $2 billion in 2018 to $6 billion in 2022.

With over 200 million Indians using smartphones for digital transactions, 300 million eKYC transactions occurring each month, and more than 2 million account aggregator consent requests being completed each month, the country's digital infrastructure is playing a critical role in the expansion of Internet businesses.

SME lending, followed by retail lending and fintech Saas, is the biggest innovation opportunity in the country.

Fintechs have received about 14% of all investments in this sector, highlighting its importance to the startup community as a whole.

Fintechs will always play an important part in the Indian financial services ecosystem, even as it becomes more digital overall. Fintechs source and support 70% of digital transactions that are registered in the nation. In the past three years, their share has increased by roughly 2.3 times. Fintechs own almost 50% of active accounts in the stock broking sector.

ANTITRUST

Google reaches tentative settlement with 50 states, Puerto Rico, and DC over alleged Playstore monopoly

A lawsuit brought in 2021 over the tech giant's alleged monopolistic control of app distribution for the software that powers the majority of the world's cellphones has been settled in principle with Google by all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

The completion of an agreement, court approval, and approval by the attorneys general and board of directors of Google's parent company are all requirements for the arrangement, which was referenced in a court filing last Tuesday.

The parties are prohibited from divulging its specifics for the time being by the temporary pact's terms.

The fight is for a fair marketplace that encourages competition, innovation, and lower prices for consumers, and they look forward to finalising the agreement and sharing more details in the next 30 days.

The Department of Justice and other federal agencies continue to bring significant antitrust actions against Google that are centred on alleged monopolistic practises in the search and advertising markets. Justice's lawsuit involving search will go to trial on September 12.

Google reached a $391 million settlement with 40 states in November last year regarding the tracking of user locations.

One recent attempt to limit the huge influence accumulated by Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon was a lawsuit brought by the state of Utah stating that such companies have established unparalleled digital empires by enticing customers into services with no competition.

The main emphasis of the case involving the states was the influence Google has over its Playstore, which allows it to rake in commissions of up to 30% on transactions made through apps installed on Android-powered handsets. Over 80% of the global smartphone market is made up of those gadgets.

In their complaint, the states disputed Google's assertion that the Android operating system is an open one that gives users additional options. It claimed that in order to maintain its distribution of more than 90% of the apps for Android smartphones, Google had put in place anticompetitive barriers. The attorneys general claimed that this market dominance constituted an illegal monopoly.

A significant case brought by the U.S. Justice Department in 2020 centred on alleged abuses of Google's dominant search engine and its digital ad network, which generates about $100 billion in annual revenue for its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., is one of the lawsuits the Mountain View, California, company is still fighting.

EU designates six big tech gatekeepers including Google, Meta, and Apple under DMA, introduces provisions for fines and sanctions

Last Wednesday, the European Commission identified six gatekeepers for the first time under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), including Alphabet (Google's parent company), Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft, with provisions for severe penalties for non-compliance.

According to a statement from the commission, the six gatekeepers will now have six months to guarantee complete observance of the DMA duties for each of their designated core platform services.

The Commission may sanction a gatekeeper up to 10% of its annual global sales, with a maximum fine of 20% in the event that the gatekeeper repeatedly violates the DMA's requirements.

This entails limiting the six gatekeepers' economic influence, providing customers with more options, and opening up new business prospects for smaller, innovative digital firms, for example through interoperability, sideloading, real-time data portability, and fairness.

In addition, the Commission has opened four market investigations to further examine Microsoft's and Apple's submissions, which contend that some of their core platform services, such as Bing, Edge, and Microsoft Advertising for Microsoft, and iMessage for Apple, do not qualify as gateways despite meeting the thresholds.

These investigations are being conducted in accordance with the DMA to determine if the companies' rebuttals are adequately supported to show that the services in question should not be designated. The investigation must be finished in no more than five months.

In another instance, despite Apple's iPadOS not fulfilling the standards, the Commission started a market investigation to investigate the matter further. This investigation must be finished in a maximum of 12 months in accordance with the DMA.

In cases of repeated violations, the Commission is also empowered to enact additional sanctions, such as requiring a gatekeeper to sell all or a portion of their firm or prohibiting them from acquiring any further services connected to the systematic non-compliance.

Google and Facebook concerned over online news law

Canada said it was dealing with the issues of Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms that they would be subject to an unlimited liability when it presented draft regulations for a bill intended to require them to pay news organisations.

The Online News Act of Canada, which is a component of a global movement to make Internet behemoths pay for news, was passed into law in June and is scheduled to take effect in December.

According to the proposed legislation, Facebook and Google will have to voluntarily negotiate agreements with Canadian news publishers and pay a part of their worldwide income based on a predetermined formula.

On its platforms in Canada, Meta has already stopped allowing news sharing. Before the regulation takes effect, Google Canada also intends to remove news from search results.

A Canadian government official told reporters in a briefing that the preliminary ideas, which will undergo public input, would raise C$172 million ($126.6 million) yearly from Google and roughly C$60 million yearly from Facebook.

Companies can be required to engage in mandatory negotiations under the CRTC's supervision if they fall short of a payment threshold through voluntary agreements.

A framework for discussions between news organisations and internet behemoths will be established this autumn, according to the responsible Canadian regulator, with the intention of starting mandatory bargaining by the beginning of 2025.

The proposed guidelines permit both monetary and non-monetary contributions to news organisations as well as taking into account current business arrangements.

According to the proposed legislation, agreements that Google and Facebook reach must also cover independent local, Indigenous, and official language minority community news businesses.

Microsoft to unbundle Teams from Office to address EU antitrust concerns

Microsoft announced on Thursday that it would detach its chat and video app Teams from its Office product and make it simpler for competing businesses to integrate with its software in an effort to avoid a potential EU antitrust fine.

The adjustments were proposed a month after the European Commission opened an investigation into Microsoft's integration of Office and Teams in response to a complaint made by the Slack workspace messaging software, which is owned by Salesforce.

Microsoft's initial concessions fell short of resolving issues.

As per the developments, the changes seek to address the two major concerns that, the customer should be able to choose a business suite without Teams at a lower price than those with Teams included, and the bigtech should do more to facilitate interoperability between competing communication and collaboration solutions and Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites.

The modifications will be applicable across Europe and Switzerland starting on October 1.

Teams will be sold to Microsoft's core enterprise customers, who account for the majority of the company's commercial operations in Europe, for 2 euros less per month or 24 euros ($26.17) less per year.

Similar to what it does with Teams, Microsoft will also create a new strategy for hosting the Office web applications within rival services and applications.

INDIAN ECONOMY

Digital economy likely to account for over 20% of India's GDP by 2026

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, forecasted on Thursday that by 2026, the digital economy will account for more than 20% of the nation's GDP. Speaking at the "G20 Digital Innovation Alliance Summit" in Bengaluru, he claimed that India is a leading country that quickly embraced technology and has begun providing solutions to the rest of the globe.

From 4-4.5% of the entire GDP in 2014 to 11% of the total GDP now, the digital economy has grown significantly.

He claimed that India utilised technology to give practical answers that, in recent years, have not only led to widespread innovation, but has revolutionised people's lives, governance, and democracy.

Due to the speed of digitalization, both the upstream and downstream effects of every citizen and consumer using the cloud or consuming digital goods or services, that connect them to the government and governance, must be recognized.

The "centre of gravity of tech," which was formerly concentrated in a small number of nations and revolved around a small number of organisations and businesses, is shifting to open source platforms, and more and more younger startups are disrupting the status quo.

Fintech startups on the rise as over 3,000 recognised startups in the domain currently operating in India

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)'s Startup India initiative has 3,085 recognised startups active in India's financial technology domain as of 30^th April 2023.

The government has started a number of programmes to support entrepreneurs in a variety of industries, with an emphasis on encouraging expansion in the financial technology (fintech) sector. Since the inception of Startup India in 2016, a total of 98,119 companies have received recognition from DPIIT as startups.

For the startups to be recognised by the DPIIT, the government has announced a list of requirements, including the date of registration, revenue and profit benchmarks, and the number of employees. The government occasionally announces various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for recognised startups.

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has implemented a number of initiatives to support the startup ecosystem, particularly in the fintech domain.

The creation of a unique "Fin-Tech Entity Framework" to serve the demands of fintechs and techfins is one of these steps.

IFSCA has established an incentive programme specifically for startups and fintechs. This extensive programme includes a variety of incentives, such as startup grants, sandbox grants, proof-of-concept (PoC) grants, green fintech grants, listing funds, and accelerator grants.

The government has implemented the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) among other strategic measures to increase investment inflows into the fintech sector.

By expediting the enrolment of beneficiaries in new bank accounts, enabling direct benefit payments, and enabling access to a wide range of financial services applications, these efforts seek to increase financial inclusion in India. As a result, fintech firms have been able to find technical solutions that successfully serve India's sizable user base.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and the synergy of the Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar, and Mobile (together referred to as the JAM trinity) have also been essential in advancing technical inclusion, transparency, integrity, and the prompt delivery of financial benefits and services to the general population.

RBI could extend incremental CRR and focus on reining in liquidity

In order to combat inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may decide to extend the temporary incremental cash reserve ratio (CRR) it imposed on banks last week. This is because the RBI appears to be focusing more on liquidity management than raising benchmark policy rates to control excessive increases in food prices. Inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased significantly in July from 4.87% to 7.44% year-on-year, mostly due to high vegetable costs. The objective for CPI inflation set by the RBI is 4%, with a tolerance range of 2-6%.

The RBI may decide not to raise the repo rate as it assesses the sustainability of rising food prices and monitors how recent rate hikes have affected the economy, which is threatened by a fragile external environment.

However, by keeping a tight rein on the banking system's liquidity, the central bank can improve the dissemination of its policy initiatives and stop borrowing costs from becoming cheaper.

The RBI may continue to prioritise liquidity management in the near future to make sure that liquidity stays close to neutral and that the interbank weighted average call rate stays at or slightly above the repo rate. The increased CRR published by RBI on August 10 may still be used after being evaluated on September 8.

The repatriation of Rs 2,000 notes to banks, a higher-than-expected surplus transfer from the RBI to the government, and foreign inflows have all contributed to a substantial increase in excess liquidity in the banking system over the past few months. The average daily amount of bank surplus funds held by the RBI reached a 14-month high of Rs 2.5 lakh crore in August.

Excessive banking system money market rates and, thus, the cost of funds in the economy are often dragged down by liquidity. Both price stability and financial stability are at risk from liquidity. The 10% additional CRR on deposits made between May 19 and July 28 is seen as impounding funds worth roughly Rs. 1.1 lakh crore.

OCEN 4.0 with updated API specifications, registry and product network launched to facilitate short-tenor loans to MSMEs

To facilitate cash flow-based MSME (micro, small, and medium businesses) lending, the Indian software products industry think-tank ISPIRT (Indian Software Products Industry Round Table) announced the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) 4.0 protocol.

OCEN is a system of APIs enabling communication between lenders, loan agents, partners in collection and disbursement, providers of derived data, and account aggregators. Up until this point, just a few pilots across the nation and the government's e-marketplace GeM SAHAY were using OCEN.

Along with new API specifications, OCEN has incorporated a registry and a product network in this iteration. These characteristics enable scalability, complexity, and need-based cash-flow-based financing.

Currently, the credit gap for MSMEs is $17 trillion to $24 trillion and that less than 11% of MSMEs have access to formal credit. By developing a framework for short-term and small-ticket loans, enabling remote lenders to operate in other countries, and providing consented access to alternative data sources, OCEN is attempting to resolve these issues.

OCEN is working with stakeholders from multiple domains. Loan brokers Spice Money, Indifi, and Finagg are among of OCEN 4.0's wave one partners. Banks like ICICI, Kotak, Union Bank, and Axis Bank are just a few examples of lenders. Among others, Disseminare and Finarkein Analytics are its technology service providers.

The main barrier to bankers adding short-term lending to their portfolios has been the cost per loan. OCEN 4.0 enables lenders to decrease loan processing and collection expenses, enabling them to disburse small-dollar, brief-term loans at scale. This will make it possible for many new borrowers' sectors to access short-term cash-flow credit.

OCEN has so far been utilised to provide short-term loans with amounts ranging from 168 to 8 lakhs of rupees. Ongoing efforts are being made to find solutions for small firms who have been unable to get one-year working capital loans due to inconsistent business performance over the previous three years.

The typical financing needs of nanobusiness owners range from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 100,000. The most common uses of credit in company are to buy new equipment, expand the business, manage cash flow that is stalled in receivables, and refill inventories.

Credit needs are frequently unanticipated, urgent, and need for funds can be within a day or two. Due to the challenges in approving such loans and the disproportionately high costs of acquisition and servicing of these tiny loans, this audience has few options for formal sources of credit.

OCEN 4.0 uses the digital public infrastructure to address this issue for all ecosystem actors, including end borrowers as well as borrower agents, lenders, and loan agents.

ONDC

Protean, PayNearby partner to offer credit services on ONDC

Protean eGov Technologies and the fintech company PayNearby have joined forces to offer MSMEs and last-mile borrowers credit services on the ONDC network. After it is launched, the marketplace will make it simple to find a variety of lending solutions at reasonable prices, according to a statement.

Through PayNearby's established Distribution as a Service (DaaS) network, Protean will play the role of an ONDC technology service provider that makes credit available to last-mile borrowers across the nation.

Many people currently lack the technical skills necessary to use account aggregator frameworks, obtain credit against their data, or give their authorization for its use.

This change is a form of intervention that can make use of the physical network that PayNearby has at its disposal. The last mile agent can then offer an assisted service and onboard individuals to join the account aggregator structure and receive credit for their data.

Small business owners will be able to link their bank account or other financial data to the site via the account aggregator framework. In turn, the lender will be able to receive the information from this small bank. The lender would then have the ability to use rule engines to grant loans which could be as low as Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000. Loan Service Providers (LSPs) will also be consolidated by Protean onto a single platform.

PayNearby and Protean previously collaborated to offer paperless PAN Card services at nearby-by stores across India.

PAYMENTS

NPCI plans to launch voice bots for UPI Payments within the next couple of months

For Indian consumers to use UPI to make payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is developing an interactive system based on voice bots. Within the next two to three months, the system should go operational.

The goal is to create a voice system similar to Amazon Alexa that banks and payment apps may incorporate. Customers who need to complete several procedures in order to make payments through UPI currently, will be able to just speak into the app to execute the same.

This 'add on functionality' must be additionally integrated into the platforms of third-party payment apps.

Customers will be able to begin and complete transactions using this AI-powered technology that allows for communication.

This will undoubtedly leverage creative capabilities and fill the gap to help establish a practical and user-friendly payment system for consumers, bringing a sizable number of users to the digital platform.

This technology could become a use case for all UPI apps if NPCI builds it. By accepting this update, existing payment platforms will be required to launch this update.

ANTITRUST

Snapchat under scrutiny from UK watchdog over inability to keep off underage users from the app

The British data regulator is gathering data on Snapchat to determine whether the American instant messaging service is taking sufficient steps to block minors from using its services.

Social media businesses must obtain parental permission to process the data of children under 13 in accordance with UK data protection law. Users of social media networks must generally be 13 or older, however companies have had varying degrees of success in keeping children off their services.

While the UK media regulator Ofcom thinks that there are thousands of underage users, it was revealed in March of this year that Snapchat owner Snap Inc had only deleted a few dozen minors under the age of 13 off its site in Britain last year.

60% of kids between the ages of eight and eleven had at least one social media account last year, which was frequently made by giving a fake date of birth, according to data from Ofcom. It also discovered that the most widely used social networking app among teenagers was Snapchat.

Following the release of the study in March, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) received a number of complaints from the public regarding Snap's handling of children's data.

Some of the criticisms focused on Snapchat's failure to take adequate steps to keep young children off its site.

Norway data regulator fines Meta $98,500 per day over privacy breaches

Meta Platforms have been fined 1 million crowns ($98,500) every day starting today, the 14^th of August, for privacy violations.

On July 17, the company's regulator, Datatilsynet, warned that if it didn't fix the privacy violations, it would be risking a fine.

Datatilsynet had said that Meta must not collect user information in Norway, such as users' actual whereabouts, and use it to target them with behavioural advertising, a Big Tech-favored business model.

It had until August 4 to show the regulator that the problem had been resolved.

The penalty is valid until November 3. If European Data Protection Board concurs with the judgement of the Norwegian regulator, the former may make the fine permanent. Additionally, this might extend the decision's geographic reach to the rest of Europe.

Last week, Meta announced that it would seek EU users' permission before allowing companies to target advertisements based on what users view on its services, like Facebook and Instagram.

The head of Datatilsynet, Tobias Judin said that that action would be insufficient. Meta was required to stop processing personal data immediately and until that consent mechanism was up and running.

Adobe's Figma deal faces stringent EU investigation over concerns regarding stifling of competition

According to EU antitrust regulators, Adobe's $20 billion offer for Figma, a cloud-based design platform, might decrease competition and drive out rivals in the global markets for interactive product design tools.

Concerns were raised by a preliminary evaluation, which led the European Commission to announce that a thorough inquiry of the deal had been launched.

According to the EU antitrust watchdog, the purchase would eliminate a significant rival and might allow Adobe to limit competition in the provision of interactive product design tools on international markets.

It claimed that by combining Figma with Adobe's Creative Cloud suite, the acquisition might also impair the company's ability to develop into a serious rival to Adobe's asset creation tools and significantly lessen competition in the market for interactive product design tools.

The EU competition regulator wants to make sure that users continue to have access to a variety of digital creative tools by conducting a thorough study.

The enforcer of EU competition law stated that it would decide by December 14 whether to approve or disapprove the deal.

Canadian publishers urged the competition authorities to initiate an antitrust probe of Meta over abuse of its dominant position in the news domain

On Tuesday, organisations representing the Canadian news sector urged the nation's antitrust authority to look into Meta Platforms' decision to restrict news on its platforms there, charging the bigtech of abusing its dominant position.

In response to a rule mandating internet giants to pay for news stories, Meta began blocking news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms for all users in Canada last week.

The Online News Act of Canada, which is a part of a global movement to demand digital companies pay for news, was passed as a law in June earlier this year but has not yet taken effect. When the law is put into effect by the end of this year, the government will have finalised the regulations that would oblige the platforms to split some of the advertising money.

News industry associations said in a submission to Canada's Competition Bureau that Meta seeks to impair Canadian news organisations' ability to compete effectively in the news publishing and online advertising markets by blocking news material from its digital platforms.

The applicants said that Meta's anticompetitive actions, which have drawn the attention of authorities worldwide, will boost the company's already-dominant position in social media distribution and advertising while hurting Canadian journalism.

For news organisations to be able to recover revenue losses sustained during the years when Facebook and Google increased their market share of online advertising, Canada's media sector advocated for more regulation of internet companies.

Google has also stated that it will ban news in Canada by the time the regulations come into effect.

ONDC

ONDC aims to set foot into financial services with credit, insurance and mutual fund related products and services

According to T Koshy, the Open Network for Digital Commerce’s (ONDC’s) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), ONDC intends to offer financial services, such as credit and insurance products, to clients over the next months.

By the end of this year, ONDC hopes to execute 1 lakh non-mobility orders and a similar number of mobility transactions each day.

The goal is to begin with financial items in the upcoming months, such as credit, insurance, mutual funds, and anything else that can be documented, with a first export demonstration by September.

T Koshy stressed that the main goal of ONDC is to change the e-commerce environment in India. He is a firm believer in MSMEs' crucial role in determining the direction of the Indian economy. Any firm must comprehend consumer psychology and cognitive processes in order to make better selections in the future, he further stated.

INDIAN ECONOMY

UPI records 9.96 billion transactions in July, up by 6.6% compared to last month

Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shows that the instant payment system Unified Payments Interface (UPI) recorded 9.96 billion transactions in July, with a total value of Rs 15.34 lakh crore.

This is an increase of 6.6% in UPI transactions from 9.34 billion in June. The number of transactions increased by 4% from Rs 14.75 lakh crore within the same time period.

By 2026–2027, UPI transactions—which make up 90% of India's retail digital payments—are predicted to exceed 1 billion per day.

The government has been trying to take UPI to other countries for cross-border transactions, with France being the latest to be added to the list.

In terms of transaction volume, PhonePe holds a 47% market share in the UPI race, followed by Google Pay at 35% and Paytm at 13%.

Semiconductor production is an important piece in the case for Make in India, make for the world

The goal of India's semiconductor mission, according to External Affairs Minister Shri S. Jaishankar, is to help meet both home and international demand for reliable production.

The minister claimed that the semiconductor mission "is truly a powerful case for make in India and make for the world".

He warned the senior executives of the biggest semiconductor companies in the world that their choices and interactions could have an impact on the world economy that goes far beyond their immediate business decisions.

The cause will benefit from India and the US's expanding critical technological collaboration as well as their memorandum of understanding on joint innovation and supply chain for semiconductors.

He also highlighted India's sharp focus in the technology domain.

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

Over 1 lakh cyber security incidents recorded in government organisations this year

Up until June of this year, government entities experienced over 1,12,474 cyber security events, while financial institutions experienced over four lakh instances, according to data given to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Cyber-attacks present a threat to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and services, which may have a direct or indirect impact on the organisation, according to Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for electronics and IT. This is because cyberspace and digital infrastructure are being used more frequently for businesses and services and technological innovation. Such impact is unique to the attacked entity and depends on the degree to which such attacks have an influence on its data, assets, and services, he added.

The number of cybersecurity incidents in India have been on the upswing over the last few years, with 48285, 192439 incidents related to government organisations or systems in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

German data watchdog probing Worldcoin crypto project due to privacy concerns

Since late last year, a German privacy watchdog has been looking into OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Worldcoin project because of concerns regarding its extensive processing of sensitive biometric data.

As part of a process to establish a new identity and financial network, Worldcoin asks users to submit iris scans in exchange for a digital ID and, in some countries, free bitcoin.

Worldcoin is being investigated by the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision since November 2022 due to worries that the project aims to process "sensitive data at a very large scale" with modern technology.

This poses a variety of issues, including the question of whether users have expressly consented to the use of their extremely private biometric data on the basis of "sufficient and clear" information.

According to Worldcoin, 2.1 million people have registered, mainly during a trial period over the last two years.

The widespread collecting and storage of biometric data has long been a source of worry for privacy advocates since it could lead to increased monitoring or the targeting of particular demographic groups.

Many European regulatory bodies are interested in Worldcoin and have requested for more details.

On Friday, France's privacy watchdog stated that Worldcoin's data collecting "seems questionable" in terms of legality.

The data regulator in Britain has also indicated that it will look into the initiative closely.

AI

Number of Metaverse users to surpass 600 million by 2026 due to generative AI, anticipated to grow by 40% year on year in India

According to a report from the cryptocurrency tracking website BanklessTimes, the surge of generative artificial intelligence (AI) will cause the number of Metaverse users to surpass 600 million by 2026.

Over 300 million people are currently active users of Metaverse video games and virtual world platforms, the survey claims.

Because of its astonishing powers to independently create material, graphics, sounds, and even entire virtual worlds, generative AI has recently attracted a lot of interest.

The report also noted that the fusion of generative AI and the Metaverse has the potential to revolutionise a wide range of sectors.

As more users swarm to the Metaverse, traditional gaming, for instance, is poised to develop into more open-ended, player-driven experiences. In-game digital assets with real-world value might be created and traded in entire virtual economies.

The market opportunity for Metaverse and Web3 in India, meanwhile, is anticipated to expand at a rate of around 40% per year and has the potential to reach $200 billion by 2035.

By 2030, it is expected that the worldwide opportunity for metaverse would reach $13 trillion. By 2030, Web3 and Metaverse will contribute around 8% of the $160 trillion global GDP, according to estimates.

ANTITRUST

Meta fined $14 million by Australia for secret data collection

A court in Australia ordered Facebook owner Meta Platforms to pay a total of A$20 million ($14 million) in fines for secretly gathering user data through a smartphone software that was marketed as a privacy protector.

Additionally, the Australian Federal Court ordered Meta to pay A$400,000 in legal expenses to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the plaintiff in the civil complaint.

Since a global crisis broke out over its use of data analytics company Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 U.S. election, Meta has faced legal issues in Australia relating to its treatment of user information. The Australian Office of the Information Commissioner is still pursuing a legal lawsuit against Meta for its interactions with Cambridge Analytica in Australia.

The decision made on Wednesday concerned a Virtual private network (VPN) service named Onavo. Onavo was promoted as a solution to protect user data from early 2016 to late 2017. By assigning a separate online address to their computer, VPNs mask an internet user's identity.

However, the judge Wendy Abraham stated in a written judgement that Facebook utilised Onavo to gather users' location, time, and frequency utilising other smartphone apps, as well as websites they frequented.

Abraham stated that the failure to make sufficient disclosures... may have deprived tens of thousands of Australian consumers of the opportunity to make an informed choice about the collection and use of their data before downloading and/or using Onavo Protect.

Apple faces $1 billion UK lawsuit by 1566 apps developers over app store commission

On Tuesday, more than 1,500 software developers in the UK filed a 785 million pound ($1 billion) class action complaint against Apple over its app store fees.

App developers have challenged the fees of 15% to 30% that the corporation charges some app developers for using an in-app payment system, and antitrust regulators in various countries have taken notice.

On behalf of 1,566 app developers, a UK complaint has been launched with the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

In a statement by Sean Ennis, a professor at the Centre for Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia and a former economist at the OECD, he mentioned that Apple's high fees for app developers is only possible due to its monopoly on the download of programmes onto iPhones and iPads.

He also said that the fees amount to abusive pricing and are unreasonable in their own right. Both app buyers and developers are harmed by them.

Google penalized $338.7 million in Chromecast patent case by the US

A federal jury in Waco, Texas concluded on Friday that Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, had violated the patent rights of a software developer with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million in penalties.

The jury determined that Touchstream Technologies' patents on streaming videos from one screen to another are violated by the Google Chromecast and other devices.

The complaint claims that Google met with Touchstream in December 2011 to discuss its technology but two months later declared itself uninterested. In 2013, Google unveiled the Chromecast line of media streamers.

According to Touchstream, Chromecast violated three of its patents and duplicated their technologies. Additionally, it claimed that Google's Home and Nest smart speakers, as well as other televisions and speakers with Chromecast functionality, violated its patents.

FTC prepares long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon that could break up the company

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is putting the finishing touches on its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, which may ultimately result in the corporation being divided into different parts.

According to the article, the extensive lawsuit could be filed as early as August this year and is expected to criticise a variety of Amazon's corporate practises.

The complaint may centre on issues with Amazon Prime and Amazon rules that the FTC claims prevent lower prices on competing websites, and regulations that it claims compel businesses to utilise Amazon's advertising and logistical services.

The report added that the FTC is expected to claim that Amazon steers sellers to its own logistics services by rewarding them with better placement on the site and punishing them when they don't. The e-commerce giant's digital advertising business and Amazon Prime will likely be targeted.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Amazon last month with signing up millions of customers without their permission for its paid subscription Amazon Prime programme and making it difficult for them to cancel.

$20-billion Adobe-Figma deal to face full-scale EU antitrust probe

After preliminary analysis by EU regulators, Adobe's $20 billion offer for cloud-based designer platform Figma will be subject to a thorough EU antitrust investigation.

The action highlights antitrust watchdogs' caution when it comes to IT agreements where larger businesses could buy or acquire rival start-ups in order to put them out of business.

The purchase could harm competition in the market for interactive product design and whiteboarding software, the European Commission said earlier this year. By August 7, the EU competition enforcer is expected to have completed its initial review.

The web-based design and brainstorming platform from Figma is incredibly well-liked by internet companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, and Zoom Video Communications.

French antitrust regulator issues statement of objection against Apple on grounds of wrongful data usage

The French antitrust watchdog announced on Tuesday that it had filed a statement of objection against Apple, on the grounds that it believed the American technology corporation may have violated rules regarding the use of iPhone user data for advertising.

The watchdog is concerned that Apple could abuse its dominant position by implementing discriminatory, non-objective and non-transparent conditions for the use of user data for advertising purposes.

According to the watchdog, the statement starts an antitrust investigation during which the corporation will have the opportunity to present its defence.

When Apple started to ask iPhone owners if they were ready to let apps collect data used to define and send targeted ads, known as App Tracking Transparency (ATT), the company made changes to privacy features. As a result, four French online advertising industry groups filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in 2020. Publishers' revenues decreased as a result of the feature, according to industry trade groups.

IAB France, MMAF, SRI, and UDECAM, four associations, claimed that the changes made by Apple did not comply with European Union privacy laws. They cited the fact that, while the opt-in option was applicable to third-party developers, Apple's own apps did not contain it.

INDIAN ECONOMY

Digital payments rise 13% in the last financial year

According to the RBI's index, which gauges the uptake of online transactions, digital payments nationwide saw growth of 13.24% in the year through March 2023. In March 2023, the RBI's Digital Payments Index (RBI-DPI) was at 395.57, up from 349.30 in March 2022 and 377.46 in September 2022.

As a platform to measure the degree of national payment digitisation, the central bank had announced the creation of a composite RBI-DPI in March 2018.

The index consists of five main factors that facilitates the measurement of the depth and penetration of digital payments over time in the nation.

Payment Enablers (weighted at 25%), Payment Infrastructure - Demand-Side Factors (weighted at 10%), Payment Infrastructure - Supply-Side Factors (weighted at 15%), Payment Performance (weighted at 45%), and Consumer Centricity (weighted at 5%) are the 5 main parameters.

Starting in March 2021, the index is released every six months with a four-month lag. The country's overall expansion in payment infrastructure and performance over time has led to an increase in the RBI-DPI index across all metrics.

Govt intent on building a robust ecosystem for chip manufacturing

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, stated on Thursday that the government is dedicated to building a globally competitive component ecosystem, one of which is going to build a semiconductor ecosystem.

A dynamic component ecosystem can already be created thanks to the existing policy framework. If necessary, the government will step in and develop further PLI-style programmes.

The minister noted that one of the government's declared objectives is to deepen and widen the electronics ecosystem, and that semiconductors play a critical role in this approach.

Shri Chandrasekhar also discussed the proliferation of startups in the semiconductor design industry. India, according to him, is a "rising force" in the RISC-V development.

With the goal of enabling the development of microprocessors for the future in India and for the rest of the world, as well as achieving industry-grade silicon and Design wins by December 2023, the Digital India RISC-V Microprocessor (DIR-V) Programme was introduced last year.

Currently 5 firms have received direct government financial help, and 25 others are being reviewed. Additionally, a thorough curriculum has been developed in collaboration with the industry to produce 85,000 competent and skilled individuals for VLSI (Very Large-Scale Integration). The process of embedding or integrating a large number of transistors onto a single silicon semiconductor microchip is known as VLSI.

ONDC

ONDC launches academy to educate sellers, network participants about the platform

A subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the government initiative Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) have joined forces to develop an academy that will educate sellers and network participants on easy ways to do e-commerce business.

The ONDC Academy will now offer sellers learning materials in text and video formats for going about their operations efficiently on the network.

Sanjiv, a Joint Secretary in the Department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), used the example of how a villager without any experience in e-commerce could learn how to create a seller app with a technology service provider (TSP) without any technical knowledge in order to make these products available online.

Every stage of the onboarding process and its related activities have been transformed into interactive movies that effectively describe the process.

The academy is a collection of written and visual materials that are instructive and enlightening. It will offer a curated learning environment with recommendations and best practises for an e-commerce journey that is successful and has fewer setbacks.

The learning modules, which will be offered in a variety of Indian languages as the academy expands, will appeal to different positions within ONDC, including training for vendors as well as buyer network participants.

The academy provides best practises to operate the online business effectively, including content from industry professionals, and provides a venue to seek opinions from experts. It also empowers sellers and network participants to make informed decisions.

Additionally, it would allow NSE Academy to certify individuals who successfully complete an evaluation created by the organisation, awarding them a badge that verifies their accurate comprehension of managing operations across the network.

ONDC expected to cross 200,000 daily transactions by the end of 2023

According to a report from financial services company ICICI Securities, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is anticipated to grow up to 200,000 daily transactions by the end of the calendar year 2023. According to projections, mobility will account for half of all transactions and retail for the other half.

From the 75,000 to 80,000 transactions it presently hosts each day, ONDC aspires to reach that scale. Currently, there are over 100,000 merchants on the site, with 60,000 of them operating in the mobility sector. 50,000 retailers are present on the site currently.

The ICICI Securities letter stated that ONDC will not go public and will not pay dividends but hopes to create a self-sustaining financial module.

Additionally, ONDC is working to provide a network-wide rating system. Both buyers and sellers in B2B transactions will have ratings. The feature is still under development and will be released in stages. It consists of three parts: rating, scoring, and badging.

To expedite the implementation of ONDC, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has also appointed State Nodal Officers. The officers' goal is to speed up network customization and adoption in each state.

ANTITRUST

Spain antitrust regulator fines Amazon, Apple $218 million for colluding to restrict online sales

On Tuesday, Spain's antitrust watchdog announced that it had fined Amazon and Apple a combined total of €194.1 million ($218.03 million) for conspiring to restrict the online sale of gadgets from Apple and rivals in Spain.

Anti-competitive conditions were incorporated in the two contracts, which were signed on October 31, 2018, that gave Amazon the authority to serve as an authorised Apple dealer in Spain, according to the Spanish National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC).

A fine of €143.6 million was imposed on Apple and €50.5 million on Amazon. The two businesses have two months to challenge the ruling.

The two businesses arbitrarily reduced the number of Apple goods merchants on the Spanish Amazon website, according to CNMC.

Amazon also reduced the ability of retailers in the European Union based outside of Spain to access Spanish customers as a result, and it restricted the advertising Apple's competitors were allowed to place on its website when users searched for Apple products, according to the regulator. More than 90% of the existing retailers who were using Amazon's market place to sell Apple devices were blocked.

Following the agreement between the two digital behemoths, Spain's online Apple device sales prices increased.

Microsoft-Activision deal back in hands of UK competition regulator after court grants adjournment

After an appeals court granted an adjournment, the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft is once again in the hands of the UK's antitrust authority, and the arguments for why the country should reconsider its opposition to the acquisition have been made public.

As the United States fights to get UK approval to buy Activision, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) laid out Microsoft's arguments for reconsideration on Friday.

The CMA has since reopened the matter after initially blocking the $69 billion merger in April due to worries about how it would affect competition in the market for cloud gaming.

The week beginning August 7 is when the CMA expects to arrive at a new provisional assessment on the revised deal.

On Monday, the Competition Appeal Tribunal in Britain gave the adjournment its provisional approval, pending additional filings from the parties, and later on Friday, officially granted it.

POLICIES AND REGULATIONS

Cybersecurity bill in the works to clearly define regulations on online safety

The Centre is developing the outline of a cyber-security bill that could define various aspects of online safety and lay out objective guidelines and rules defining what constitutes cyber fraud, providing a modern legal framework to address 21st-century crime that was previously dealt with by modified provisions of British law from the 19th century.

The proposed legislation, which could either operate as an addition to or be a part of the bigger Digital India Bill, will likely also establish who is considered a cybercriminal under the new law's terms and detail the criminal penalties in situations of cyber breaches. It is at a pre-drafting stage right now.

Currently, the Indian Penal Code serves as the basis for the majority of the criminal laws pertaining to cybersecurity. While that will still be the case, there must also be laws defined for specific situations.

The Supreme Court attorney N S Nappinai's Cybersaathi Foundation and the Management Development Institute in Gurugram have been entrusted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to work on the Bill's finer points.

US regulators unveil antitrust roadmap to facilitate a fair and equitable ecosystem regarding mergers and acquisitions

On Wednesday, U.S. antitrust officials released recommendations on the types of mergers and acquisitions they disapprove, particularly in the technology industry.

Since 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Justice Department have filed an unprecedented number of legal challenges against mergers.

In the next months, a number of challenges, including the Justice Department's opposition to JetBlue Airways Corp.'s acquisition of Spirit Airlines Inc., are due to be heard by judges.

Without mentioning them by name, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission's 51-page guidelines detailed mergers like Amazon.com's 2018 acquisition of video doorbell ‘Ring’ and advised the antitrust agencies to closely examine them.

The issue identified by the watchdogs is that because Ring's rivals are sold on Amazon.com, Amazon would have motive to choose Ring over rivals.

The rules also stated that a deal shouldn't prevent a new player from entering a crowded market or result in a corporation purchasing a business that supplies raw materials to the acquirer's rivals.

The regulations supersede those that were last imposed in 2010 on corporations buying rivals and in 2020 on companies merging with suppliers. Before they are finalised, the new guidelines will be up for comment for 60 days.

ONLINE GAMING

GST authorities to issue tax demand notices worth Rs 10,000 crore to online gaming enterprises

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities plan to issue 40 online gaming enterprises with new tax demand notices. This comes after the GST Council approved a flat 28% tax on internet gaming on Tuesday.

According to officials, the liability for the 40 online gaming organisations might total Rs 10,000 crore. The authorities had been waiting for the GST Council to provide clarification on how to tax online gaming enterprises.

According to the GST Council's resolution, all online gaming, regardless of whether it is based on skill or chance, will be subject to the highest GST rate. Schedule III of the central GST Act will need to be modified in order to include online games in the category of taxable actionable claims, along with lotteries, betting, and gambling.

The government's decision, announced late on Tuesday, was met with dismay in the $1.5 billion industry. Experts on the matter voiced fears that the new tax will render the legitimate online gaming industry unviable, effectively driving consumers towards offshore and illegal platforms that pay no taxes, and would harm the $2.5 billion in investments in the Indian online gaming startup ecosystem to put a complete stop to any upcoming FDI.
Some also stated that Companies will be forced to set up shop out of the country and might impact India’s digital economy and the online gaming industry negatively.

According to the Government, there would be no need for further consultation about India's decision to impose the 28% tax on revenues that online gaming companies collect from their customers, and an early review is doubtful.

The change is expected to lead to the industry's GST to grow by almost 1,000%.

DATA PROTECTION

Digital Personal Data Protection Bill has set new guidelines for data transfer outside the country

In a draft of the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, the government has gone from whitelisting nations to blacklisting regions where it is not allowed to process the data of Indians. The list of blacklisted countries is however not disclosed. Depending on the type and volume of data processed by an organisation, it has also added extra responsibilities for "Significant Data Fiduciaries."

A data fiduciary may transfer personal data for processing to any nation or territory outside of India under the terms and conditions put forward by the central government, unless they restrict such transfers by notification after evaluating the factors that it may deem necessary.

Data fiduciaries are responsible for obtaining the data principal's unequivocal consent. The government has mandated in the draft that any consent sought "be accompanied or preceded by an itemised notice" in plain and clear language that explains why the data is being collected, how it will be processed, where it will be stored, and any potential effects the processing of the data may have on the data owner.

In another notable change under the new draft, the age limit for users who can consent under the proposed law may be set to as low as 14 years, provided that the organisation asking for consent to process children's data show that it uses the information in a "verifiably safe" manner. The revised clause would give the government more authority to only permit the processing of children's personal data in specific situations, such as in vital industries like healthcare, or in cases where the child is the ultimate beneficiary of a government programme. According to the government, such information will never be used to provide personalised adverts or other harmful content.

BIGTECHS & ANTITRUST

FTC’s appeal last hurdle before the $69 billion Microsoft-Activision deal

The $69 billion Microsoft-Activision merger was blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) back in April. However, the CMA announced on Tuesday that if the transaction was reformed to allay its worries, it might reconsider. Merging parties can choose to restructure an agreement, which may trigger a fresh merger inquiry. The IT giant is now two steps closer to concluding its largest-ever merger, thanks to its courtroom triumph on Tuesday.

However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States announced on Wednesday that it would be appealing the decision to allow Microsoft to proceed with its acquisition plans.

Unless an extension is agreed upon, either firm is entitled to terminate the agreement after July 18. The likelihood that the merger between Microsoft and Activision won't be finalised by July 18 increases if there are any unresolved regulatory issues.

FTC's court filing about the appeal remains the last hurdle for the deal to go through.

EU regulation in Metaverse to facilitate a fair and inclusive ecosystem

The European Commission unveiled a strategy on Tuesday in an effort to seize the initiative in the metaverse, a network of online shared virtual worlds, and prevent Bigtechs from gaining control of an emerging sector that might spur economic growth.

The EU move comes as Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple are developing metaverse goods or services, raising concerns that these giants would gain an unfair advantage over smaller competitors.

The EU executive claimed that their plan intends to embody EU values and fundamental rights and establish an open and interoperable metaverse, where it anticipates that the global market size would surpass 800 billion euros by 2030, up from 27 billion last year.

The plan calls for bringing together creators, media corporations, and others to establish an industrial ecosystem, establishing regulatory sandboxes to assist businesses in testing the metaverse, and launching virtual and real skills development programmes.

All of this is being done to ensure that developments follow EU digital rights and values, to address privacy and disinformation issues, and to ensure that Web 4.0 develops into an accessible, trustworthy, fair, and inclusive digital environment for all.

Digital services tax freeze to extend through 2024

With the exception of Canada, nations that have digital services taxes (DSTs) have decided to postpone enforcing them for at least another year due to the delay in the global multinationals tax agreement that was supposed to replace them, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last Wednesday.

A 2021 agreement that would revamp long-standing, widely seen as antiquated laws on how governments tax multinational corporations was scheduled to go into effect in more than 140 countries as early as 2024.

Over the past fifteen years, the digital economy has developed 2.5 times faster than the global GDP, profoundly altering how companies conduct business abroad, but international tax codes have not kept up with this increase. In order to standardise international taxes, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) has been collaborating with governments, decision-makers, and individuals worldwide.

The two-pillar agreement's first component attempts to transfer taxing authority over around $200 billion in revenues from the largest and most profitable multinational corporations to the nations where their sales are made. For major international corporations that reach specific revenue and profitability standards, Pillar One creates new nexus and profit allocation rules. Additionally, regardless of a company's physical presence or market location, the Pillar increases nations' power to tax activity occurring within its borders.

Similarly, regardless of their location of headquarters or the countries in which they conduct business, Pillar Two sets measures to ensure that major multinational corporations pay a minimum of 15% in taxes.

What is DST?

Numerous countries have implemented unilateral steps to protect their tax bases and tax money obtained from certain digital activities carried out within their jurisdictions because the OECD has had trouble achieving a global consensus. Taxes on digital services (DSTs) are one such measure.

DSTs are a tax on gross revenue earned from a variety of digital services that are targeted at large U.S. multinational corporations.

Different nations have varying DST levies. In India, the 2% DST is applied to all income from digital services provided in India, including sales of digital content, platform services, and data-related services.

AI

Britain prioritises caution in use of AI in finance, cites increased fraud as one of the biggest concerns

According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of Britain, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services must be accompanied with improved fraud prevention and resilience against hackers and outages.

In remarks made available to the public ahead of a speech, FCA noted that they had already noticed business models based on AI requesting authorization.

AI's use can help markets, including by lowering consumer costs, but it can also lead to imbalances if "unleashed unfettered."

As a result, investments in fraud prevention and operational and cyber resilience will need to increase at the same pace that AI adoption grows. The FCA will take a firm stance on this, providing reasonable protection alongside full support for advantageous innovation. As fraud and cyberrisks are likely to increase, the FCA also stated that they will continue to be extremely watchful over how businesses minimise these risks.

According to forecasts, the market for AI in fintech would expand at a rate of 28.6% and reach $31.71 billion in 2027. AI is currently being used in a variety of use case scenarios. 90% of fintech companies now employ AI, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.

POLICIES & REGULATIONS IN INDIA

RBI contemplating introduction of fintech regulations

Deputy Governor T. Rabi Sankar stated on Friday that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is considering issuing a regulation for companies in the fintech industry. There are currently no fintech laws, but the RBI is closely observing how the fintech industry is developing. The RBI is discussing the matter with the industry to determine whether they need to be regulated.

The statement declined to provide a date for the laws on fintech and stated that they would only be implemented following industry consultations.

The RBI will time its rules such that the industry is given room to expand.

Mr Sankar also mentioned that the RBI is not concerned about cryptocurrency trading conducted by individuals, but private cryptocurrencies themselves are a problem.

He emphasised the dangers posed by "stable coins" linked to other currencies in developing market economies, particularly with regard to monetary policy, capital management, and financial stability.

States authorised to regulate gambling, SRBs to scrutinize online gaming

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, said last Friday that states are allowed to regulate gambling, but not online gaming.

He said while addressing the press. "It is not possible. The online gaming rules that have been notified after almost three months of consultation basically say what types of online games are allowed on the Indian internet."

The categories of games that are prohibited, he continued, are those that entail betting and wagering, addiction, user harm or toxicity towards women, anti-religion, anti-child, and similar games.

According to Shri Chandrasekhar, it is the role of the Self-Regulatory Bodies (SRBs), a government initiative, to evaluate each online game and determine if it is appropriate or not. He made it clear that only appropriate games would be permitted on the Indian internet.

The success or failure of the SRB model, the guardrails, and the SRB's accountability requirements are all factors that would need to be carefully considered.

ONDC

ONDC goes beta live in five more cities, tally increases to seven

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) expanded to five additional cities including Mumbai, Delhi NCR (including Noida, Gurgaon, and Faridabad), Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata in a beta phase.

Buyers (consumers) and sellers in these five locations, along with Meerut and Bengaluru, which went Beta live in September 2022 and December 2022, respectively, can now use the network. Through the four active buyer applications Paytm, Mystore, Spice Money, and Magicpin, customers will be able to make purchases from the sellers on the ONDC network.

With its current sizeable vendor base, ONDC is capable of expanding its network into further locations. The goal of this announcement is to encourage more firms to join ONDC and take the early-mover advantage, and also because insights and opportunities to enhance the network improve as more customer territories are included.

Prior to the pan-India deployment, the primary goal of the beta launch is to give users a first-hand experience with the open network, get real-time feedback, and conduct extensive testing of the network.

More than 18,000 of the network's more than sellers currently operate from these five cities, which in total span more than 200 cities with over 40,000 sellers.

GST Council to provide clarity on TCS liability of e-commerce suppliers in the ONDC platform

In circumstances when many operators are involved in a transaction, the GST Council is anticipated to provide clarification on the TCS liability of suppliers engaging in e-commerce trading through Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC) on July 11.

As per the current norms, who should be responsible for TCS compliance under GST legislation is unclear.

Every e-commerce operator is required by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) law to collect TCS at the rate of 1% of the taxable value of goods and services supplied through its platform.

Uncertainty over the liability of TCS deduction is mainly in the market place model, where two intermediaries are involved in a single transaction.

In this scenario, a buyer puts an order on an online shopping site (the buyer app), which then sources the item from a vendor (the seller app). The actual provider then purchases the goods on behalf of the vendor app.

Due to the involvement of multiple parties, the DPIIT has enquired as to who would be obligated to withhold the Tax Collected at Source (TCS), the buyer or seller e-commerce company.

According to experts, the Law Committee, made up of federal and state tax officials, has recommended to the Council that, when multiple e-commerce operators (ECOs) are involved in a single transaction through an ECO platform, the supplier-side should be responsible for ensuring TCS compliance before releasing payment to the supplier.

ANTITRUST

Binance, Binance.US market share slumps due to regulatory crackdowns

As they fight an onslaught of regulatory crackdowns, Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, and its US affiliate have seen their market share decline this year.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Binance last month for allegedly breaking the regulator's rules, reducing its global market share from 60% at the beginning of the year to 52%.

Following its decision to stop offering zero-fee transactions for specific trading pairs, Binance started to lose market share in March.

SEC requested a court order to freeze Binance's assets, so the exchange allowed its users until June 13 to remove their dollar holdings. As a result, Binance.US, Binance's ostensibly independent partner, saw its US market share fall to 0.9% on June 26 from over 22% in April.

The second quarter saw the worst decline in spot trade volumes since 2020.

GENERATIVE AI

Regulations and stances of Governments around the world regarding Generative AI

Rapid progress in the generative AI in recent times have forced Governments around the world to work towards regulations. Here is a summary of some of the latest developments in the world of AI regulations.

Australia

The Australian Communications and Media Authority would be seeking suggestions for rules from stakeholders. The premier science advisory council for Australia is being consulted by the government as it decides what to do next.

EU

EU are among the frontrunners in working towards AI regulations. On June 14, EU legislators approved amendments to a draft of the bloc's AI Act. Before the proposed guidelines become law, the legislators will negotiate specifics with EU nations. While new rules are being established, the U.S. and EU are pressuring the AI industry to adopt a voluntary code of conduct within the next few months.

UN

On June 12, U.N. endorsed a suggestion made by some AI executives for the establishment of a watchdog organisation for AI similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency. A high-level AI advisory council that will routinely examine AI governance arrangements and make recommendations is something the organisation expects to start working on by the end of the year.

US

The head of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission declared in May that the agency was dedicated to using current rules to restrain some of the risks of AI, including the strengthening of the position of powerful companies and the "turbocharging" of fraud. The Federal Trade Commission is focusing heavily on generative AI because it raises concerns about competitiveness.

China

In April, China's cyberspace regulator issued draft regulations to control generative AI services, stating that it wants businesses to submit security reports to the government before making such services available to the general public. Beijing will assist significant businesses in developing AI models that can compete with ChatGPT.

Britain

The Alan Turing Institute and other academic and legal organisations are engaging with the Financial Conduct Authority to better its grasp of the technology. The Financial Conduct Authority is one of several state regulators entrusted with developing new rules governing AI. The competition watchdog in Britain is investigating the effects of AI on consumers, businesses, and the economy to determine whether any new regulations are required.

France

After the ChatGPT chatbox was temporarily banned in Italy due to a potential violation of privacy laws, France's privacy authority CNIL announced in April that it was looking into a number of complaints regarding the chatbox.

Japan

According to a report on June 2 by the nation's privacy watchdog, OpenAI has been cautioned not to gather sensitive data without people's consent and to limit the amount of sensitive data it does collect.

ECONOMY

India's app economy to contribute 12% to the country’s GDP by 2030

According to a survey commissioned by the Broadband India Forum, India's app economy is touted to reach $791.98 billion by 2030 and contribute 12% to the country's estimated $6.59 trillion GDP.

According to the researchers, the term "app economy" refers to a broad range of economic activities related to mobile applications, including the creation and sale of apps as well as in-app purchases, subscriptions, advertisements, publicity gained from free apps, and the development and sale of hardware and software needed to run apps.

The major finding is that by 2030, app-related spending would probably total $800 billion. Given that the Indian economy is projected to be worth $6,590 billion, app spending will probably account for 12% of GDP. In 2023, when the GDP is estimated to be about $3,820 billion at current prices, it is predicted that app economy spending is worth a total of about $145.46 billion.

ONDC

ONDC has completely automated grievance redressal system for handling online disputes and resolutions

According to ONDC CEO T Koshy last Tuesday, the government-sponsored Open Network for Digital Commerce has a fully automated system for handling complaints, and an online dispute resolution tool is also being made available. The ONDC is not an intermediary, platform, application, or piece of software, but a set of specifications created to promote open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks.

Similar to how ONDC makes it possible to look for products and buy them, it also makes it possible to file complaints. From the buying to the selling sides, the complaints flow smoothly. Along with the fully automated grievance redressal, creating an online dispute resolution system is currently in development.

The number of vendors and service providers on the network has risen to over one lakh, and there are now more than 50 network participants, indicating that ONDC has achieved substantial progress in recent months.

ANTITRUST

Australia working towards norms for BigTechs which proposes high penalties for Bigtechs failing to tackle disinformation

Under new Australian regulations, tech firms may be fined billions of dollars for failing to combat disinformation, as the laws would introduce "mandatory" norms to the sparsely regulated industry.

The proprietors of platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok, and podcasting services would be subject to fines of up to 5% of annual global revenue under the proposed legislation, among the highest suggested anywhere in the world.

A government watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, would be given a number of powers to compel businesses to stop the spread of false information and prevent it from being commercialised.

Additionally, it would give the ACMA a number of additional authorities, including the ability to register and enforce necessary industry norms, demand information from digital platforms, and establish industry standards.

Canada voices concerns that Microsoft-Activision deal likely to affect competition landscape

According to a court document filed last Thursday, the Canadian Department of Justice has determined that Microsoft's acquisition of "Call of Duty" creator Activision Blizzard is likely to result in reduced competition in various gaming-related industries.

The government claimed in a letter dated Wednesday that it had informed Microsoft and Activision's Canadian lawyers that the agreement would probably result in less competition in gaming consoles and multigame subscription services, as well as cloud gaming.

The letter, in which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is pleading with a judge to temporarily halt the proposed transaction so that an FTC judge can evaluate it, was added to the docket of a U.S. federal court trial last week.

British competition regulators are also opposed to Microsoft's acquisition proposal of the videogame maker. The Competition case Tribunal in Britain will hear Microsoft's case on July 28.

UK regulator criticize Adobe's $20 billion Figma deal citing fears of limiting innovation

The acquisition of Figma by Adobe Inc. for $20 billion on Friday was criticised by Britain's competition watchdog as having the potential to "limit innovation" and may warrant further inquiry.

The deal would be subject to a phase 2 inquiry, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), "unless the parties offer acceptable undertakings to address these competition concerns."

Companies that rely on Figma and Adobe's digital tools may see greater prices as a result of this agreement, which could hinder innovation. Figma, however, is adamant that the proposed merger with Adobe won't lessen competition in their respective industries because they are constantly in contact with the CMA.

ANTITRUST

Microsoft Activision deal may be cast aside if the injunction causes more delay

The opening day of a seven-day hearing that could decide whether Microsoft gets to buy out gaming behemoth Activision Blizzard for $70 billion began on Thursday with a pledge from the company that Microsoft may decide not to proceed with the transaction at all if a federal judge issues an injunction that delays the close.

The FTC is requesting a preliminary injunction from Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, which would prevent Microsoft from finalising the transaction before the FTC had the opportunity to present its case in its internal court.

The conflict is viewed by many as a test of whether recent initiatives to more aggressively restrain the influence of digital firms globally would be successful. The FTC's chair, Lina Khan, has stated that major tech firms have significant sway over online trade and communication, giving them the ability to manipulate markets.

According to the FTC, if this merger goes through, the merged business will likely have the capacity to hurt competition in a number of industries relating to consoles, subscription services, and cloud computing.

The FTC is also anticipated to make the case that adding Activision's games to Microsoft's library would give that company an unfair advantage in the embryonic cloud gaming business.

Google sued by Gannet due to the former’s monopoly in the online ad business

The largest US newspaper chain, Gannett Co Inc., filed a lawsuit against Google on Tuesday, alleging that the social media corporation tried to monopolise the online advertising industry in violation of federal antitrust law.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan by the publisher of USA Today and more than 200 daily newspapers, it was claimed that the media is suffering because Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc. have monopolised the tools for buying and selling internet advertisements.

Gannett, situated in McLean, Virginia, has struggled in recent years due to declining ad revenue and an increase in the number of people who acquire their news online, like many newspaper publishers.

Gannett reported that print circulation at its newspapers declined by over 20% in 2020 and 2021, and that after its merger with GateHouse Media in 2019, more than 170 properties had been shut down.

The complaint claims that while online digital advertising in the United States has increased by about eight times since 2009 to become a $200 billion industry, newspaper ad income has decreased by almost 70% during that same period.

Twitter faces ‘stress test’ of its readiness to tackle the DSA which comes into effect in two months

A key European Union official, European Commissioner Thierry Breton, was in Silicon Valley to assess Twitter's readiness to adhere to the bloc's stringent new digital rules, a set new requirements that the largest online platforms around the world must all follow in about two months.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) will compel businesses to take action against harmful content on their websites, including hate speech and disinformation. Big tech platform users in Europe will find it simpler to report unlawful content, such as hate speech, and they will learn more about why specific content has been recommended to them. On August 25, it becomes effective for the largest platforms.

The law has established Brussels as a leader in the expanding worldwide drive to rein in Big Tech, along with additional restrictions for data and Artificial Intelligence that are in the works.

This mock exercise, hailed by Breton as a ‘stress test’, evaluated Twitter's capacity to meet the DSA's requirements, which include safeguarding children online and identifying and reducing dangers like disinformation in both common and unusual circumstances.

The DSA is a component of a comprehensive revision to the EU's digital rules aimed at requiring tech businesses to improve user protection online and clean up their platforms.

Meta stops access to Facebook and Instagram news for Canadian users following onset of Online News Act

Following the passage of legislation requiring the internet's largest companies to pay publishers for news, Meta Platforms Inc. announced on Thursday that it will stop allowing all Canadian users access to Facebook and Instagram news.

The Senate's upper chamber gave the Online News Act its approval earlier on Thursday, and it is soon to be officially adopted.

Similar to a ground-breaking law passed in Australia in 2021, the act lays out regulations to compel platforms like Facebook and Alphabet's Google to strike business relationships and compensate news publishers for their material.

The government "will engage in a regulatory and implementation process" after the law is put into effect, according to Pablo Rodriguez, the heritage minister who proposed the bill last year.

The measure was put up in response to objections made by the Canadian media sector, which seeks more stringent regulation of digital firms to stop them from driving news organisations out of the online advertising market.

EU antitrust regulators may play spoilsport in Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition plans of Figma

Later this year, European antitrust officials intend to open a formal inquiry into the $20 billion acquisition of cloud-based designer platform Figma by software giant Adobe.

Due to anti-competition concerns, EU regulators intend to move on with a thorough investigation, which may take months and eventually cause the merger to fall through.

The news follows the announcement last month by Britain's competition watchdog that it was looking into the Adobe-Figma merger and a February report by Bloomberg that the US Justice Department was planning an antitrust case to prevent the merger.

These actions highlight the concerns of international regulators that the acquisition of smaller, innovative rivals by major digital firms may stifle competition.

ECONOMY

India looks to take big strides in the semi-conductor industry in the coming years, gets Micron to establish a testing facility

According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, the Federal Government intends to entice investments from four to six semiconductor fabrication, packaging, and testing companies over the course of the following 12 months, similar to what was done with the Micron unit.

These businesses are engaged in discussions with the Centre at various levels and are encouraged by its emphasis on creating a full ecosystem for semiconductor production rather than just bringing semiconductor fabrication units to India. The semiconductor unit itself, design, procuring chemical, gas, and other compound providers, equipment makers, and talent are all part of a complete ecosystem.

The fifth-largest semiconductor manufacturer in the world, Micron, will establish a facility to test and package memory chips that are likely to be used in electric vehicles, laptops, servers, mobile devices, and telecom equipment.

The company is prepared with a construction design blueprint and has already gained approval for its land allotment. Micron Applied Materials, one of the largest manufacturers of precision equipment in the world, has recently declared its intention to invest more than $400 million to establish a collaborative engineering centre in Bangalore. A construction agency is also likely to be picked and announced soon. In addition to cultivating talent for the semiconductor industry, the company intends to develop sub-systems and components for semiconductor manufacturing.

Government aims to have technology contribute 20-25% of the country’s GDP by 2025-26

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's Minister of Information Technology, stated that the Government has set a goal for technology to account for 20–25% of the GDP by 2025.

The digital economy has grown and diversified over the past nine years, and at the moment, Indian startups and entrepreneurs are present in every area of the technology industry, including semiconductors, microelectronics, artificial intelligence (AI), the blockchain, the web, three high-performance computing languages, and consumer internet.

The presence and momentum of Indian startups, Indian businesses, and Indian inventors can be seen in every area of technology today. The Indian innovation economy has increased during the last five years, particularly during and after COVID-19, from 4% to 10% in 2014.

By 2025–2026, the goal is for technology and the digital economy to account for 20% of the overall GDP, which is also expected to expand at a rate of roughly 8%–7.5% annually. The target that is being strived towards is a $1 trillion, or 20% of the country’s, GDP, which will be approximately $5 trillion, according to Shri Chandrashekhar.

The minister referred to AI as a kinetic enabler of the digital economy and said it is a very significant and beneficial layer on the advancements startups and the innovation ecosystem have made over the past several years in relation to the consumer internet and the data economy.

ANTITRUST

EU indicates at divestiture of Google’s AdTech business due to its abuse of dominant position in online ads

In order to address concerns about anti-competitive practises, Google may need to sell a portion of its profitable AdTech business, EU authorities warned on Wednesday, threatening the corporation with its toughest regulatory penalty yet.

Two years after beginning an inquiry into actions including favouring its own advertising services, the European Commission laid out its claims in a statement of objections to Google. If found guilty, the company may be fined up to 10% of its yearly global revenue.

With the advertising industry accounting for 79% of the company's total revenue last year, the stakes are higher for Google in this most recent dispute with authorities. Its projected 2022 advertising revenue totalled $224.5 billion and came from services including Gmail, Google Play, Google Maps, YouTube ads, Google Ad Manager, AdMob, and AdSense.

According to EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager, Google may need to sell a portion of its adtech business because a behavioural remedy is unlikely to be effective in ending the anti-competitive practises.

Vestager announced that inquiries into Google's plans to stop making the advertising identification visible to third parties on Android smartphones and its development of a privacy sandbox set of tools to restrict third party cookies on its Chrome browser would continue.

With respect to rival providers of advertising technology services, advertisers, and online publishers, the Commission said that Google favours its own online display advertising technology services.

It claimed that since 2014, Google had misused its power by preferring its own ad exchange AdX in the publisher ad server DFP's ad selection auction and by favouring AdX in the way its ad buying tools, Google Ads and DV360, place bids on ad exchanges.

Hence, the commission's initial assessment was that, given that Google is "dominant in the buy-side, dominant in the sell-side" of the internet ad industry, divestiture is the only suitable corrective action.

Spotify fined $5 million by Swedish regulators regarding breach of EU data rules

The Swedish Authority for Privacy Protection (IMY) fined Spotify 58 million kronor ($5.4 million) on Tuesday for failing to adequately inform users about the purposes for which the data it collected on them was being used.

The regulator stated that users have a right to know what information a corporation has about them and how it is being used under the terms of the European Data Protection Act, or GDPR.

While IMY acknowledged that Spotify did provide data upon request, it claimed the business had not provided enough information regarding the intended use of the data. This makes it challenging for people to comprehend how their personal data is processed and to determine if that processing is legal.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed streaming behemoth revealed in April that it had surpassed 210 million paying subscribers and 500 million monthly active users.

US judge pauses Microsoft's acquisition plans of Activision Blizzard due to Federal Trade Commission’s intervention

According to a court document, a US federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred Microsoft from consummating its $69 billion acquisition of gaming titan Activision Blizzard.

In a decision, Judge Edward Davila stated that it "is necessary to maintain the status quo" while the court takes the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s request for a longer-term injunction on the transaction into consideration.

The decision was made a day after the FTC requested a federal judge to halt Microsoft's mega-acquisition while it considered taking regulatory action.

The court's decision on Tuesday prevents Microsoft from moving forward with the acquisition until it determines whether to grant the regulators' request for a preliminary injunction.

A restraining order would prevent the deal from taking place before the FTC hearing, which is scheduled for August, and which intends to debate the deal's merits. After hearing Microsoft's and the FTC's arguments for and against the takeover, the California judge would need to pass judgement on the agreement.

STARTUPS & REGULATIONS

First draft of the Digital India Bill to be completed by the end of the month

According to Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, the first draft of the Digital India Bill could be completed by the end of the month.

The aim is to try and establish a framework that other nations may adhere to while signalling to the world that we are the most connected nation and are creating the guardrails.

He claimed that the Digital India Bill could serve as a solid foundation for a cutting-edge, international standard cyber law. The Information Technology Act (IT), which has been in effect for 23 years, will be replaced by the Bill, which is highly anticipated by the sector.

He said that before crafting the Bill, the government had already conducted three comprehensive pre-consultations with lawyers, users, businesses, and start-ups regarding its guiding principles.

ASSOCHAM-PWC paper emphasizes digital transformation, mentions “minefield of opportunities” to be created due to UPI, OCEN, ONDC

According to a comprehensive knowledge paper released on Tuesday by ASSOCHAM and PwC, the country's banking and financial architecture has "a minefield of opportunities" as a result of the digital transformation that is being built on key building blocks like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), secure data, and open networks, such as Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) and Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).

According to the paper titled "Embedded financial services in India”, pre-approved BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) instrument, travel insurance at a boarding pass printing kiosk, auto-routing of cashback for micro-investment, and seamless credit to pay for hospital expenses are just a few of the embedded financial services that may be offered by neo banking business models, riding on this robust infrastructure.

Neobanks are regarded as a more practical alternative to conventional banks or money transfer businesses. Additionally, they employ cutting-edge technologies to address current cross-border payment difficulties.

According to the report, India's digital revolution has paved the way for industry-wide innovation thanks to better customer access, reach, and technology proliferation.

AI

Govt to regulate AI from perspective of user harm

Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, said that the government will regulate Artificial Intelligence and all other technologies based on the potential danger they pose to people. The minister assuaged concerns that the development of AI will result in job losses by stating that such a danger would not materialise in the upcoming years, but that it might do so in the next 5-7 years.

The approach towards governance of AI and any related regulation is by looking at potential user harm. Since 2014, the government has been operating under a new paradigm in which the emphasis is to defend digital nagriks, and platforms that harm digital nagriks are not considered acceptable.

The government is taking steps to have regulations to make Bigtechs accountable, as per Shri Chandrashekhar.

EU lawmakers approves draft Artificial Intelligence regulations

With the goal of establishing international norms for the regulation of AI, the European Parliament voted to accept its own draft proposal for the AI Act, a piece of legislation that had been in the works for two years.

The bill should be passed before the end of the year following a last round of discussions to reconcile several drafts prepared by the European Parliament, Commission, and Council. It will be the first piece of legislation in the world to regulate Artificial Intelligence in practically all spheres of society, with the exception of defence.

This legislation's entire structure revolves around the idea of risk. The application of AI in certain societal areas, each of which has a unique set of potential issues, is what is being regulated, not AI itself. The four risk categories are unacceptable, high, limited, and low, each of which is subject to a separate set of legal requirements.

Systems that are regarded to represent a threat to EU principles or fundamental rights will be labelled as having "unacceptable risk" and will be prohibited.

Systems identified as "high risk" will be subject to disclosure requirements and be required to register in a specific database. Various monitoring or auditing standards will also apply to them.

AI systems with "limited risk" will be subject to the least amount of disclosure requirements.

DATA PRIVACY

Denmark plans to put a stop at collection of children's data collection by Big Techs

In an effort to stop the large-scale collection of data on minors, Denmark plans to raise the age at which tech firms like Google, Snapchat, and Meta may acquire personal information from children.

It aims to raise the current age of consent for youngsters to share personal data with tech companies from 13 to between 15 and 16 years old. Additionally, it also plans to mandate companies to require parental approval in order to use data from children younger than the aforementioned age limit.

The move comes in tandem with other countries working on similar laws such as Germany, which has set an age limit of 16 years, and other European countries, including Hungary, Lithuania, and the Netherlands invoking similar guidelines. The measure is taken to stop opaque algorithms that use incomprehensible methods to keep children and adults in front of the screen and harvest unimaginable amounts of personal information.

A bill to protect internet privacy is being drafted in the US as well, which if passed, would prohibit businesses from collecting personal data on individuals without their knowledge who are 16 years old or younger and mandate that they give young users the option to delete their data.

To prevent children from accessing inappropriate material like pornographic or violent movies, they would also try to implement age-verification mechanisms on websites and mobile apps.