Trust deficit: On tech platforms and news publishers

News: CCI has launched a probe against Google, following allegations by the country’s digital news publishers.  

Read – CCI’s Google probe 

In the recent years, many countries such as Australia and France have tried to correct the balance between the big tech companies and traditional journalism industry.  

What is the case in India? 

In India, the complaint has been made by India’s Digital News Publishers Association against Google. It has alleged that Google abuses its dominant position by not providing a fair share of the advertising monies and by not providing adequate information.  

Further the association has complaint that Google does not pay for the news snippets that appear in search. Also, the terms of engagement are “unilaterally and arbitrarily”, which are dictated by Google without any consultation.  

What are the implications associated with this Issue? 

Lately, news media industry in India is struggling to survive. Whereas big tech platforms are becoming more and more powerful.  

Sustainability of journalism in the digital era is very important, especially in a democracy. When journalistic efforts do not get a fair value, they end up sacrificing quality to gain more users and in a quest for more emotional engagement.  

Source: This post is created based on the article “Trust deficit: On tech platforms and news publishers” published in The Hindu on 13th Jan. 2022.