Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday called for global consensus on creating an ecosystem where technology giants are required to ‘reinvest’ a sizeable portion of their revenues on the development of digital infrastructure in revenue-generating countries, especially in the case of developing and underdeveloped states.
The Minister raised the issue at a panel discussion with Ministers from countries such as Iran, Russia, Japan, Venezuela and Finland.
He said that Asia and Africa were becoming major markets for digital technology, including for platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. He added, “Food for thought for visiting ministers... shouldn’t an ecosystem be created wherein there is an obligation to reinvest in countries from where so much earning is there?” to help contribute more and more to the digital ecosystem, he asked.
‘More jobs’
This, he said, would create infrastructure and generate more jobs. “The investment can be in the form of centres of excellence, more HR engagement... It is an area we need to explore,” he said. India is not only one of the largest markets for digital platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter, but also among the fastest-growing. On Thursday, the Minister had said that the right to access the Internet was non-negotiable and no single entity could monopolise here.
In Friday’s discussion, he said, “India firmly stands for a digitally egalitarian order where we will lend our weight to those who are digitally deprived and marginalised but with logic, reason and moderation.”
Mr. Prasad pointed out that countries can move forward to make cyberspace safe only by building trust, undertaking reciprocity and having certain agreed norms of behaviour in cyberspace.
Venezuela’s Andrea Hermoso raised the issue of use of social media for spreading hate and inciting violence. Iran’s Mohommad Javan Azari Jahromi highlighted the commercial use of personal data of users by search engines.
