Big tech companies that harvest data of Indians should be held accountable, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar at an interaction with former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair at the India Global Forum 2021. Answering a question, he pointed out that countries had responded “nationally” to an international problem like the current pandemic. He urged the world to come together to deal with the differing approach to vaccines.
“Right now a big debate on big tech is going on in different parts of the world, including a vigorous one in India. Nobody denies that these are forces of progress that are taking us in directions and opening up new vistas that we could not have imagined. But in a democratic society we have to ask ourselves, big tech is there in my life, but where is the responsibility [of the big tech]? You have a huge power but where is the accountability,” he stated.
Whether to hold big tech companies accountable was being viewed as a “governance issue and a democratic issue” by some. International relation was created to include states but the role of “non- state players who are in some ways bigger than many states” needed to be “seriously debated”.
Twitter-GoI tussle
The Minister’s remarks have added to the ongoing tussle between Twitter and the Government of India (GoI), which has accused the former of non-compliance of national laws. Mr. Jaishankar hinted that social media platforms should be held answerable to national laws.
“This is not an issue limited to India. They harvest our data as they do across the world. So you have in a sense the opposite of the American revolution. You have representation but no taxation,” he stressed, arguing that these issues should be taken up in a discussion that he described as a “very legitimate debate”.
The role of the big tech in democratic societies should not be “brushed under the carpet”. However, seeking a global approach to the pandemic, Mr. Jaishankar noted that countries should come together to address the challenge posed by the virus.
“One of the paradoxes of our era is real problems are global but our responses are national. Climate change is global, terrorism is global and pandemics are global. But our responses tend to be national. Just look at the last year and the half. Which country has not acted nationally?,” he observed.
Mr. Jaishankar sought a global approach to counter the threat posed by the pandemic. He described the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 on India as “scarring” but pointed to the fact that the world came together to help India. There was willingness in the world to work together towards containing the pandemic in a united manner.
Covishield-EU issue
The comment regarding a global solution to the pandemic from Mr. Jaishankar came in the backdrop of reports that the Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India is yet to be recognised for the “Green Pass”, which will be introduced in the EU (European Union) from July 1.
In that context, Mr. Jaishankar on Wednesday asked the global community to ensure “vaccine equity”. Maintaining that position, he reminded at the India Global Forum – “No body can make vaccines by themselves. Because the world has to come together if we have to scale up vaccines.”
