Google CEO Sundar Pichai Says Company Committed In Complying With India’s New IT Laws, Engage Constructively With Governments

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Google is committed to complying with local laws and engages constructively with governments as they scrutinise and adopt regulatory frameworks to keep pace with the fast evolving technology landscape, its CEO Sundar Pichai.

“It’s obviously early days and our local teams are very engaged… we always respect local laws in every country we operate in and we work constructively. We have clear transparency reports, when we comply with government requests, we highlight that in our transparency reports,” Pichai said in a virtual conference with select reporters from Asia Pacific.

He added that a free and open internet is “foundational”, and that India has long traditions of that.

As a company, we are very clear about the values of a free and open internet and the benefits it brings and we advocate for it, and we engage constructively with regulators around the world, and we participate in these processes, I think it’s a part of how we learn…”

Pichai noted that technology is touching society in deeper and broader ways and the landscape is evolving at a fast pace.

“So, we fully expect governments rightfully to both scrutinize and adopt regulatory frameworks. Be it Europe with copyright directive or India with information regulation etc, we see it as a natural part of societies figuring out how to govern and adapt themselves in this technology-intensive world,” he said, adding that Google engages constructively with regulators around the world, and participates in these processes.

The new IT rules for social media companies, which came into effect from Wednesday, are aimed at making digital platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram and Google – which have seen a phenomenal surge in usage over the past few years in India – more accountable and responsible for the content hosted on their platform.

The new rules, which were announced on February 25, require large social media players to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer.