Expressing concern over hate speech and fake news in social media, senior BJP leader Sushil Modi on Tuesday called for a regulatory mechanism to put a check.
Demanding an independent regulatory body for big technology entities like Facebook and Google, he also said they should share advertisement revenue adequately with traditional media houses for using their content.
The BJP leader also cited the recent hacking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account and claimed that a cryptocurrency lobby group was behind the incident.
Making these assertions in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour, he said the regulatory body should also ensure that such entities allocate adequate budget for content moderation activities to check hate speeches and fake news.
Modi said Google and Facebook together take away around 75 per cent of the total digital advertising market in India.
Even though the Zero Hour was marred by din raised by the Opposition later leading to adjournment, Sushil Modi said Rs 9,326 crore goes to Facebook and Rs 13,887 crore to Google, which adds to Rs 23,213 crore, from digital advertisement from India.
“They earn a share higher than the combined revenue of the top 10 listed traditional media companies (which stands) at Rs 8,396 crore,” he said. He also said that Facebook sends 90 per cent of its gross advertisement revenue to its global subsidiary and Google India pays 87 per cent to its parent entity.
The BJP leader claimed that the firms were getting rich at the expense of traditional media.