Group representing Apple, other tech firms, asks India to rethink its proposed ‘Digital Competition Bill’

A U.S. lobby group representing tech giants Google, Amazon and Apple has asked India to rethink its proposed European Union-like competition law, arguing regulations against data use and preferential treatment of partners could raise user costs, a letter shows, according to Reuters.

Citing increasing market power of a few big digital companies in India, a government panel in February imposing obligations on them under a new antitrust law which will complement existing regulations whose enforcement the panel said is “time-consuming.” Companies deploy these strategies to launch new product features and boost security for users, and curbing them will hit their plans, the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a May 15 letter to India’s Corporate Affairs Ministry, which is working on the law, reports Reuters.

India’s draft law, dubbed the “Digital Competition Bill, 2024, would stop tech giants like Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon from “self-preferencing” their own services, or using data gathered from one company to benefit another group company, notes The Indian Express.

The draft law, also has provisions to set presumptive norms to curb anti-competitive practices before they actually take place, and promises to impose heavy penalties — which could amount to billions of dollars — for violations. If this were to go in force, it could require big tech companies to make fundamental changes to their various platforms, says The Indian Express.

The proposal is similar to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which went into complete effect earlier this year, and requires large tech firms to open their services, and not favor their own at the expense of rivals. Not surprisingly, Apple hasn’t been in favor of such laws.

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