Google to comply with India’s IT rules, CEO Sundar Pichai says

BENGALURU: Google is committed to complying with India’s revised IT rules that came into effect Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said on Thursday.

“It’s obviously early days and our local teams are very engaged. You know we comply with local laws and we will approach it with the same framework,” Pichai said in a video conference with select reporters from Asia Pacific.

“We engage and explain to everyone the importance of information, promoting (the) free flow of information, but do want to respect legislative processes in democratic countries.”

“We are committed to complying (with the laws). And to the extent there are requests (for information on users) we comply with and we will include that in our transparency reports. It is a framework with which we will operate it around the world,” the India-born executive said.

India on Wednesday sent a missive to internet and social media intermediary companies asking them to update the government whether they have complied with the regulations.

The new regulations mandate internet and social media companies with over five million users in India to have local grievance officers, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person, whose details along with a physical contact address are published on their website.

The rules also mandate traceability of the originator of messages, along with a provision for voluntary verification as a means to establish user identity.

“We respect the sovereignty of countries and the legislative processes. We work hard to adapt and function and where we need to push back, we do that. It is a balance we have stuck around the world. India is a vibrant place where we are able to provide a lot of information across a lot of our products and so will operate with that framework,” Pichai said.

On Tueasday, WhatsApp filed a case in the Delhi High Court against the new guidelines that also mandate social media platforms to trace the origin of specific messages.

The Facebook-owned company has argued that the new rules violate the fundamental right to privacy of users.

The government has shot back saying WhatsApp’s attempt to portray the intermediary guidelines of India as contrary to the right to privacy is misguided.

Pichai said the issue of regulation of technology companies by countries globally is “evolving”.

“It’s an evolving landscape. Tech is touching society, you know, in more deeper and broader ways and the pace of change is fast. We fully expect governments, rightfully, to both scrutinize and adopt regulatory frameworks, (whether) it’s Europe copyright directive or India with information regulation,” he said.

“We see it as a natural part of societies figuring out how to govern and adapt themselves in this technology world. As a company, we are very clear about the values of free and open internet and its benefits.” (AGENCY)