Big tech companies need to pay Indian news publishers for content use: MeitY Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Such a move is critical for the future of journalism and the financial health of the news industry, both digital and print, said Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra, NDTV reported.

"For the growth of the news industry, it is important that digital news platforms of all these publishers, who are the creators of original content, get a fair share of revenues from the big tech platforms which act as aggregators of content created by others," Apurva Chandra said in a message at a conclave organised by the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA) - an umbrella organisation of 17 leading Indian news publishers, including NDTV.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar also agreed with Chandra. He said, "We hope to address this issue of disproportionate control and imbalance of dynamics between content creation and its monetisation and the power that ad-tech companies and platforms hold today."

The structure of the internet had led to a "deeply inbuilt imbalance" in the dynamics of content creation and its monetisation, leaving smaller organisations severely disadvantaged, he said, addressing the event via video link, the report said.

The Digital India Act, which is likely to be tabled soon in parliament, seeks to address the matter with a solution like that of Australia, he said.

Australia passed a law two years ago, requiring digital platforms like Facebook and Google to pay Australian media outlets and publishers to link their content.