The proposed legislation would grant significant powers to the Indian government in the telecom sector, causing apprehensions for Meta and other tech companies.
The Parliament passed the Telecommunications Bill, 2023, which seeks to amend the laws relating to telecommunication services and networks, on Thursday. The bill, introduced by Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on December 13, would allow for the government to temporarily take control of telecom services in the interest of national security. While the bill would hand the Indian government considerable powers in the telecom sector, Facebook parent Meta is reportedly concerned that over the top (OTT) services would come under the ambit of the proposed legislation.
According to a report in Moneycontrol, the tech giant is worried that the telecom bill could bring apps like WhatsApp, Signal and others under government regulation. The report cited an internal email to colleagues from Shivnath Thukral, Director and Head of India Public Policy at Meta, which said that the Indian government could choose to bring OTT services under the ambit of the proposed legislation at a ‘future date.’ This could mean that Meta’s own apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram could be susceptible to increased government scrutiny and interference.
While mentions of ‘OTT’ have been removed from the bill, there is concern over certain ambiguities related to terms present like ‘telecommunication services’ and ‘messages,’ which could have broad implications. “The revised Bill text is now (in) the public domain. In a very positive movement, all explicit references to OTTs have been removed from the Bill…However, some ambiguity remains – as the definitions of “telecommunications services”, “telecommunications identifier” and “messages” could be interpreted to implicitly include OTT services, even if without explicit mention,” the report quotes Thukral as saying in an email sent on December 18.
Thukral expressed concerns that the government might categorize Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms as telecommunication services, potentially subjecting internet platforms to regulatory oversight. Despite the removal of the term from the bill, the Meta official claimed to have had discussions with ‘the Minister’ who assured that the government did not intend to regulate OTTs under the new telecom legislation.
The Telecommunications Bill, approved by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday and subsequently cleared in the upper house, seeks to amend laws related to telecommunication services and networks. It proposes a non-auction route for allocating satellite spectrum and includes amendments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act (TRAI), 1997. The bill grants the government the authority to intercept messages, disclose them to investigative agencies in an “intelligible format,” and establish encryption standards. These provisions raise concerns for end-to-end encrypted messaging services like Signal and WhatsApp.