Apple Pushes Back Against India's New Digital Market Regulations

Apple, Google, and Amazon are urging India to reconsider its proposed Digital Competition Bill, citing concerns over increased user costs and potential reductions in investment (via Reuters).

apple india
A U.S. lobby group representing major technology companies has asked the Indian government to rethink the proposed legislation that closely mirrors the European Union's Digital Markets Act. The request was made in a letter sent by the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), a part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to India's Corporate Affairs Ministry. The proposed Digital Competition Bill aims to regulate the market power of large digital firms with global revenues exceeding $30 billion and at least 10 million local users.

The Digital Competition Bill seeks to introduce measures to prevent companies from exploiting non-public user data and from giving preferential treatment to their own services over those of rivals. The bill would also remove restrictions on sideloading apps.

The USIBC has raised concerns that these regulations could lead to significant repercussions for targeted companies like Apple. According to the council, the draft Indian law is "much further in scope" than the EU's regulations, potentially resulting in reduced investment in India, higher prices for digital services, and a decreased range of services available to consumers.

The Indian government argues that the new law is necessary to address the growing market power of a few large digital companies that "wield immense control over the market." The proposed legislation includes provisions for penalties of up to 10 percent of a company's annual global turnover for violations.

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Top Rated Comments

ThailandToo Avatar
10 months ago
Good. Time for the world to stop the bullying of these anticompetitive massive companies. Apple is among the worst when it comes to acting like a bully and stifling competition.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
User 6502 Avatar
10 months ago
Excellent news. The EU led the way, now the rest of the world will follow. Soon enough Apple apologists will have to encourage Apple to leave planet Earth and sell their iPhones on the Moon or on Mars. it’s also nice to see India seems to have taken an even stronger stance on the issue. Perhaps the EU will also tighten the regulations soon enough, that would also be good.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
User 6502 Avatar
10 months ago

Yup, all the EU’s fault. Soon every country is going to try to regulate in their own specific way. 180 ways companies would have to please these governments. - Do you think you currently encounter bugs in your software? Just you wait until that software has to account for all these different regulations across the globe. Absolute insanity. ?‍♂️
It seems Apple manages to release buggy software regardless of the regulations, I also doubt there will be 180 different regulations. Clearly over time there will be only a few, and the EU has the huge merit of already consolidating the regulations of 27 countries in a single one.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aoligei Avatar
10 months ago
Good. The day of Gatekeeper is coming to end. Sideloading should be user choice.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
alexe Avatar
10 months ago
"A U.S. lobby group representing major technology companies has asked the Indian government to rethink the proposed legislation"

Lol of course they would... but thank god, the quasi-monopolists won't get their way. More countries will introduce similar legislation to break the competition-stifling power of Apple/Google/Amazon & Co. And we consumers are all benefiting from this.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
10 months ago

invest in Vietnam or Malasia . Forget India The Same place an Apple foxcon factory was vandalized
Forget about India, the world's most populous country and where Apple is hoping to grow their business?

India: over 1.4 billion
Vietnam: just over 98 million
Malaysia: around 34 million


Besides India is still buying cheap oil from Russia not siding with the rest of the world against this brutal war
Psst! Vietnam buys Russian oil too. Vietnam actually wants to expand ('https://vietnamlawmagazine.vn/pm-hopes-for-increased-vietnam-russia-oil-gas-cooperation-71576.html') their economic (energy) cooperation with Russia ('https://thediplomat.com/2024/05/russias-putin-to-visit-vietnam-this-month-reports-claim/').

Vietnam ('https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/09/world/asia/vietnam-russia-arms-deal.html') and Malaysia ('https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2024/02/21/malaysia-is-becoming-wary-of-its-russian-made-weapons/') also support Russia by buying weapons from them. And Vietnam ('https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/nine-southeast-asian-states-vote-to-condemn-russian-war-on-ukraine/') has yet to condemned or sanction Russia.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)