A perfect storm is brewing in the world of Internet platforms: in the last 10 days, Pavel Durov, the founder of messaging app Telegram has been arrested in France; in Brazil, a Judge has threatened to block X (formerly Twitter) after it refused to comply with orders, and in the middle of a hotly contested election in the US, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has disclosed government pressure during the Biden-Harris administration to censor content.
Continue reading The balance of power between users, platforms and the government needs a resetCategory: Columns
A response to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s comments on Ecommerce as a problem in India
I remember clearly the day I told Amitabh Kant about my preference for bright coloured socks: It was late in the evening at Udyog Bhawan on May 15, 2014, a day before Narendra Modi’s BJP came to power. As the then Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Kant was presiding over a stakeholder discussion on whether multi-brand retail should be allowed in India.
Continue reading A response to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s comments on Ecommerce as a problem in India