Baijayant Jay Panda, the Bharatiya Janata Party's spokesperson and National Vice-President, on Wednesday said that large internet platforms have the power to make users, including heads of state, irrelevant because of their dominance. Panda's comments were made during the Raisina Dialogue conference, organised by the Oberver Research Foundation. During a panel discussion, Panda criticised the gatekeeping role that large technology platforms play. He said corporate executives should not have the power to remove users — referring to Donald Trump getting booted off of social media sites — since they are not elected leaders. If it's a startup company providing a new service that a politician uses, you can take it or leave it and they can choose not to serve you and you can find somebody else. But when the 5-7 big tech giants choose not to serve you, you are effectively off the grid. This has happened to normal people and to heads of state. Even if one disagrees with what a head of state says, deplatforming should not be a power with unaccountable people, whom nobody elected, to take those decisions. These issues should be addressed by the courts by regulatory systems and not by corporate executives. He said platforms acting as gatekeepers was one of the most important developments today. One of the most important developments is the gatekeepers issue large tech giants are today sit in judgement as to what can be purveyed and what cannot be availed is an issue and a problem. Large companies…
