Budget 2018-19

  Under new IT rules, large digital platforms – with over 5 million users – will have to publish periodic compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken Google received 36,934 complaints from users and removed 95,680 pieces of content based on those complaints in July, the tech giant company said in its monthly transparency reports released on Tuesday. In addition to reports from users, Google also removed 5,76,892 pieces of content in July as a result of automated detection. The US-based company has made these disclosures as part of compliance with India’s IT rules that came into force on May 26. On Tuesday, Google said it had received 36,934 complaints in July from individual users located in India via designated mechanisms, and the number of removal actions as a result of user complaints was 95,680 – the highest so far. In June,  Google  had received 36,265 complaints and removed 83,613 pieces of content as a result of us...

  Appointment of grievance officer does not imply permanent establishment, say officials For digital multinationals such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, appointing grievance officers under new information technology (IT) rules does not imply that they have a “permanent establishment” in India. But if their local office performs business functions and contributes to revenue of the parent firm abroad, it may attract domestic taxes, said two people in the revenue department. This has come in the wake of foreign tech companies and others seeking legal advice on the tax implications of the government’s new IT order. They are required to appoint chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer from India. These firms fear that such appointments may attract income tax anywhere between 25 per cent and 40 per cent. “Creating any physical presence in the form of a grievance officer or a nodal officer, that too in compliance to government directions, will not create any business...

  The proposal is part of a package of bipartisan bills that would impose significant new constraints on how tech companies operate, restricting acquisitions and forcing them to exit some businesses Apple Inc. would be prohibited under antitrust reform legislation introduced last week from giving its own apps an advantage by preventing users from removing them on Apple devices, said Democratic Representative David Cicilline, who is leading a push to pass new regulations for U.S. technology companies. Cicilline told reporters Wednesday that a proposal prohibiting tech platforms from giving an advantage to their own products over those of competitors would mean Apple must let consumers decide which apps to use or remove. “It would be equally easy to download the other five apps as the  Apple  one so they’re not using their market dominance to favor their own products and services,” the Rhode Island Democrat said. The proposal is part of a package of bipartisan bills that wo...

  Google’s search, video-conferencing and other tools have been increasingly used in the past year as lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions forced people to shop and communicate online. (Reuters) -Alphabet Inc’s  Google  on Tuesday unveiled updates across many services, including Maps and Docs, as the company showcases its role in a world that has become more digitally connected during the pandemic. Google’s search, video-conferencing and other tools have been increasingly used in the past year as lockdowns and other pandemic restrictions forced people to shop and communicate online. With in-person activities resuming, Google is out to make a case it can remain relevant and compete with services from Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and others, including through features that foster hybrid working set-ups. Chief Executive Sundar Pichai is headlining a two-hour livestream on Tuesday as part of Google I/O, the company’s annual three-day developer conference. The forum was canc...

  This comes as the firm takes on a surge in internet traffic after pandemic restrictions drove more users and advertisers online Alphabet Inc’s  Google  said on Thursday it plans to invest over $7 billion in offices and data centers across the United States as it takes on a surge in internet traffic after pandemic restrictions drove more users and advertisers online. The company’s investment related to U.S. offices and data centers was over $10 billion last year and more than $13 billion in 2019. The latest investment includes expansion plans for data centers in Nebraska, South Carolina and Texas, the company said on Thursday. Google is also spending $1 billion in its home state of California. The move comes at a time when many companies are exiting Silicon Valley after the pandemic triggered a broader shift to remote work, making companies reconsider the state’s higher operational costs and hefty taxes. The investments would create at least 10,000 new full-time Google j...

  News Corp said on Monday it had reached a three-year agreement to provide Facebook Inc users access to news in Australia. (Reuters) – News Corp said on Monday it had reached a three-year agreement to provide  Facebook  Inc users access to news in Australia. Last month, Australia’s parliament passed a law that requires Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook Inc to pay media companies for content on their platforms, after robust negotiations in which Facebook blocked all news content in the 13th-largest economy. The agreement announced on Monday involves News Corp’s The Australian national newspaper, and metropolitan papers such as The Daily Telegraph in New South Wales. Sky News Australia has also reached a new agreement with Facebook, News Corp said. The three-year deal follows an agreement reached in October, 2019 in which News Corp publications in the United States receive payments in exchange for access to additional stories it would provide for Facebook News.

The companies are part of four consortia preparing to apply for licenses to operate retail payments and settlement systems in the country Technology giants Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google and credit-card providers Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. are among those vying for unprecedented access to India’s burgeoning digital retail payments market. The companies are part of four consortia preparing to apply for licenses to operate retail payments and settlement systems in the country, people familiar with the matter said. More companies could band together before a March 31 application deadline. In a market where cash is still king, digital payments are quickly gaining ground as India’s 1.3 billion people are starting to embrace online shopping and services such as online gaming and streaming. With Credit Suisse Group AG predicting $1 trillion in online payments in India in 2023, the companies chosen to enable such transactions stand to reap lucrative commissions. “India’s mobile d...

  Companies like Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc. or Alphabet Inc.’s Google could face fines of as much as 10 per cent of their revenue US and other major tech platforms that treat their own services more favorably, at the expense of rivals, could be forced to sell businesses and pay billion-dollar fines under strict rules unveiled by the European Union. Under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, companies deemed to be so-called “gatekeepers” won’t be allowed to rank their offerings above rivals on their own platforms, or use competitors’ data to compete with them, according to the new regulation released on Tuesday. Companies like Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc. or Alphabet Inc.’s Google could face fines of as much as 10 per cent of their revenue in Europe if they don’t comply, while a company that has repeatedly breached the rules could face orders to divest businesses, confirming a Bloomberg report on Monday. Gatekeepers will also need to inform regulators about smaller acquisitions that woul...

  The US will soon issue results of probes into Austria, Italy and India’s decisions to tax local revenue of Internet companies such as Facebook Inc., which could pave the way for retaliatory tariffs The U.S. will soon issue the results of probes into Austria, Italy and India’s decisions to tax local revenue of Internet companies such as Facebook Inc., which could pave the way for retaliatory tariffs, people familiar with the situation said. Determinations on the three countries are due because all of them have instituted so-called digital services taxes — or levies on local sales of companies such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google — this year, said the people who couldn’t be identified because the information is private. There may also be findings on Indonesia, U.K. and Turkey, one of the people said. The  U.S. Trade  Representative in June started investigations into the moves of at least 10 countries, citing Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which allows it to retalia...

  Shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc. rose after the complaint came out as analysts argued getting rid of the payments may save the company money The U.S. government’s antitrust case against Google follows a similar path to its attack on Microsoft Corp. more than 20 years ago — and that should make the internet giant nervous. The suit focuses on payments Google makes to ensure its search engine is the default on mobile phones and web browsers. Google’s dominant market share and massive revenue allows it to spend billions of dollars a year on these deals, blocking out competitors from the valuable placements and limiting consumer choice, the Justice Department alleged. It’s a similar argument the government made against Microsoft when it alleged in 1998 that the software company was requiring computer makers to set its web browser as the default on their machines. That lawsuit dragged on for years, distracted executives and helped Microsoft competitors — Google among them. Shares ...

The MIUI 9.5 is currently rolling out as an over-the-air (OTA) update, and the Redmi Note 5 users can download and install it through the software update option available in the phone's settings menu Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has started rolling out in India the MIUI 9.5 update for the  Redmi Note 5  smartphone. The new operating system update is still based on Google’s Android Nougat operating system, but with some major improvements and customisation. The MIUI 9.5 is currently rolling out as an over-the-air (OTA) update, and the Redmi Note 5 users can download and install it through the software update option available in the phone’s settings menu. The OTA version installs the update files without deleting the phone’s content and settings. However, for advance users who want to fresh install the MIUI 9.5 ROM, the full update file is also available and can be downloaded from the official MI forum. You can install it using the fastboot ROM flash...