#BulletinBoard – January 16, 2019 (Shashi Tharoor introduces private member bill to regulate online gaming and more)

Shashi Tharoor introduces private member bill to regulate online gaming

Shashi Tharoor, member of Parliament from Thiruvanthapuram introduced the Sports (Online Gaming and Prevention of Fraud) Bill (“Bill”) which intends to regulate online gaming as the sector is largely unorganised. The Bill aims to establish an efficient regime for maintaining the integrity of sports and also regulate online sports (includes regulating sports betting in India and also permitting online gambling in India). The Bill is divided into two parts:

  1. The first part of the Bill deals with the offence of sports fraud which deals with the manipulation of a sporting event in exchange for any illegal gratification.
  2. The second part of the Bill deals with creating a 7 (Seven) member Online Sports Gaming Commission that would deal with regulating all online sports in India and monitor suspicious betting patterns.

Quick View:

  • The Bill will help in reducing the amount of illegal betting in India. Illegal betting is a problem that has plagued sports in India for decades, with the IPL being the most recent example. By allowing and regulating sports betting, the government can monitor the money that is being used for sports betting. The government can use measures like making PAN mandatory for placing a bet. This will reduce the amount of black money used for betting.
  • Further, if players are prevented from placing bets, then it will reduce instances of match fixing as the incentives for players to involve themselves in match fixing, reduces.
  • By regulating online sports and gaming, the government can take a front foot in ensuring a robust regulatory mechanism for the online gaming sector in the country. Considering that there have been a lot of developments on this front in the last few years, this will be a welcome step.

Social media platforms required to delete misleading information within 24 hours: says MeitY in new guidelines.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) has introduced new guidelines (“Guidelines”) to regulate misleading information on social media platforms. As per the Guidelines, all social media platforms will need to delete any content that affects the “sovereignty and integrity of India” within 24 hours.

Quick View:

  • The Guidelines will have a big impact on the way social media is used in India. As the term “sovereignty and integrity of India” is a wide and vague term, social media platforms may aggressively remove content from their platforms. This will have an impact and might affect an individual’s right of freedom of speech and expression.
  • The timeline provided in the Guidelines is aggressive and will substantially increase the regulatory requirements on social media platforms in India. Social media platforms will need to go through all their content, examine the validity of each of the content pieces and delete the misleading information, all within 24 hours.

RBI to review WhatsApp pay’s adherence to data localisation norms

The Supreme Court has ordered the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) to review WhatApp Pay’s (“Company”) adherence to the RBI’s April 6, 2018, data localisation circular (“Circular”). This was in response to the petition filed by a not-for-profit organisation, Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (“CASC”), which alleged that Company has not complied with the Circular. The Circular stipulates that all payment operators and banks should store all Indian user data within the territory of India.  As per the National Payment Corporation of India, although the Company stores its data locally, it mirrors that same overseas which is in violation of the Circular. The Circular requires all payment operators and banks to be compliant with this requirement by October 15, 2018.

Quick View:

  • This may lead to the RBI conducting a sector wise audit to ensure that all payment platforms are in compliance with the Circular. While payment platforms not in compliance with the Circular, may have to incur extra costs to ensure that all Indian user data is stored within the territory of India, violation of this Circular may amount to cancellation of the payment platform’s license.

Amazon, Flipkart seek an extension on Feb 1 deadline for implementing amended FDI Rules

E-commerce juggernauts Flipkart and Amazon have requested for an extension of time for implementing the amended FDI Rules for e-commerce platforms (“Amended Rules”) that was introduced by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in late December 2018. The Amended Rules prohibits vendors who are owned by a particular e-commerce platform from selling their owner’s e-commerce platform. The Amended Rules also prohibited the e-commerce platforms from controlling the inventory of its vendors.

The Amended Rules is set to come into effect from February 1, 2019 and has been widely speculated to have a negative impact on the growth of e-commerce in India. Considering that the Amended Rules will involve an extensive overhaul of their business models, Flipkart and Amazon has requested an extension of 6 (Six) months to implement the Amended Rules.

Quick View:

  • If the government extends the deadline for e-commerce platforms to implement the Amended Rules, it will aid the e-commerce sector greatly as they will have time to adjust their business models to be in compliance with the Amended Rules and at the same time, will not negatively impact the e-commerce sector. However, on the flip side, allowing for an extension might give e-commerce platforms to find a loop hole and continue to violate the base principles of the Amended Rules that is to create a fair market place where all vendors are treated fairly and equally.

 

Disclaimer: This post has been prepared for informational purposes only. The information/or observations contained in this post does not constitute legal advice and should not be acted upon in any specific situation without seeking proper legal advice from a practicing attorney.

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