New Delhi: The future of the open internet is a challenge. If governments and tech companies become a part of the ecosystem and continue the conversation that the internet needs to be open, we will find ways to work together, said Samiran Gupta, Senior Director, Public Policy and Philanthropy, India and South Asia, Twitter India, while speaking at CyFy 2022 here on Thursday.
Gupta said the future of the open internet was a challenge and if governments and tech companies which are part of this ecosystem and users continue that conversation that, “the internet needs to be open I think, you know, we’ll always find a way to work together”.
“The Open Internet, to start with, depends on very core concept of interoperability. The internet is a network of networks. It needs to be interoperable. You might have an iOS phone, I may have an Android phone, but we are all consuming the same content. The Internet is not necessarily about the four big companies, it’s also about smaller players across the globe,” he said.
Talking about the technology, Gupta said that, “The issue here is that technology in this space is actually growing at a far faster pace and has become something that we are struggling to control; there is no option but to improve what we have so that it does a better job.”
Katarina Klingova, Senior Research Fellow, GLOBSEC Policy Institute, Slovakia, said, “Europe is striving for legislation of the digital world. We see a lot of disinformation and smear campaigns targeting European leaders.”
Social media and algorithms are impacting the mental health of people and sometimes lead to suicidal thoughts and suicide cases which needs to be addressed.
She said that today, systems have been put in place to mitigate harmful effects of technology. “We are more aware, more knowledgeable, and have a more mature understanding of how to use technology,” she added.
Svetlana Zens, independent digital rights expert, ASEAN Region and Central Asia, Myanmar, said, “Myanmar has blocked most of the social media platforms and now people have access to Facebook to get the information and convey their messages to the world community.”
