Lawyers and policymakers believe Trump’s stance could also have a spillover effect in India, whose tech regulations, which largely mirror the EU’s restrictive rules against Big Tech, could become less stringent, making it easier for the US tech titans to operate. said.
Tech industry veterans Mint spoke to all agreed that the backing of Trump’s presidential campaign by tech executives such as Tesla’s Elon Musk and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is a sign that Big Tech will look to bargain for less intense demands for strict anti-competitive measures going forward through to exploit his ties to the 47th President of the United States.
“Big Tech, under Biden, has not only had a difficult four years in terms of being scrutinized on its own turf – it has also felt partially betrayed, leaving itself open to constant fire from European Union (EU) regulators over privacy, market dominance and competition.By siding with Trump, they have reversed most of their own positions they had taken during his earlier tumultuous tenure—reflecting that they are now hoping for a more favorable regulatory and policy strategy from the incoming government,” a senior adviser to tech companies on global policy told Mint, requesting anonymity.
Rahul Rai, partner and co-founder at law firm Axiom5, agreed: “Historically, with changes in government, the chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission also changes, and the intensity of antitrust enforcement often coincides with the political-economic ambitions of government. Under the previous administration the FTC faced a significant rollback of its aggressive stance on technology and competition laws.With Trump’s more pro-market, less interventionist approach, we are likely to to see a change in America’s legal stance toward the tech industry.”
Global impact: India’s technical regulations, US influence
This, in turn, could be reflected in India as well, stakeholders believe. Mathew Chacko, founding partner at law firm Spice Route Legal, said: “From a global perspective, there may be more pressure not to over-regulate technology and technology companies in strategic geographies – that is, not to adopt policies that are overly restrictive in spirit. Alternatively, the US government’s push to promote ‘globalism’ in technology – such an approach could benefit both India and the US.”
Chacko added that the incoming Trump administration may put pressure on countries to relax their rules that they may adopt in their own national security interest.
“This is not bad demand – while there are regulatory and security issues, there is a strong case that India has more to gain from closer ties with the (US) West Coast (where several Big Tech companies are based),” said .
India’s wait-and-see approach to regulation
For now, India’s regulatory stance on technology is taking a slow step forward – as the country waits to see the overall strategy taken by key jurisdictions at the same time. A senior official close to the government’s policy stance said that while India “hasn’t been slow, we’re definitely in no rush to add restrictions on Big Tech — there’s a lot to win mutually.”
Supratim Chakraborty, partner at law firm Khaitan & Co, echoed this approach, saying: “Most policymakers are taking a wait-and-see approach to see where other jurisdictions end up before working on a concrete direction for regulation to move forward in. This slow pace is likely to to continue.”
This wait-and-see strategy, political advisers said, could be to watch Trump’s technology policies take shape before strengthening their own stance. Kazim Rizvi, founder of policy think tank The Dialogue, said: “While Trump may have a pro-business approach, he has also strongly said that companies need to move supply chains to the US and could speed up export controls on hardware and software and AI for national security purposes. Some of the moves may have an impact on India’s access to technology from the US, but it is unlikely that any of these moves would have an imminent impact on India’s technology regulations.”
This could further complicate India’s politics. India’s technology legislation so far, including the notified Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the upcoming Digital Competition Bill, are modeled after the EU’s regulatory stance.
“India’s technology laws are closely aligned with the EU’s regulatory framework, and over the past decade India’s enforcement of these laws has mirrored the EU’s approach more than that of the US. However, the key difference is that the US has traditionally held that as long as competition benefits consumers, a company is considered clear However, both India and the EU have emphasized a more balanced approach, to ensure that both consumers and companies are not harmed by anti-competitive practices, says Rai.
Thus, Rai emphasized that India’s tech regulatory stance may not change entirely – although policymakers in India may continue with a softer touch and slower pace to understand how best to leverage bilateral relations.
