New Delhi. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha raised the issue of interests of digital content creators in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Demanding important amendments in the Copyright Act, 1957, he said that today millions of Indians are earning their livelihood by working on digital platforms, but their hard work and earnings are lost within a few minutes due to arbitrary algorithms.
Speaking during Zero Hour, Raghav Chadha said that today India’s digital content creators have become the ‘grassroots communicators’ of the country. He is providing information and entertainment to the society as a teacher, critic, satirist, artist, musician, entertainer and influencer. He said that YouTube channel or Instagram page is not just a means of entertainment for these people, but is also their source of income and the biggest asset, which is created through years of hard work.
Raghav Chadha expressed concern that many times just a 2 to 3 second clip, background music, or use of any content gets a copyright strike and the entire channel or page is removed. Years of hard work vanishes in a few minutes. Livelihoods should be decided by law, not by arbitrary algorithms.
He clarified that he is not against the rights of copyright holders, but ‘fair use’ should not be equated with piracy. He said that when content is used for comment, criticism, satire, education, news or transformative purposes, it should not be considered a crime.
Raghav Chadha said, “Neither innovation can flourish nor creativity can survive in an environment of fear.” The AAP MP also said that India’s copyright law was made in 1957, at that time there was neither internet, nor computers, nor YouTube nor Instagram. There is no clear definition of digital creators in this law and fair dealing has been talked about only in the context of books, magazines and journals.
Raghav Chadha placed three major demands before the House. Digital fair use should be clearly defined by amending the Copyright Act, which includes transformative use, satire, criticism, incidental use, limited use, educational and non-commercial use related to public interest. ‘Proportionality Doctrine’ should be introduced in copyright enforcement, so that the entire content is not removed after a few seconds of use. Mandatory ‘due process’ should be ensured before removing any content.
