• Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
Carnegie Global logoCarnegie lettermark logo
DemocracyIran
  • Donate
{
  "authors": [
    "François Godement"
  ],
  "type": "legacyinthemedia",
  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
  ],
  "collections": [],
  "englishNewsletterAll": "asia",
  "nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "AP",
  "programs": [
    "Asia"
  ],
  "projects": [],
  "regions": [
    "South Asia",
    "India"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Technology"
  ]
}

Source: Getty

In The Media

India, the Digital Battleground

There appears to be a shifting and unsettled balance between the Indian state, individuals and foreign companies.

Link Copied
By François Godement
Published on Jan 23, 2020
Program mobile hero image

Program

Asia

The Asia Program in Washington studies disruptive security, governance, and technological risks that threaten peace, growth, and opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region, including a focus on China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula.

Learn More

Source: Institut Montaigne

If one had any doubt about the intensity and breadth of public policy debates in India, or about the centrality of the country for the future of the digital world, three simultaneous developments should prove that it is essential to follow the world’s largest data market. Let’s remember that the country has nearly 600 million internet users, who downloaded 12 billion apps in 2018, while the entire population now has an individual digital identity.

India’s Supreme Court cites Charles Dickens and goes on to censor the central government on its indefinite blockade of internet services in Kashmir. A two-year-old inception of a detailed Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) culminates in a parliamentary debate of both Houses. And an antitrust inquiry is launched against Amazon during the very visit to India by Jeff Bezos, who came promising billions to help small Indian shopkeepers and boost the export of more Indian products…

Each of these three events has its own dynamic and its own finality. Taken together, they suggest a shifting and unsettled balance between the Indian state, individuals and foreign companies. The Supreme Court judgment by a panel of three judges reflects a legal culture of checks and balances, heavily invested in British and in fact more often American case law. It positions internet communications as part of the right to free expression, as well as a key component of the economy and trade. It recognizes the central government’s argument on terrorism in the region, and it does not challenge directly the contention that the terrorist threat in India has cross-border characteristics. Nor does it take exception, of course, with the wide restrictions to free expression provided by article 19 of India’s Constitution.

Read Full text

This article was originally published by Institut Montaigne.

About the Author

François Godement

Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program

Godement, an expert on Chinese and East Asian strategic and international affairs, was a nonresident senior fellow in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Recent Work

  • Other
    Reorienting China Policy By Working With Europe

      François Godement, Ashley J. Tellis

  • In The Media
    China at the Gates: A New Power Audit of EU-China Relations

      François Godement, Abigaël Vasselier

François Godement
Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program
François Godement
TechnologySouth AsiaIndia

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

More Work from Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

  • Image showing a phone screen with various LLM app icons, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others.
    Article
    We Need Ongoing Monitoring of AI and Political Information

    Monitoring is essential so that policymakers and the public can understand—and have a say in—how AI systems affect politics.

      • Photo of Danaé Metaxa.
      • Photo of Alex Engler.

      Danaé Metaxa , Alex Engler

  • Robot arm with disposable test tube virus sampling in laboratory
    Commentary
    Caught in the Middle: Chinese Biotech Firms’ Divergent Responses to U.S. Sanctions

    Chinese biotech companies have been on the receiving end of U.S. economic coercion. Yet their responses have differed significantly because firm and state interests are not uniformly aligned. For Washington, treating all Chinese tech firms the same, irrespective of their actual interests, risks pushing them farther into Beijing’s corner.

      Xue Gong

  • Two people in blue PPE standing over large metal rolls
    Commentary
    Emissary
    Inside the Global Race to Erode a Battery Manufacturing Monopoly

    Over the past decade, China has moved from marginal player to major producer of all things batteries. The United States, Europe, and others are aiming to balance the market.

      Milo McBride

  • Lee and Lula walking
    Commentary
    Emissary
    Why Korea’s President Skipped Washington for Silicon Valley and Brasília

    Lee’s tour shows how Seoul is reorganizing its diplomacy away from Pyongyang and toward industrial networks and the geography of the compute economy.

      Darcie Draudt-Véjares

  • An AS3 interceptor part of the Merops, an AI-powered anti-drone system is pictured during a NATO live-fire demonstration of a counter-UAS system on November 18, 2025 in Nowa Deba, Poland.
    Paper
    Confronting the Barriers to AI Diffusion in the U.S. Military

    The Pentagon is calling for a rapid AI transformation. Autonomous drones offer a case study in the eight bottlenecks the U.S. military must navigate to realize that vision.

      Jake Steckler

Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie global logo, stacked
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NWWashington, DC, 20036-2103Phone: 202 483 7600
  • Research
  • Emissary
  • About
  • Experts
  • Donate
  • Programs
  • Events
  • Blogs
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • For Media
  • Government Resources
Get more news and analysis from
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
© 2026 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. All rights reserved.