Experts say that the EU's new Digital Services Act (DSA), aimed at establishing central regulations for big tech, could validate the Indian government’s approach towards tech laws.

The DSA can lead the way in "codifying accountability and liability of social media platforms" for other countries ", according to N.S. Nappinai, a Supreme Court of India counsel and founder of the Cyber Saathi Foundation.

They pointed out that several of the DSA's provisions are identical to those found in India's Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, also known as the IT Rules, 2021.

India has already sought a 'more responsible social media', with its IT Rules. This is now easier to push for on a global scale because of the DSA.

The DSA, which EU members approved on April 23, aims to govern how Google, Facebook, and Amazon target adverts to consumers based on factors like religion or race, as well as take tighter measures to combat hate speech and child abuse on platforms.

The DSA is “both a precedent and validation of India’s own rules governing social media intermediaries and limiting their safe harbour protection," said tech policy analyst Prasanto K. Roy.

The IT Rules, 2021, in India, mandated the appointment of a grievance redressal officer for ‘significant’ social media intermediaries, or online platforms with more than five million registered users in India. Within 24 hours of receiving a complaint, the latter must acknowledge it and provide a resolution within 15 days.

Users of very large online platforms (VLOPs) with over 45 million registered EU users would be able to appeal content moderation decisions made by the platforms, according to the DSA. They will also be able to sue such digital platforms in court.

Other similarities include maintaining the fairness of social media networks' recommendation systems.

Google and Facebook, for example, currently voluntarily provide transparency reports on how they respond to government demands for data removal from their platforms around the world. Many industry observers, however, have condemned tech companies' self-regulatory initiatives as insufficient.

However, selective enforcement may continue despite such mandates, warned Alok P. Kumar, co-founder of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. “If the regulatory enforcement is not neutral and you are going to selectively pick up content, compliance will not be a problem. The company would not have to comply with the law, but only with the government’s demands. Even if any legal changes are made in Indian laws based on the DSA, it won’t matter much if the enforcement is selective”.