Executive Summary

The increase in smartphone and internet penetration over the past few years has led to the advent of a new digital society in India, transforming the lives of individuals and their daily interactions with communities, markets, and governments. This has enhanced their access to employment, affordable and personalised products, and state-provided welfare and public services.

However, there are trade-offs that every Indian makes when they interact with technology. In pursuit of its benefits, individuals also become vulnerable to risks arising from these very interactions. For instance, convenient access to personalised services comes at the cost of sharing personal data, and using social media often exposes users to online harassment.

A safe & inclusive digital society is one where individuals are able to reap the benefits of technology, and face minimal harms from its risks. While, there has been considerable focus on ‘Technology for Good’, or leveraging technology to enhance access to employment and services, the recognition and focus on mitigating its harms, or ‘Responsible Technology’, is lagging behind.

As part of the Digital Society initiative, Omidyar Network India has been investing in the development of a thriving Responsible Technology ecosystem. This report reviews how the sector has evolved over the last six years, highlights key enablers of progress, and identifies opportunities for funders and entrepreneurs to drive the sector forward.

We describe the evolution of innovation in the Responsible Technology space across a spectrum starting from recognising and forging a common understanding of the risks and harms, to building consensus on solutions, and finally, scaling up these solutions. We describe this journey through a five-stage framework - ‘Latent’, ‘Nascent’, ‘Emerging’, ‘Mainstream’, and ‘Transformed’.

Inherent in the digital interactions of individuals with the three spheres of society – communities, markets and governments – are nine material risks. In the ‘community’ sphere, users are exposed to misinformation, online harassment and negative impact on mental wellbeing; in the ‘markets’ sphere users are vulnerable to fraud, unauthorised collection and use of data, monopolisation and poor social security benefits; and in the ‘government’ sphere, the use of emerging technologies has raised concerns of exclusion and surveillance.

The sector has moved from being at the ‘Nascent’ stage six years ago, when there were just early discussions among experts, to being between ‘Emerging’ and ‘Mainstream’ stage now, where there is recognition and awareness of these risks, as well as the emergence of solutions. This can be seen in the growing consumer preference for responsible technology products and enhanced policy interest (e.g., DPDP Bill 2022, Intermediary Guidelines etc.).

Out of the nine potential risks or harms identified, four stand at the ‘Mainstream’ stage, i.e., there is broad consensus & recognition, and effective solutions and safeguards are being worked upon. For example, when it comes to unauthorised collection and use of data, there has been a fair amount of focus on personal data protection legislation; this has helped drive recognition of privacy as an area of innovation and led to the development of tech-led solutions for data minimisation, and security threat detection.

Four potential risks stand at the ‘Emerging’ stage. For these, there is a growing awareness amongst key decision-makers and mainstream media, but there are few solutions. For instance, there is a growing body of evidence on the negative impact of smartphone use on mental health (e.g., addiction, body shaming, anxiety, depression). However, there are limited solutions that offer safeguards to an individual.

Finally, one risk, surveillance due to emerging technologies, was found to be at the ‘Nascent’ stage. It is currently being discussed among experts and, seemingly, a complete understanding of it is yet to reach a wider audience.

This progress has been spurred by a range of developments, and catalysed by an array of organisations

India has a thriving ecosystem of stakeholders including governments, businesses, the legal ecosystem, media, civil society, and funders, who are working actively to develop the space of Responsible Technology. Over the years, multiple solutions have been designed and implemented, some of which have seen visible impact while others have helped in building the capacity of the overall system.

In some cases, high-profile manifestations of potential risks and harms, grassroots campaigns, and media attention have helped enhance user awareness. Big FM’s Zindagi Mobile radio campaign to build awareness of users on vulnerabilities arising from technology led to a greater privacy consciousness among listeners, and more careful online behaviour, such as checking the veracity of information before forwarding it.

In other cases, large-scale empirical research studies have helped inform policy decisions. For instance, Dalberg’s State of Aadhaar report helped highlight how vulnerable populations found it difficult to access Aadhaar, leading UIDAI to include transgender and homeless populations as a ‘priority population’ for enrolment drives.

Further, civil society engagements with government and global trends have helped drive regulations and spur the development of private sector solutions. For example, IT for Change’s pioneering of ‘community data’ as a concept opened up a new paradigm for data ownership and management and helped shape the MeitY constituted expert committee report on NonPersonal Data Governance Framework.

So how can funders help continue to drive this ongoing progress?

The report recommends the use of a ‘multi-tool’ approach to creating sustained impact, based on the level of awareness, presence of regulations and maturity of solutions available.

The potential risks and harms in the ‘Nascent’ and ‘Latent’ stages can benefit from developing a vocabulary to articulate these challenges and building a community of actors who can discuss and help build awareness, and understanding amongst stakeholders. For example, for online harassment, while there is widespread recognition, creating a shared regulatory vocabulary to categorize content will help authorities understand and address grievances. Another example is supporting research to understand the potential and impact of emerging technologies (such as facial recognition) on data protection and privacy, to enable integration of relevant safeguards in deployment of these technologies.

Those in ‘Emerging’ stage require a mix of building consensus through large-scale empirical research that supports a data-driven discourse, direct policy engagement with the government to build their capacity, and engaging campaigns to drive user awareness. For example, supporting policy dialogues to strengthen competition regulation, associated public institutions and safeguards can help combat market concentration and monopolisation challenges. Similarly, funding proof of concept of technology tools and solutions can help tackle challenges such as misinformation as well as mental wellbeing concerns rising due to internet and social media usage, etc.

When potential risks and harms are considered to be in the ‘Mainstream’ stage, it is helpful to support evolution of market-based models. Investing in solutions that enable adoption of responsible data practices by businesses and of protective measures by consumers can be one of the most effective ways to drive impact. For example, investing in startups that support businesses to comply with privacy regulations or offer technologies that enable privacy-by-design for developers.

Across all the pathways, collaborative action among private, public, and nonprofit stakeholders and alignment in their perspectives, incentives, and behaviours will be critical to tackling these challenges. Funders can facilitate such collaboration and focus on the aforementioned pathways to build a safe and inclusive Digital Society in India.