Facebook counters Mukesh Ambani; says data is not new oil, shouldn't be hoarded within nations
New Delhi, Sep 12: Countering richest Indian Mukesh Ambani, Facebook Inc on Thursday said data is not the new oil, and countries like India should allow its free flow across borders instead of attempting to hoard it as a finite commodity within national boundaries.
Facebook Vice-President, Global Affairs and Communications, Nick Clegg said data sharing is crucial for national security as India right now finds itself "locked out" of major global data-sharing initiatives aimed to clamp down on serious crime and terrorism.
India should create a new template for the internet that "respects the rights of individuals to choose what happens to their data; one that encourages competition and innovation; and one that remains open and accessible for everyone," he said.
Chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani had stated that "data is the new oil" as he propagated the protection of Indian users' data generated through use of internet as well as social media platforms, saying the country's data must be controlled and owned by Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations.
"There are many in India and around the world who think of data as the new oil and that, like oil having a great reserve of it held within your national boundaries, will lead to surefire prosperity. But this analogy is mistaken," Clegg said at an event here.
"Data isn't oil a finite commodity to be owned and traded, pumped from the ground and burned in cars and factories. Of course, no analogy is perfect, but a better liquid to liken it to is water, with the global internet like a great borderless ocean of currents and tides," he said.
The value of data, he said, comes not from "hoarding it" or trading it like a finite commodity, but from allowing it to flow freely and encouraging the innovation that comes from that free flow of data - the algorithms and the services and the intelligence that can be built on top of it.
"It is that innovation that has the potential to bring much greater wealth to India and it is that innovation that will place India, with its entrepreneurial society and its bedrock of engineering talent, at the forefront of the global internet for decades to come," he said.
Clegg said to contain data within geographical boundaries and restricting its flow outside the country would be to "turn this great ocean of innovation into a still lake."
"The global internet is built on this principle of cross-border data flows just as the global economy relies on capital, human resources and technological innovation to cross borders in order to flourish," he said.
Stating that it was not just the global economy that relies on data sharing across borders, he said data-sharing was crucial for national security too.
"Yet, right now India finds itself locked out of major global data-sharing initiatives aimed to clamp down on serious crime and terrorism, like the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act and the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime," he said.
The remarks came amid a raging debate in the country over whether data of Indians is safe with foreign companies, as the government is working on crafting data protection rules. The Reserve Bank of India last year imposed data localisation norms on foreign fintech companies to locally store the data of Indians.
Facebook, which is looking at launching payment services through its unit WhatsApp in India, and global firms such as Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Google and Amazon had sought relaxation in the regulation on data localisation.
India is home to 400 million WhatsApp users and more than 328 million Facebook users.
The Facebook executive, however, said while national security is a major priority for the Indian government, inhibiting global data sharing is an issue of conflict of laws between the US and India.
"In our view, a major priority for the US and India should be to revive their bilateral relationship on cyber co-operation and for India to seek access to these existing mechanisms for data sharing. Now is not the time to drift further apart, now is the time to get around the table and agree on a data-sharing relationship that suits both sides," he said.
He went on to state that India finds itself at a crossroads as the internet matures. "The decisions it makes in the months and years ahead will likely do more to shape the global internet or end it than those made by any other country," he said.
Of course, India is not responsible for the actions of the rest of the world. But the eyes of the world are upon it and its decisions could have a domino effect as smaller countries wrestle with similar decisions, he added.
India, he said, could follow the Chinese model, further entrenching the fracturing of the global internet.
"Between these two great nations, China and India, a third of the world's population would be detached from the rest of the global internet and a great precedent would be set for other nations. And in a few short years there may not be such a thing as a global internet at all," he said.
"And some countries would use India as a precedent to justify even more restrictive laws, cutting their citizens off from the benefits of an open internet," he said.
"Or instead, India can choose to work with its natural allies in the open, democratic world to help shape an internet that respects rights of individuals; promotes competition and innovation; and remains open and accessible for all."
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Iran Foreign Minister Araghchi begins 3-day India visit
New Delhi (PTI): Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi began a three-day official visit to India on Wednesday, marking the first high-level diplomatic engagement from Tehran since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran more than two months ago.
Araghchi is visiting India primarily to attend a two-day meeting of BRICS foreign ministers beginning Thursday.
The Iranian foreign minister is set to hold wide-ranging bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, focusing on the escalating crisis in West Asia.
The situation surrounding the Strait of Hormuz is expected to feature prominently. The Indian side is likely to press for the safe passage of remaining merchant vessels through the strategic waterway, according to people familiar with the matter.
Araghchi and other foreign ministers of the BRICS member states are scheduled to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
"A very warm welcome to Foreign Minister of Iran, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, on his arrival in New Delhi for the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on 'X'.
The escalating crisis in West Asia and its impact on the global energy supply chain are expected to dominate deliberations at the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting.
India, as the chair of BRICS, is hosting the conclave of the foreign ministers ahead of the annual summit of the grouping in September.
It will be interesting to see if the foreign ministerial conclave manages to produce a consensus statement on the conflict in West Asia.
Sharp differences among the member states over the US-Israel war on Iran stalled India's efforts to build a consensus position on the conflict during a meeting of the grouping's deputy foreign ministers and special envoys on Middle East and North America last month.
No consensus statement on the conflict could be reached largely due to differences between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran. The two neighbouring countries have sparred in recent weeks over Iran's alleged attacks on energy infrastructure in the UAE.
"The active presence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in mechanisms such as BRICS represents a strategic choice to strengthen genuine multilateralism, expand equitable cooperation, and participate in shaping a more just order in international relations," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on 'X'.
"The BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi can be an important opportunity for dialogue on the future of Global South cooperation, reforming international economic governance, developing independent trade, strengthening financial and banking ties, and reducing countries' dependence on discriminatory and unilateral mechanisms," he said.
Gharibabadi said Iran, with its geopolitical, energy, transit, scientific, and human capacities, can play an effective role in the BRICS agenda for balanced development, economic security, regional connectivity, and amplifying the voice of independent countries.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister is in New Delhi for the BRICS meeting.
"In this path, opposition to America's unilateral coercive measures and their illegal and anti-development effects is an inseparable part of defending economic justice and the rights of nations to development," he said.
After the West Asia conflict escalated, Iran urged India, as the current BRICS chair, to leverage its "independent role" to halt the US-Israel hostilities against Iran.
Global oil and gas prices have surged after Iran virtually blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG (liquefied natural gas).
BRICS, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, expanded in 2024 to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE, with Indonesia joining in 2025.
It has emerged as an influential grouping as it brings together 11 major emerging economies of the world, representing around 49.5 per cent of the global population, around 40 per cent of the global GDP and around 26 per cent of the global trade.
The BRICS foreign ministers held their last meeting on the margins of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80) in September 2025.
