Yahoo has taken down its news websites in India. This shutting down is due to the new foreign direct investment (FDI) rules in India. According to the new rules, the foreign ownership of media companies in India that function and publish digital content in India will be restricted.
The websites that were recently taken down by Yahoo include Yahoo News, Yahoo Cricket, Finance Entertainment, and MAKERS India. However, Yahoo e-mail and search are still functional in India. Yahoo website has published a notice which says that from August 26th, Yahoo India will not publish any content. It confirms that the Yahoo Account, Mail, and Search experiences will continue as usual. The notice said “Your Yahoo Account, Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership.”
The FAQ section also confirmed the ceased publication of content by Yahoo. It added that the decision was not a hasty one. It said that it was pressurized due to the new regulatory laws regarding foreign ownership of media companies. The company added that they are proud of the content they had published for users in India for the last 20 years.
Yahoo was acquired by the US tech major Verizon in 2017.
Yahoo Cricket was also taken down. The company said that it was because it had a “news” component in it. This component brought it under the impact of the new regulatory rules. The company thanked its users for their support and added that the company will be “open to opportunities that connect us to users here”.
The new FDI rules will come into effect in October. Under this rule, media companies in India can accept only up to 26 percent of investment from foreign investors. It will be subjected to the approval of the central government.
