Yahoo Shuts Down Its News Websites Due to New FDI Rules

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: The Quint)

Due to the new foreign direct investment (FDI) rules limiting foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India, with effect from Thursday, 26 August, Yahoo has shut down its news websites in the country, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Cricket, Finance, Entertainment and MAKERS India.

However, Yahoo emphasised that this will not affect its Yahoo email and search services. Yahoo had been acquired by the United States tech major Verizon in 2017.

A notice on the Yahoo website read,

"As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account, Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual."

In its help section, Yahoo stated, effective 26 August 2021, the company has ceased publication of content in India and has shut down Yahoo's content operations in the country.

"We did not come to this decision lightly. However, Yahoo India has been impacted by changes to regulatory laws in India that now limit the foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India. Yahoo has had a long association with India and we're really proud of the premium, local content we have provided our users here for the last 20 years."

Yahoo's statement

Yahoo Cricket has also shut down as it has a 'news' component. Yahoo said, "It was impacted under the new FDI regulations that limit foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India in the 'News and Current Affairs' space."

As per the new FDI regulations that will come into effect in October, a digital media company based in India can accept up to 26 percent investment from a non-Indian entity subject to approval from the central government.

Yahoo clarified, "In case you are a Yahoo Mail user, this change does not affect you in any way. This development does not impact our products Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Search, where we will continue to serve users in India as before, without any change."