Yahoo on Thursday shut down its news websites in India. This comes after the new foreign direct investment (FDI) rules, which limit foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India.
Now Indian users cannot access Yahoo News, Yahoo Cricket, Finance, Entertainment and MAKERS India. This, however, will not affect users’ Yahoo e-mail, and search experiences in India.
Releasing a statement, the US-based company said, “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. We thank you for your support and readership.”
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In 2017, US tech major Verizon had acquired Yahoo. According to a statement in its FAQ section, Yahoo said from August 26, 2021, the company has stopped publication of content in India.
The statement further read that the decision was a difficult one but due to the changes in Indian regulatory laws, which now limit the foreign ownership of media companies that operate and publish digital content in India, they were shutting down operations.
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Yahoo provided content to Indian users for the last 20 years.
Thanking all its users in India for the “support and trust” over the past two decades, it noted that it remains “open to opportunities that connect us to users here”.
The new FDI regulations that will come into effect in October. According to the new rule, digital media companies in India can accept up to 26% investment in the form of foreign investment, subject to approval from the central government.
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“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,” it said.
