This combo photo shows the logos of streaming service provider Netflix, and social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. (PHOTOS / AFP)

India joined the global regulatory push to rein in Silicon Valley technology giants, tightening rules that govern how social media and streaming companies do business in the world’s biggest democracy.

Policy changes have the potential to slow down the companies in a market that’s already the largest for some of them in terms of the number of users

The new rules will require the likes of Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc to take down unlawful content quicker, Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in an online briefing Thursday. Streaming services such as Netflix Inc, Google’s YouTube and Amazon.com Inc‘s Prime Video face stricter rules over content.

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Already under scrutiny from Australia and Europe to their home turf of the US, the tech giants can now add their most important emerging market to the list of countries whose regulators are paying closer attention. Policy changes have the potential to slow down the companies in a market that’s already the largest for some of them in terms of the number of users.

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The new rules replace a previous code from 2011. Draft versions that have been circulating recently have attracted criticism from freedom-of-speech activists and technology trade groups concerned the rules will result in increased censorship and reduced user privacy.