Need More Time to Adhere to IT Rules: Twitter After Govt Notice

A Twitter spokesperson said, “Twitter has been and remains deeply committed to India.”

Twitter replies to Centre’s notice, asks for more time to comply with new IT rules.

(Photo: The Quint)

Twitter on Monday, 7 June, wrote to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), asking for more time to comply with the new IT Rules.

The microblogging platform said that every effort is being made to comply with the new guidelines, but because of the pandemic, it has been unable to do so, a source told PTI.

A Twitter spokesperson on Monday said, “Twitter has been and remains deeply committed to India and serving the vital public conversation taking place on the service.”

He added, “We have assured the Government of India that Twitter is making every effort to comply with the new guidelines and an overview on our progress has been duly shared. We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government,” news agency ANI reported.

‘One Last Notice’

Twitter’s reply came after the Centre on 5 June, served "one last notice" to Twitter to immediately comply with the new IT Rules, saying that failure to do so will result in the withdrawal of the exemption from liability available under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000, and the microblogging platform will be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India.

“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India and its platform. It is beyond belief that Twitter Inc has doggedly refused to create mechanisms that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India based, clearly identified resources. Leave alone proactively creating such a mechanism, Twitter Inc is in the inglorious bracket of refusing to do so even when mandated by law.”

Government’s notice

What Are the New Digital Rules?

In February, Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced drastic changes in the new legal rules for social media companies and a code of ethics for OTT streaming platforms as well as digital news media.

The new digital regulations mandate the appointment of officials, such as a chief compliance officer, a resident grievance officer, and a nodal contact person, as well as monitoring of objectionable content, complaint resolution, compliance report and removal of objectionable content.

(With inputs from ANI)