Former IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday, 12 July, extended his greetings to his successor, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and lauded him for asserting the need to follow the new IT rules.
Prasad, who stepped down on 7 July from the position and the Council of Ministers, commended Vaishnaw for "firmly reiterating that the new IT Rules are designed to empower the safety & security of users against misuse and redress their grievances".
He also said that it was "assuring to note that Twitter, too, had taken some steps to comply with the new Rules", referring to the social media platform having appointed Vinay Prakash as the resident grievance officer for India on Sunday. Twitter on Sunday also published a ‘transparency report’ on the management of user complaints in India from 26 May 2021 to 25 June 2021.
This came after the Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to allow any interim protection to Twitter and noted that it was open to the government to pursue any action against the social media company in compliance with Article 4(d) of India's Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules.
The Centre and the microblogging site have been locked in a tussle for months over the issue of compliance with the new IT Rules.
On Sunday, Vaishnaw wrote on Koo, the Indian alternative to Twitter, that he had reviewed the implementation and compliance of Information Technology Rules, 2021, along with his MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
"These guidelines are empowering and protecting users and will ensure a safer and responsible social media ecosystem in India,” Vaishnaw had written.
Taking charge as the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Vaishnaw on Thursday had said that Twitter must follow the new IT Rules.
“Law of land is supreme; Twitter must follow rule," he had said, according to reports.
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