After the Indian government asked all social media platforms to comply with the new IT guidelines, almost all major social media firms have finally followed suit.
Social media giants Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Koo, Sharechat, Telegram, LinkedIn etc have complied with new IT rules in India and shared details of their Chief Compliance Officer, Nodal Contact Person and Grievance Officer with the Ministry of Electronics and IT, as required by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Koo was the first social media platform to comply with the rules within the time given by the Govt to all social media platforms.
However, Twitter is yet to fully comply with the requirements in the new IT rules framework in India.
On Thursday (May 27) night, Twitter in a communication informed the government that it had appointed a nodal officer who will double up as the grievance officer, as mandated by the new IT rules. However, the central government has not deemed Twitter’s action as complete compliance.
As per reports, Twitter has appointed a lawyer who works for a law firm in India as its Nodal Contact Person and Grievance Officer.
As per the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the designated officers have to be employees of the company apart from being residents of India.
Additionally, Twitter is yet to inform the ministry about the third required appointment, that of a compliance officer.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Twitter indicated that it had no plans of complying with the new IT rules that came into force on May 26.
In its official statement, the social media giant said, “We will strive to comply with applicable law in India. But, just as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law. Alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, we have concerns with core elements of the new IT rules.”
Twitter also said that it “advocates changes to elements of these regulations that inhibit free, open public conversation.”
Later on Thursday evening, the central government hit back at Twitter with a strongly-worded statement.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in a statement said, “Twitter needs to stop beating around the bush and comply with the laws of the land. Law-making and policy formulation is the sole prerogative of the sovereign and Twitter is just a social media platform. It has no locus in dictating what India’s legal policy framework should be.”
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