Twitter in compliance with new IT Rules, Centre tells Delhi High Court
After a lot of initial resistance, US-based microblogging site Twitter has finally fallen in line and complied with the Information Technology Rules of 2021, the Union government told Delhi High Court on Tuesday (August 10).
The social media service company recently appointed a full-time Chief Compliance Officer-cum-Resident Grievance Officer and a Nodal Contact Officer.
The Centre, however, was apprehensive about Twitter sticking to its promise. “We will have to see how they are doing, appointments made today should not be withdrawn tomorrow,” Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma told the court, which was hearing a case of alleged non-compliance of IT rules by Twitter.
Sharma said the government would like to file an affidavit though. Justice Rekha Palli granted time to the Centre to file an affidavit till October 8.
It is for the first time that Twitter has made permanent appointments. The company earlier made interim arrangements to fill the mandatory positions through a third-party contractor. The arrangement was rejected by the Centre and also by the court.
Finally, on August 6, Twitter Inc told the Delhi High Court about the appointments made, but Justice Rekha Palli said the microblogging site’s affidavit was not on record. The court then asked the Centre if Twitter was complying, to which Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma said, “Seemingly so but we need to verify.”
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The Delhi HC had earlier pulled up Twitter for bringing on board a contingent worker as CCO and interpreted it as the microblogging platform’s resistance to comply with the new IT Rules.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 make it mandatory for all social media platforms to set up a grievance redressal and compliance mechanism, which includes appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person.
