Twitter India's 'last chance' to comply with IT rules ends on Monday
As a consequence of non-compliance, the microblogging platform may lose its immunity as an 'intermediary'
Monday, July 4, is the deadline for Twitter to comply with India’s new IT rules. In a notice last week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked Twitter India to comply with the rules by July 4 or face the consequences. The microblogging site may even lose its status as an intermediary, a media report stated.
The MeitY notice came after Twitter’s repeated refusal to act on the content takedown notices sent under Section 69A of the IT Act. The Act empowers the Centre to issue directions for blocking public access to any information through any computer resource.
Today’s Federal two-bit@Twitter @TwitterIndia #TheFederal #TheFederalTwoBit #twitterindia #twitterindia #FreedomOfSpeech #GovernmentofIndia #MeitY #DigitalIndia pic.twitter.com/ugVSCahPwZ
— The Federal (@TheFederal_in) July 3, 2022
The notices sent to Twitter involve cases where it has not removed content on the directions of the Centre, or it has wrongfully taken down certain content, said media reports.
Further, Twitter failed to comply with the Centre’s notices sent on June 6 and June 9. MeitY, in its notice to the company, said if Twitter continues to violate the directions given under the IT Act, it would have to face the consequences as presecribed by the same Act.
Also Read: Explained: Amendments proposed to IT Rules 2021, and what do they mean
Last year’s face-off
Twitter had a similar face-off with the Centre last year, when the IT rules had come into effect, in May 2021. Among the various new rules are social media platforms identifying and tracing the ‘first originator’ of any message. The rules also call for the appointment of a grievance officer, a chief compliance officer who must be a resident of India, would ensure compliance, and submit a monthly detailed compliance report.
The Delhi High Court in May 2021 directed the company to submit its compliance report within a designated period of three weeks. The company had requested MeitY to grant a minimum three-month deadline extension.
Twitter submits information about content and accounts it has blocked with the Lumen database, which is managed under an independent research project of the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
Intermediaries such as Twitter, Facebook and others enjoy immunity under IT Act that protects them from being liable for any third-party information or data posted by the users.
