New Delhi : US tech giant Twitter on Monday said that it has assured the government that it is making every effort to comply with the new IT media guidelines. The microblogging site said it has already shared an overview of the progress with the government.
A Twitter spokesperson said that the company has been and remains deeply committed to India and serving the vital public conversation taking place on the service and will continue its constructive dialogue with the Indian government, reported ANI.
"We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government," the spokesperson added. According to media reports, Twitter has sought more time in wake of the pandemic situation in the country.
Union ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) had on Saturday issued 'one last notice' to Twitter Inc asking it to immediately comply with the new IT rules, failing which it could face stern action and lose exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.
According to the ministry, the US company has not informed about the details of the chief compliance officer. The resident grievance officer and nodal contact person nominated was not an employee of Twitter Inc in India, as required by rules. Furthermore, the office address of Twitter Inc shared by the company was that of a law firm in India, which was also not as per rules.
The new IT (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) rules, 2021 came into effect on 26 May, but Twitter has refused to comply with the provisions of these Rules, the government said.
The rules recommend a three-tier mechanism for regulation of all online media. As per the rules, each significant social media intermediary is required to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person for 24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and a resident grievance officer. All three should be resident Indians.
Meanwhile, Facebook on Monday named Spoorthi Priya as its chief grievance officer on it's website and shared her email ID. Google and WhatsApp have already shared the details of their chief grievance officers as per the rules.
India is a major market for global digital platforms. As per data shared by the government, India has 53 crore WhatsApp users, 41 crore Facebook subscribers, 21 crore Instagram clients, while 1.75 crore account holders are on Twitter.
