According to sources in the government, Twitter has appointed a lawyer who works for a law firm in India as its nodal-cum-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, a senior government official said.
Additionally, government sources stated that Twitter is yet to inform the Centre about the third required appointment, that of a compliance officer..
Sources in the government stated that while most major social media intermediaries have complied with the new rules by sharing the required details of their compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer, Twitter is yet to comply completely.
Some major social media companies that have complied so far include Koo, Sharechat, Telegram, LinkedIn, Google, Facebook and WhatsApp.
A QUICK RECAP
Earlier on Thursday morning, Twitter indicated that it had no plans of complying with the new IT rules that came into play on May 26.
In its first official statement since the Delhi Police raided its offices in Delhi and Gurugram on Tuesday in relation to the 'toolkit' case, 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 stated that it “advocates changes to elements of these regulations that inhibit free, open public conversation.”
On Thursday evening, the central government hit back at Twitter with a strongly-worded statement. The Centre 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."
WHAT ARE THE NEW RULES?
Among other things, the new rules direct all big tech companies to appoint a chief compliance officer from India, who can cater to the demands of the government and address the issues raised by the government. For instance, if the government asks for user data from any social media app and if the demand is legal, the compliance officer will have to provide the data. The nodal officer is the one who will coordinate with law enforcement authorities whenever required.
The companies have also been asked to include a special grievance redressal officer, who will be responsible for addressing the issues of social media users.
WHAT IS THE TOOLKIT CASE?
The new IT rules is not the only thing Twitter and the Centre are feuding over.
After BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra posted a ‘toolkit’ document on Twitter claiming that the Indian National Congress had created it to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime during the second wave of the pandemic, the Congress party stated the document was fake.
Twitter got involved when it flagged Sambit Patra’s tweet as ‘manipulated media’, after which the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT wrote a letter to Twitter asking the company to remove the tag.
The Delhi Police later claimed that the social media giant is "purporting to be an investigating authority. It has no legal sanction to be one. The only legal entity, so empowered by the duly laid down law, to investigate is the police.”
The police also alleged that Twitter is withholding evidence in the case.
Twitter, on the other hand, termed the visit by Delhi Police officials to its Delhi office on Tuesday evening as “use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global terms of service”.
