Twitter has been told by the Indian government that even after repeated reminders, it has failed to match the new IT rules’ requirements.
Twitter has been seemingly thrown under the bus, with various reports citing government sources earlier today to state that the social media company will no longer enjoy immunity from legal prosecution due to posts on its platform, which had so far been afforded to it under Section 79 of the Indian Information Technology (IT) Act,2000. Government officials have reportedly claimed that Twitter has lost its ‘intermediary’ status in India, and will therefore be treated in the same manner as a publication. The move means that the company and its officials are now themselves liable to face legal penalties and charges for posts that the Indian government may find offensive or violating the law of the land. Reports have stated that the reason for this happening is Twitter’s apparent failure to comply with the new postulates laid out by the Indian government in terms of appointing three officers in the country – a grievance redressal officer, a nodal contact person who would be the first point of contact for the Indian government in the company, and a chief compliance officer who will be required to ensure that all requests from the government are complied with.
