Appointed Compliance Officer, Details Soon: Twitter on IT Rules

Twitter continues to make every effort to comply with the new IT Rules, a company spokesperson said.

Twitter is making every effort to comply with new guidelines, informed a spokesperson of the digital networking company, on Wednesday, 9 June.

(Image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

Twitter on Tuesday, 15 June, said that it has appointed an interim chief compliance officer and that the details will be shared with the IT Ministry directly soon.

The microblogging platform continues to make every effort to comply with the new guidelines and it is keeping the IT Ministry apprised of the progress at every step of the process, a company spokesperson said, according to news agency PTI.

Govt’s ‘One Last Notice’

The move came after the Centre on 5 June served "one last notice" to Twitter to immediately comply with the new IT Rules, saying that failure to do so will result in the withdrawal of the exemption from liability under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000, and the microblogging platform will be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India.

The government had said that the social media company had not informed about the details of the chief compliance officer and pointed out that the resident grievance officer and nodal contact person isn’t an employee of the company. "The office address of Twitter Inc as mentioned by you is that of a law firm in India, which is also not as per the rules," it had said.

“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India. It is beyond belief that Twitter Inc has doggedly refused to create mechanisms that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India-based, clearly identified resources. Leave alone proactively creating such a mechanism, Twitter Inc is in the inglorious bracket of refusing to do so even when mandated by law.”

Government’s notice

What Did Twitter Say Earlier?

Days later, on 9 June Twitter said it was making every effort to comply with the new guidelines.

“Twitter has been and remains deeply committed to India, and serving vital public conversation taking place on the service. We have assured the Government of India that Twitter is making every effort to comply with new guidelines,” a spokesperson of the firm said.

Further, in a letter addressed to the government, Twitter had reportedly said, “In order to comply with the underlying intention behind the guidelines, we've appointed a nodal contact person and resident grievance officer on contractual basis as we recruit to fill the position on a permanent basis."

The social media giant had stated that they were in the advanced stages of finalising the appointment of a chief compliance officer and would provide more details on the same within a week at the latest.

The development came amid an ongoing feud between Twitter and the government, which is not limited just to the IT Rules. The microblogging platform had also been slammed by the government recently over the issue of 'manipulated media' labels being used for tweets of some BJP leaders on an alleged Congress 'toolkit'.