‘Beyond Belief’: Govt’s ‘One Last Notice’ to Twitter on IT Rules

“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts...,” the Centre’s notice read.

The Centre on Saturday, 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 available 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.

"MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) is dismayed to note that your responses to the Ministry's letters neither address the clarifications sought by the ministry nor indicate full compliance with the Rules," the notice read.

The government said that the social media company has 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 further said.

“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India and its platform... 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

Intensifying Feud

The notice further intensifies the feud between Twitter and the government.

The microblogging platform has also been slammed by the government over the issue of 'manipulated media' labels being used for tweets of some BJP leaders on an alleged Congress 'toolkit'.

On Saturday, Twitter removed the blue tick badge from the personal handle of Vice President Venkaiah Naidu over 'inactivity', before restoring it.