Twitter on Wednesday informed the government that it was “making every effort” to comply with the new information technology rules, The Times of India reported.
The social media company said it has appointed a nodal contact person and a resident grievance officer on contract basis. It added that the company was in “advanced stages of finalising” a chief compliance officer.
“The global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has made it more difficult for us as a practical matter to make certain arrangements necessary to comply with the guidelines within the stipulated time-frame,” Twitter said in a letter to the government.
The new rules – which were announced in February and became effective in May – are framed to regulate social media companies, streaming and digital news content, virtually bringing them, for the first time, under the ambit of government supervision.
Among other things, the “Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021” regulations require these platforms to appoint chief compliance officers, in order to make sure the rules are followed, nodal officers, to coordinate with law enforcement agencies, and grievance officers. All of them should be based in India. It also requires social media platforms with over 50 lakh users to help in identifying the “originator” of messages upon the government’s request.
Twitter on Wednesday said it will provide additional details to the Centre in the next few days. “Twitter has been, and remains, committed to serving the people of India by providing a platform to serve the public conversation in India, especially during critical moments and emergency situations such as those we’ve seen globally in recent months,” the social media giant said.
On June 5, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology told Twitter that it has one last chance to comply with the rules or face “unintended consequences”. The government alleged that the company has “doggedly refused to create mechanisms” in India for users to resolve their problems.
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