Under the new digital rules, social media companies such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter have been asked to identify within 36 hours the founder of the flagged message and other appropriate diligence, including the appointment of a senior law enforcement officer, and a citizen complaints officer.
Microblogging platform Twitter and the Indian government have been arguing for a long time. There are several reasons behind it but the main point that brought them to the threshold is that the former has not yet adopted the new IT rules that came into effect on May 26.
The government has given all social media platforms three months to comply with the new rules. Although almost all platforms have disagreed on those rules, they eventually adopted them. However, Twitter is different as it has not yet followed the new IT rules.
Under the new digital rules, social media companies like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter have been asked to identify within 36 hours the originator of a flagged message as well as to conduct additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person, and resident grievance officer.
Twitter taking a stand
On May 25, Twitter’s offices were raided in Delhi and Gurugram in connection with the alleged ‘Congress toolkit’ case.
Earlier, Twitter had said, “To keep our service available, we will strive to comply with applicable law in India and will continue to be strongly guided by the principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering all voices, and the protection of freedom of speech and freedom. ”
Following the raid, Twitter strongly condemned the incident and said in a strong statement: “We, and many in civil society organizations in India and around the world, are concerned about the use of police intimidation tactics to enforce our International Terms of Service, as well as key elements of the new IT Rules. ”
Government response to Toolkit allegations
In the wake of the turmoil over the news tag used, the government has called Twitter’s allegations “completely baseless, false, and an attempt to discredit India.” Meanwhile, Delhi Police also said the statement was “fake” and was intended to disrupt a formal investigation.
Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on office burglary said Twitter had been notified of the allegations but failed to respond following a police raid on its offices in late May 24.
Meanwhile, in a recent development, the Delhi High Court ruled that Twitter should comply with the new Information Technology Digital Media Rules if it does not.