Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY), India has framed new digital rules for social media firms. As per the notification, 26 May 2021 was the last day to implement the new guidelines and inform MeitY about the same. All social media companies including Facebook have followed the new digital rules. But Twitter is against the new Indian rules. Today, MeitY has sent the final warning to Twitter stating that the microblogging site should follow the new digital rules immediately or it should be ready for the unintended consequences.
New Digital Rules for Social Media Platforms
Twitter and the Indian Government’s digital war is on. MeitY has drafted new policies for social media platforms. To avoid fake news and reducing the crime rate, the government has designed this new policy to know the origin of the message/post in case of emergency or if needed due to legal obligations.
Most of the social media firms including Instagram, Facebook, Koo app, Moj, etc have accepted the terms and conditions forwarded by Indian officials. But Twitter, the microblogging giant, is not ready to accept the new digital rules. Twitter said that it is against the privacy policy of the platform to implement such rules.
The government has already clarified to Twitter that we understand the privacy concerns and want to assure Twitter and its users that it will not affect privacy. The government further added that we are the largest democracy globally, and Twitter should think before raising such concerns.
So, the Indian government decided that 26 May 2021 will be the last date to accept the new digital rules else action will be taken against the platform. More than one week is over but Twitter is still agitating against the New rules.
What is the MeitY Warning Letter Sent to Twitter?
Finally, the government has sent the final notice to Twitter stating that new digital rules should be implemented immediately else the platform should make itself ready for the consequences.
In the notification, the Indian Government said:
”It is clear from the responses till date that Twitter has not informed about the details of the Chief Compliance Officer as required under the rules,” the ministry’s notice stated. Further, the Resident Grievance Officer and Nodal Contact Person nominated is not an employee of Twitter Inc. in India as prescribed in the rules, it added.”
The notice said that such non-compliance will lead to unintended consequences including Twitter losing exemption from liability as intermediary available under section 79 of the IT Act, 2009.
The MeitY notice further added:
”The office address of Twitter Inc. as mentioned by you is that of a law firm in India, which is also not as part of the rules,” it added. Failure to comply with new IT rules will lead to Twitter losing exemption from liability under IT Act, draw penal provisions.”
