Assuring to note Twitter’s steps to comply with new rules: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Ashwini Vaishnaw, the new minister for electronics and information technology, held a review meeting on Saturday to discuss the controversial social media and intermediary guidelines, and was updated on the status of compliance

Former Union minister for electronics and information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday lauded his successor Ashwini Vaishnaw for asserting the need to comply with the social media and intermediary guidelines, while also highlighting that Twitter was taking steps to follow the rules.

Representational image. (REUTERS)

“Greetings to the new IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw for firmly reiterating that the new IT Rules are designed to empower the safety & security of users against misuse and redress their grievances,” Prasad wrote on Twitter.

He added that it was “assuring to note that Twitter too has taken some steps to comply with the new Rules”. The former Union minister had been locked in an escalating battle with the social media company over compliance with the new guidelines, even going so far as to say that Twitter was not entitled to protection under the IT Act’s safe harbour clause.

Vaishnaw, the new minister for electronics and information technology, held a review meeting on Saturday to discuss the controversial social media and intermediary guidelines, and was updated on the status of compliance, Hindustan Times reported on Monday.

“Reviewed the implementation and compliance of Information Technology Rules, 2021 along with my colleague Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar Ji. These guidelines are empowering and protecting users and will ensure a safer and responsible social media ecosystem in India,” Vaishnaw posted on Koo, the domestic alternative to Twitter, on Sunday.

Barely hours after he took charge on Thursday, Vaishnaw said that the law of the land is supreme, and Twitter will have to fall in line with the new social media and intermediary guidelines.

A ministry official said the Vaishnaw was apprised on the status of compliance of each social media firm, as significant social media intermediaries, which have five million users or above, having to appoint a grievance redressal officer, a nodal contact person and a compliance officer. The official, however, declined to comment on the status of Twitter’s compliance with the new guidelines. “The issue of Twitter was discussed, as was every other social media firm,” the official said.

The microblogging platform, which has been at odds with the Central government, over compliance with the new rules that came into complete effect on May 25 on Sunday, posted the details of its grievance redressal officer on its website. It appointed Vinay Prakash as its resident grievance officer. Twitter’s interim resident grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur stepped down from the post last month, barely four weeks after his appointment. To be sure, the ministry said that Chatur’s appointment was not in keeping with the new guidelines as the lawyer was not an employee of the company. The company informed the Delhi high court that it had made new interim appointments and sought eight weeks to make permanent ones.

It also published its first grievance redressal report saying that it actioned 133 posts for reasons ranging from harassment to privacy infringement and suspended over 18,000 accounts for “child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity”.

Twitter fell foul of the government after it refused to take down posts that carried a controversial hashtag regarding the Prime Minister earlier this year. The government sent Twitter two non-compliance notices, threatening penal action if it failed to block the accounts. The company, in turn, raised concerns regarding the new rules and the safety of its employees. This prompted a strong response from the government, which warned the firm against attempting to dictate terms. Twitter reduced to cede space on the implementation of its policies, as it said it was defending free speech and marked posts by prominent BJP politicians Sambit Patra and Vinay Saharasrabuddhe as manipulated media. It also locked out the Union minister over an alleged incident of copyright infringement, in keeping with US law.