Twitter ‘seemingly’ complied with new IT rules: Govt in Delhi HC

Court posted the matter for further hearing on August 10 as the centre has sought time to verify the compliance.

Social media company Twitter has “seemingly” complied with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules that came into force from May 25, the Centre told the Delhi high court on Friday but stressed that the government will need time to verify the compliance cited by the microblogging platform in a fresh affidavit.

The delay in compliance with the new IT Rules had triggered a faceoff between Twitter and the government which contended that its failure to comply with the guidelines could cost it the safe harbour protection granted to intermediaries under the IT Act. (Reuters)

The Centre’s assertion came in response to observation on Twitter’s status by Justice Rekha Palli after the social media firm, in its affidavit, said it has appointed a permanent Resident Grievance Officer (RGO), Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) and Nodal Contact officer (NCO) on August 4 in compliance with the rules.

The appointments were made after Justice Palli, on July 28, gave the social media firm one last opportunity to “wholeheartedly” comply with the new IT Rules notified in February this year that sought to put in place a stricter regulatory mechanism that companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will need to abide by.

Under the new guidelines that came into force from May 25, significant social media intermediaries - those with 50,000 users or more - were required to appoint a compliance officer “responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and Rules”, a nodal contact person for 24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and a Resident Grievance Officer mandated to deal with complaints to take down offensive content within 24 hours of a complaint.

At the July 28 hearing, Justice Palli objected to the company describing the official appointed as RGO and CCO as ‘contingent worker’ and asked Twitter to file a fresh affidavit. “I am not happy with this affidavit anyway,” Justice Palli said.

The social media firm’s fresh affidavit, which sought to respond to the court’s concern, clarified that it earlier appointed Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) and Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) through a third-party contractor, PRO Unlimited India Private Limited. It said that the initial appointment was made through a third party to expedite compliance of the IT Rules since it didn’t have a corporate presence in India.

“The appointment was considered contingent because Twitter, Inc. expected to convert the position to a full-time employee as soon as practicable. Twitter, Inc. has since converted Mr Prakash to a full-time employee effective August 4, 2021…..that Mr Vinay Prakash is, and has been since his initial appointment, fully capable of performing the functions of Chief Compliance Officer and Resident Grievance Officer as contemplated under Rule 4(1)(a) and (c),” Twitter said in an affidavit.

Senior advocate Sajjan Poovaya, who appeared for Twitter, also told the court that the company has employed Shahin Komath, an Indian resident, as Nodal Contact Person in compliance of section 4(1)(b) of the IT Rules, 2021.

When the court remarked that “this means they are in compliance” of the IT Rules, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma for the Centre, responded, “seemingly so”. He said that the Union government is yet to verify the compliance and sought time to do the same.

Justice Palli directed that the affidavits be taken on record and posted the matter for further hearing on August 10.

During Friday’s hearing, senior advocate G Tushar Rao for the petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, objected to one person, Vinay Prakash, being appointed as the RGO and CCO, insisting that this was legally incorrect. This submission was, however, contested by Twitter’s counsel.

Petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya approached the court days after the May 25 deadline ended, complaining that he could not seek action against two alleged offensive tweets by TMC MP Mohua Moitra and journalist Swati Chaturvedi because Twitter hadn’t complied with the rules. His complaint was later disposed of by Twitter saying that the tweets in question were not offensive according to its policies.

The delay in compliance with the new IT Rules had triggered a faceoff between the social media company and the government which contended that its failure to comply with the guidelines could cost it the safe harbour protection granted to intermediaries under the IT Act. At the peak of the back-and-forth between the two sides, Twitter criticised the new IT Rules and regulations saying these “inhibit free, open public conversation”. In response, the Centre accused the platform of levelling baseless and false allegations to defame India and dictating terms to the world’s largest democracy.

Twitter, in turn, has raised concerns about the safety of its employees in India and flagged intimidation by the police. There have been several instances of confrontation between the social media firm and the government over orders to block access to content and the marking of posts by BJP leaders as manipulated media. On July 22, the union government had informed the Rajya Sabha that even though Twitter was non-compliant with the IT Rules till May 26, it had subsequently appointed an RGO and CCO and submitted its first compliance report in June this year.