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Twitter's deadline to inform Delhi high court about resident grievance officer ends today
On June 27, Twitter's interim resident grievance officer in India, Dharmendra Chatur, resigned. Twitter then appointed US national Jeremy Kessel in the role, making the company in violation of the rules.
American social media giant Twitter has till Thursday to inform the Delhi high court as to when it will appoint a resident grievance officer in compliance with India's new Information and Technology (IT) rules. On June 6, the high court pulled up the micro-blogging company over the non-compliance of the new guidelines, which mandates every social media company in the country to have a resident grievance officer (RGO), chief compliance officer, and nodal contact person. As of Tuesday's hearing, the company didn't have either of the officers.
During the proceedings, Twitter had informed the court that it was in the process of doing so.
Hearing the case against Twitter, Justice Rekha Palli also took note of the fact the court was not informed about the earlier interim appointment of the resident grievance officer (RGO). She said that it has misled the court by giving a wrong impression by not informing that the officer was on an interim basis.
"If he went away on June 21, the least Twitter could do was to appoint another officer in these 15 days since you knew that this matter was coming up for hearing on July 6. We are considered with the compliance. How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long as it wants in my country, I will not allow that," the judge had said.
On June 27, the company's interim resident grievance officer in India, Dharmendra Chatur, resigned amid differences with the central government over the new norms. Twitter then appointed US national Jeremy Kessel in the role, making the company in violation of the rules.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, were announced on February 25. Social media companies operating in India, including Twitter, were given time till May 25 to comply with these. On July 5, the central government filed an affidavit in the Delhi high court, accusing the social media giant of failing to comply with the IT rules, which it described as the "law of the land."
The petition against the San Francisco-headquartered company was filed in the Delhi high court on May 28.
