Twitter flags concerns over new IT rules
NEW DELHI: The central government’s battle with social media giants escalated on Thursday, with authorities giving companies 15 days to comply with the new digital media and Twitter joining Facebookowned WhatsApp in criticising the “core elements” of the IT norms that came into force this week.
Twitter also sought a threemonth extension to implement the new rules.
A Twitter spokesperson said that the company is committed to the people of India and it will strive to comply with the applicable law while being guided by the principles of transparency. “Twitter is deeply committed to the people of India. Our service has proven vital for the public conversation and a source of support for people during the pandemic. To keep our service available, we will strive to comply with applicable law in India,” the spokesperson said.
“We plan to advocate for changes to elements of these regulations that inhibit free, open public conversation. We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government and believe it is critical to adopt a collaborative approach. It is the collective responsibility of elected officials, industry, and civil society to safeguard the interests of the public.”
“But, just as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law,” the spokesperson added in a statement.
The controversial intermediary and digital platform guide
lines came into complete effect on May 25, with social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp yet to comply with all the clauses.
The guidelines put in place a new mechanism for companies to regulate content, appoint officers who will be liable for compliance, and adopt features such as traceability of messages and voluntary user verification. WhatsApp has challenged the new rules, which mandate to trace the first originator of a message, in the Delhi high court stating it represents a “dangerous invasion of privacy”.
The Centre slammed the microblogging website on Thursday “attempting to dictate terms” to the world’s largest democracy.
“Twitter refuses to comply with those very regulations in the Intermediary Guidelines on the basis of which it is claiming a safe harbour protection from any criminal liability in India... Government condemns the unfortunate statement issued by Twitter as totally baseless, false and an attempt to defame India to hide their own follies,” the ministry of electronics and information technology said in a statement.
The government stated that Twitter had allowed the “geolocation of Ladakh to be shown in China, treated the violence at Capitol Hill and Red Fort differently, promoted vaccine hesitancy and allowed the use of the term Indian variant for the Covid strain despite WHO guidelines against it”. It charged the microblogging website of “not taking action against fake narratives” and propagating “grandiose claims of serving the people of India”.
“India has a glorious tradition of free speech and democratic practices dating back centuries. Protecting free speech in India is not the prerogative of only a private, forprofit, foreign entity like Twitter,” the ministry said. “The only instance of scuttling free speech on Twitter is Twitter itself and its opaque policies, as a result of which people’s accounts are suspended and tweets deleted arbitrarily without recourse.”
On Thursday, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said that a free and open internet is “foundational”, and that India has long traditions of that, even as it said the tech giant is committed to complying with local laws and engages constructively with governments as they scrutinise and adopt regulatory frameworks to keep pace with the fast evolving technology landscape
“As a company, we are very clear about the values of a free and open internet and the benefits it brings and we advocate for it, and we engage constructively with regulators around the world, and we participate in these processes, I think it’s a part of how we learn,” Pichai said.
He added that the company respects the legislative processes, and in cases where it needs to push back, it does so. “It’s a balance we have struck around the world,” he said.