Twitter lost immunity over non-compliance, says govt
Microblogging platform Twitter did not comply with the new information technology (IT) rules, and has therefore lost its immunity provided to intermediaries under Section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000, the government has told Delhi High Court (HC).
This was said in an affidavit filed by lawyer Amit Acharya, who filed a petition against Twitter over non-compliance with the new IT rules that went into effect on May 26. Acharya said in the affidavit on Monday that he had come across some allegedly defamatory tweets. When he sought to register a complaint, he only found the contact details of a grievance officer located in the US on the website/mobile application of Twitter.
The ‘immunity’ or safe harbour is the protection provided to intermediaries like Twitter, Google, Facebook, Koo, Sharechat and others under the IT Act. It enables intermediaries to protect themselves from liability for any third-party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted by them.
Losing safe harbour would mean platforms could become liable under law for third-party and user-generated content hosted by them.
On May 31, the HC issued a notice to
the social media giant, giving it three weeks to reply, and set the matter for further hearing on July 6.
Twitter on Saturday informed the Delhi HC that it was in the final stages of appointing a new resident grievance officer. The firm had been issued a notice by the HC over its alleged non-compliance with the new IT rules.
A hearing in the case, based on a public interest litigation by Acharya, is scheduled for Tuesday. Appointing a resident grievance officer is one of the several norms which Twitter and other social media platforms operating in India have to follow under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The rules were notified on February 25 and came into effect on May 26.
On June 27, Twitter’s interim resident grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur resigned, following which, Twitter appointed Us-based Jeremy Kessel as its new resident grievance officer in India, which put it in violation of the new rules.
“Any non-compliance amounts to breach of provisions of the IT Rules, 2021, thereby leading to respondent No. 2 losing its immunity conferred under Section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000. I state that the immunity conferred on intermediaries under Section 79(1) is a conditional immunity, subject to the intermediary satisfying the conditions under Sections 79(2) and 79(3). As provided in Rule 7, failure to observe the IT Rules, 2021, results in provisions of Section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000, not being applicable to such an intermediary,” said Acharya in the affidavit on Monday.