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

NEW DELHI: 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 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, which 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 enforceas ment agencies and a Resident Grievance Officer mandated to deal with complaints to take down offensive content within 24 hours of a complaint.

On July 28, Justice Palli objected to the firm 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,” he said.

The social media firm’s fresh affidavit clarified that it earlier appointed Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) and Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) through a thirdparty contractor, PRO Unlimited India Private Limited. “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 contemplated under Rule 4(1)(a) and (c),” Twitter said.

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.

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 Mahua 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.

COURT POSTS

THE MATTER FOR FURTHER HEARING ON AUGUST 10 AS THE CENTRE HAS SOUGHT TIME TO VERIFY THE COMPLIANCE