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Centre free to act against Twitter if it breaches IT rules: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that there is no interim protection for Twitter and the Centre is free to take any action if it breaches the new information technology rules in India. “It is made clear that since this court has only granted time to Twitter to file its affidavits to show compliance […]

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said that there is no interim protection for Twitter and the Centre is free to take any action if it breaches the new information technology rules in India.

“It is made clear that since this court has only granted time to Twitter to file its affidavits to show compliance of the rules and there is no interim protection granted, it will be open for the Union of India to take action against Twitter in case of any breach of the rules,” the court said. Hearing in the matter has been adjourned till 28 July.

During the day, Twitter has filed an affidavit before the Delhi High Court and said it needs eight weeks to appoint regular resident grievance redressal officers under the IT rules. The company is also in the process of setting up a liaison office in India. The liaison office in India will be the permanent physical contact address for all communication under the new IT Rules, Twitter said.

Twitter also mentioned that the first compliance report under the new IT Rules can be expected by July 11. “Twitter is engaged in performing a commercial activity and the contract between the user and Twitter is towards the advancement of the commercial agenda of the company.”

“While Twitter is striving to comply with the 2021 Rules, Twitter reserves its right to challenge the legality, validity, & vires of the Rules, and Twitter’s submissions regarding compliance are filed without prejudice to its right to challenge the Rules,” it added.

On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court had pulled up Twitter for delay in appointment of a Resident Grievance Officer as per New IT rules. “If Twitter thinks it can take as long as it wants in our country, that will not be allowed,” the Court had said.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Advocate Amit Acharya alleging that Twitter has not complied with the Centre’s IT Rules to appoint a resident grievance officer, seeking directions to the social media platform to comply with the rules.

On Monday, the Centre told the Delhi High Court “In spite of three months’ time granted to all SSMIs (significant social media intermediaries) to comply with the IT Rules 2021, having expired on May 26, Twitter Inc has failed to fully comply with the same.”

The central government in its affidavit further said that Twitter Inc had initially appointed the interim Resident Grievance Officer and the interim Nodal Contact Person. Later, Twitter Inc informed the answering Respondent that the said interim Resident Grievance Officer and Nodal Officer have withdrawn/resigned from their positions. As per the details gleaned from the Twitter Inc website/mobile application, in the interim, the grievances from India are being handled by personnel of Twitter Inc situated in the United States of America which amounts to non-compliance with the IT Rules 2021, it added.

Twitter has failed to comply with IT Rules 2021 as of July 1 for not appointing Chief Compliance Officer, Resident Grievance Officer, Nodal Contact Person (even on an interim basis), and not showing physical contact address on Twitter website, it added.

The IT ministry further said that IT Rules, 2021 are law of the land and Twitter is mandatorily required to comply with it. “Any non-compliance amounts to breach of provisions of IT Rules thereby leading to Twitter losing immunity conferred under Section 79 (1) of IT Act, 2000,” it said.

The affidavit has been filed in response to a plea by lawyer Amit Acharya, in which he claimed non-compliance of the Centre’’s new IT Rules by the platform. On 3 July, Twitter had told the Delhi High Court that it is in the “final stages” of appointing an interim chief compliance officer and an interim resident grievance officer under the new Information Technology (IT) Rules. The micro-blogging site had also said it may fall within the definition of a “significant social media intermediary” under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

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