Twitter has been hit hard for non-compliance with the new IT rules. The Government of India has started tightening up on Twitter under the new IT rules. Twitter has now lost its ground of legal protection in India. That is, if any illegal or inflammatory post is made by a user on Twitter, then the police will now be able to interrogate the top officials including the Managing Director of the company in India in that regard. This has happened because of the delay in the appointment of the statutory officer.
According to media reports, the IT rules implemented by Twitter from May 25 have not been followed yet, after which this action has been taken against it. Because of this, the right of security given to Twitter has been taken away. Official sources said that the company's attitude is not in line with the new IT rules, due to which this protection has been removed. Now the police will be able to interrogate the officers for any inflammatory post. Apart from Twitter, other social media companies like Google, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram will continue to be protected.
Let us inform you that under the new IT rules, companies were to appoint officers by May 25, but many did not make these appointments citing lockdown and other problems. Twitter had initially made some appointments, but these were rejected by the government as they were outside legal advisors. These people were not directly associated with the company.
Concrete steps not taken on repeated reminders
Sources in the IT Ministry said that no details have been received from Twitter so far. Despite repeated reminders, no concrete steps were taken by the company. The government, in a final notice to Twitter on June 5, said that it is given the last chance to comply with the new rules related to the Information Technology Act. He has to comply with the rules immediately. If it fails to do so, the exemption given to it by being an arbitral forum under the IT Act will stand forfeited.
A Twitter spokesperson in India said it has appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer. The details of this have not yet been shared with the Indian Ministry of Information Technology. Details will be shared with the IT ministry soon. We are keeping the IT Ministry informed about the developments at every stage of the process. Twitter is making every effort to comply with the new guidelines. Let us tell you that the government had said in a notice given to Twitter a few days ago that it is given the last chance to comply with the new IT rules.
First case registered under new rules
The Ghaziabad Police has also registered a case on Twitter in connection with the hostage and beard-cutting of an elderly resident of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. This is the first case registered against any social media person under the new IT rules. It is alleged that the video of the incident went viral on Twitter without knowing the veracity, it has become trending. The police have imposed a section of hurting religious sentiments in this case.
According to the police, the truth of the matter is different. The victim elderly had given some talismans to the accused, due to which the accused did not get the results, the angry accused carried out the incident. But Twitter did not tag this video as "manipulated media". The police also said that the victim has not registered in her FIR about raising slogans of Jai Shri Ram and cutting her beard.