Microblogging platform Twitter has lost its legal indemnity in India because of its failure to comply with the new IT rules. The new rules required social media platforms to appoint key officers in the country. The loss of indemnity was highlighted on Tuesday after a case was filed against the social media giant over a viral video.
Government sources told NDTV that the platform has lost its legal indemnity. Twitter has yet not fully complied with all the rules that came into force on May 25, as per sources in the Ministry of Electronics and IT.
Sources told the news site that because of their non-compliance, their protection as an intermediary is gone. Twitter is, hence, liable for penal actions as per Indian law just as any other publisher is.
The UP Police have further filed an FIR naming Twitter and others over a video of assault on an elderly Muslim man in Ghaziabad, dated June 5.
The sources told the news site that since Twitter does not enjoy protection and they did not flag this video as manipulated media, they are liable for penal action.
Twitter had, however, said on Tuesday that as per one of the rules, it had appointed an interim chief compliance officer. It said that it will soon share the details with the government. "We have assured the Government of India that Twitter is making every effort to comply with the new guidelines, and an overview of our progress has been duly shared. We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian Government," a Twitter spokesperson had said last week.
As per the new IT rules, non-compliance can lead to the social media platform concerned about losing their intermediary status and the platforms could also be liable for criminal action in case of a complaint. Intermediary status provides these platforms the immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them.