Court should decide whether Twitter has complied with Indian norms: Experts

BENGALURU: With Twitter reportedly losing its legal shield in India for non-compliance with the Social Intermediary Guidelines 2021, the US-based micro-blogging site's officials could face criminal and civil liability in India. They can be sued in Indian courts or named in FIRs. 

While there is some confusion as to whether Twitter has already lost its social intermediary status in India, experts are of the view that it's up to the courts to decide if the social media giant has complied with Indian rules.

According to Internet Freedom Foundation of India, the recently notified IT rules do not contain any power or process for grant or revocation of an intermediary status. "There is no immediate penalty which flows from non-compliance beyond loss of immunity determined by courts on evidence and legal submissions. If social media firms don't comply with the IT rules, they risk losing legal protection against liability for user-generated content. As as per 79 of the IT Act, intermediaries are immune from liability/penalty if they comply with legal takedown requests of user posts from courts and public authorities," it added.

However, Jiten Jain, CEO India Infosec Consortium and a cybersecurity expert, has a different take on the issue. Speaking to The New Indian Express, he said that being a 'significant social media intermediary' (social media firms with more than 50 lakh registered users), Twitter was legally required to comply with the new Intermediary Rules by 25 May 2021 as directed by the Central government.

"Since Twitter has not complied with the rules, it can no longer claim protections available to Social Media Intermediaries. It is currently vulnerable to  all Civil and Criminal liabilities and investigations in India which may come," he added.

India is one of key overseas markets for Twitter with a total 50 million (5 crore) userbase compared to 36 million in the US. According to company statistics, India was among the fastest growing markets for Twitter during the October-December 2020 quarter, registering 74 per cent growth year-on-year in daily active userbase.