New Delhi: The center has given Twitter India “one last chance” to comply with the country’s information technology rules by July 4, or the risk of losing its immunity as an intermediary has people directly aware of the development at ET said.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) actions follow Twitter’s “repeated failure to act on notices of removal of content sent in accordance with Section 69 A of the IT Act” as well as on “non-compliance notices” issued because they did not take the content. down, ”officials who know told ET.
In the notice sent on Monday — reviewed by ET — the ministry pointed out that the microblogging platform did not comply with notices sent on June 6 and June 9.
“Despite repeated notices and opportunities given to them to act, Twitter still remains in violation. Therefore, appropriate steps are being taken against (it), “said a senior official, adding that” all intermediaries working in India must follow the IT rules in letter and spirit. “
MeitY’s notice – addressed to Twitter’s Chief Compliance Officer – states that “if Twitter Inc. continues to violate these guidelines and therefore the IT Act, significant consequences under the IT Act will prevail.”
Can be punishable
This includes “loss of immunity as available (to) an intermediary under sub-section (1) of section 79 of the IT Act and (will) be punishable for violations as prescribed in the IT Act 2000.”
However, it was not immediately clear to what specific content removal notifications Twitter was not responding to or responding to. The MeitY notice also made no mention of it.
Twitter India did not respond to ET’s inquiries about the development until press time.
This is certainly not the first case in which the IT ministry has warned Twitter about the possibility of losing its intermediary status due to non-compliance with regulations under the IT Act.
In May 2021, when the IT rules 2021 went into effect, MeitY issued a similar warning to Twitter asking him to appoint a resident grievance officer, a resident principal compliance officer as well as a nodal contact person or run the risk to lose the protection it under Section 79 of the IT Act.
Under this law, an internet intermediary cannot be held liable – legally or otherwise – for any third party information, data or communication link hosted or made available by users on its platform.
After that, Twitter appointed executives in all the required roles and informed the IT ministry about its compliance with the standards.
Over the past year, Twitter has blocked access to 80 pieces of content or user handles in India based on government legal requests, the intermediary said in its disclosures on Lumen Database, an internet archive of transparency reports submitted by social media intermediaries.
According to its content withholding policy for a specific geography, the microblogging platform blocks access to a specific piece of content or handles it only when a valid legal request is received from the government of the country.
“The detentions are limited to the specific jurisdiction / country where the content is illegal,” reads Twitter’s land reclamation policy.
Regulatory overhaul
The ministry’s latest announcement to the San Francisco-based company comes even as India proposes a revision of the IT rules to address challenges posed by the growing digital ecosystem. The process aimed at bridging gaps in current regulations, especially with regard to the “Big Tech platform” is in the final stages.
Last Thursday, during an open-house consultation on the proposed changes to the 2021 IT rules, State of Electronics and Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said intermediaries should not mention “high cost” as an excuse to exclude themselves to get the obligatory. compliance needs, while noting that the government was open to changing the rules as the ecosystem developed.
Section 69A of the IT Act empowers a competent central government official to direct the blocking of public access to any information within the geographical boundaries of India available on any computer resource if it poses a threat to sovereignty and integrity, defense, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order.