Tag: India Social Media Rules

  • Government issues ‘one last notice’ to Twitter to comply with IT rules

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI:  The government on Saturday issued a notice to Twitter giving it one last chance to “immediately” comply with the new IT rules and warned that failure to adhere to the norms will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT Act.

    The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that Twitter’s refusal to comply with the rules demonstrated the microblogging site’s “lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India on its platform”.

    “Despite being operational in India for more than a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc has doggedly refused to create mechanism that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner and through fair processes, by India based, clearly identified resources,” the IT ministry said.

    The ministry said that though with effect from May 26, 2021, “consequences follow” given Twitter’s non-compliance with rules “however, as a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules, failing which the exemption from liability available shall stand withdrawn and Twitter shall be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India”.

    The notice, however, did not mention a specific date to comply with the rules.

    ALSO READ | Twitter’s allegation of ‘intimidation tactics’ by police totally baseless, says government

    The IT ministry in its notice observed that the world’s largest democracy had been among the first countries in the world, outside the parent country of Twitter Inc, to enthusiastically adopt the microblogging platform.

    “Users who are abused on the platform or are harassed or are subject to defamation or sexual abuse or become victims or a whole range of other abusive content must get a redressal mechanism that the same people of India have created through a due process of law,” the IT ministry asserted.

    The people of India, who use Twitter, “deserve and demand” a fair mechanism to address their grievances and resolve their disputes, it said.

    “Leave alone proactively creating such a mechanism, Twitter Inc is in the inglorious bracket of refusing to do so even when mandated by law,” the ministry said in its notice to the company.

    Twitter declined to comment to an e-mail sent by PTI on the issue.

    MeitY further confronted Twitter saying it was dismayed to note that the platform’s responses to its letters neither address the clarifications sought, nor indicate full compliance with the rules.

    “It is clear from your responses that till date Twitter has not informed about the details of the Chief Compliance Officer as required under the Rules,” it said.

    Also, resident grievance officer and the nodal contact person nominated by the company is not an employee of Twitter Inc in India as prescribed in the rules, the ministry said and added that office address of Twitter Inc as mentioned by the company “is that of a law firm in India, which is not as per the rules”.

    The ministry has made it clear to Twitter that such non-compliance will lead to “unintended consequences” including Twitter losing exemption from liability as intermediary under the IT Act.

    Twitter has an estimated 1.75 crore users in India, as per data cited by the government recently.

    The row over Twitter’s handling of certain messages had recently blown up into all-out war of words between the Centre and the social media platform.

    The government had earlier slammed Twitter’s remarks on alleged intimidation and threat to free speech and said that the microblogging platform had sought to undermine India’s legal system, through its actions and deliberate defiance.

    The IT ministry had termed the company’s stance as an attempt to dictate terms to the world’s largest democracy.

    Twitter had previously drawn flak after it marked several tweets by ruling BJP leaders on an alleged strategy document of Opposition to target the government over COVID as containing ‘manipulated media’, triggering a sharp rebuke from the government.

    The government had earlier asked Twitter to “stop beating around the bush” and comply with laws of the land.

    The microblogging site on Saturday removed and later restored the verified blue tick on the personal account of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

    Officials of the Vice President Secretariat said the personal Twitter handle of Naidu was inactive for a long time and the Twitter algorithm removed the blue badge.

    The new IT rules for social media companies that came into effect last month mandate large platforms like Facebook and Twitter to undertake greater due diligence and make these digital platforms more accountable and responsible for the content hosted by them.

    The rules also require significant social media intermediaries – providing services primarily in the nature of messaging – to enable identification of the “first originator” of the information that undermines the sovereignty of India, the security of the state, or public order.

    The new IT rules require significant social media intermediaries – those with other 50 lakh users – to appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer.

    These personnel are required to be resident in India.

    Under the new rules, social media companies will have to take down flagged content within 36 hours, and remove within 24 hours content that is flagged for nudity, pornography etc.

    The Centre had said the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal.

    Non-compliance with the rules would result in these platforms losing their intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them.

    In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.

  • Twitter’s allegation of ‘intimidation tactics’ by police totally baseless, says government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday slammed as “baseless and false” a statement by Twitter that had alleged intimidation by police over the ‘manipulated media’ tags issue and threat to freedom of expression, with IT Ministry terming the company’s stance as an attempt to dictate terms to the world’s largest democracy.

    The ministry asserted that representatives of social media companies, including Twitter, “are and will always remain safe in India”, and that there is “no threat to their personal safety and security”.

    In a hard-hitting statement, the ministry said India has a glorious tradition of free speech and democratic practices dating back centuries.

    “Protecting free speech in India is not the prerogative of only a private, for-profit, foreign entity like Twitter, but it is the commitment of the world’s largest democracy and its robust institutions,” it said.

    Twitter’s statement is an attempt to “dictate its terms” to the world’s largest democracy, the ministry said, adding that through its actions and deliberate defiance, the company is seeking to undermine India’s legal system.

    Twitter refuses to comply with the very regulations in the Intermediary Guidelines on the basis of which it is claiming a safe harbour protection from any criminal liability in India, the ministry contended.

    It questioned Twitter on why it did not set up a robust mechanism of its own in India, and said the company’s officials in India routinely claimed that they have no authority and that “they and the people of India need to escalate everything to Twitter headquarter in USA”.

    The purported commitment of Twitter to its Indian user base thus not only sounds hollow but completely self serving, the ministry said.

    ALSO READ: No likely ban for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in India, may lose social intermediary status

    Despite having a large user base in India and earning significant revenue from its operations here, Twitter is “most reluctant” to appoint India-based grievance redressal officer and mechanism, chief compliance officer and nodal officer to whom its own users can complain when they are subjected to offesive tweets, the ministry argued.

    The government said it respects the right of people to ask questions and also criticise on these social media platforms, including Twitter.

    The government equally respects the right of privacy, it said.

    “The only instance of scuttling free speech on Twitter is Twitter itself and its opaque policies, as a result of which people’s accounts are suspended and tweets deleted arbitrarily without recourse,” the ministry pointed out.

    It asked Twitter to “stop beating around the bush” and comply with laws of the land.

    “Law making and policy formulations is the sole prerogative of the sovereign and Twitter is just a social media platform and it has no locus in dictating what India’s legal policy framework should be,” the ministry said.

    The government said although Twitter claimed that it is committed to people of India, that commitment has been “most invisible in recent times”.

    Flagging some instances, it said Twitter chose to show the geo-locations of certain locations in Union Territory of Ladakh as part of China, and took several days to rectify “this blatant disrespect to India’s sensitivity and territorial integrity”.

    The ministry also called out Twitter for delay in taking action on its order to block provocative content that could impact public law and order, even though the company had been quick to act on similar instance during violence at US Capitol Hill.

    The ministry said that Twitter’s “lack of responsibility” had led to rampant proliferation of fake and harmful content against India and Indians.

    ALSO READ: Concerned over intimidation tactics by police, potential threat to freedom of expression – Twitter

    “Twitter Inc., a USA based private company, in its communique says that it seeks ‘constructive dialogue’, ‘collaborative approach’ from the Government of a sovereign democratic republic to ‘safeguard interests of the public’.

    It is time that Twitter disabuses itself of this grandiosity and comply with laws of India,” it said.

    Earlier on Thursday, Twitter had called the recent visit by Delhi Police to its offices a form of “intimidation” and said it was concerned about its employees and the potential threat to freedom of expression.

    Twitter had marked tweets by ruling BJP leaders on the alleged strategy document of Opposition to target the government over COVID as containing ‘manipulated media’, which prompted the police to visit its offices late on Monday.

    Opposition Congress has disputed the document, calling it fake.

    In its first official statement after the Delhi Police visited the company’s offices in Delhi and in Gurugram to serve notice to its country managing director as part of its investigation into the ‘manipulated media’ tag, Twitter said it will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency and protecting freedom of expression.

    “Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve,” Twitter said in the statement.

    “We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global Terms of Service, as well as with core elements of the new IT rules,” Twitter had said.

  • Twitter’s allegation of ‘intimidation tactics’ by police totally baseless, says government

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI:  After Twitter alleged intimidation by police on the issue of ‘manipulated media’ tags, the government on Thursday condemned the statement issued by the microblogging platform as baseless, false and an attempt to defame India.

    The IT ministry asserted that representatives of social media companies, including Twitter, “are and will always remain safe in India”, and that there is “no threat to their personal safety and security”.

    The ministry slammed Twitter’s statement on Thursday as an attempt to dictate terms to the world’s largest democracy.

    ALSO READ: No likely ban for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in India, may lose social intermediary status

    Through its actions and deliberate defiance, Twitter seeks to undermine India’s legal system, the ministry added.

    “Government condemns the unfortunate statement issued by Twitter as totally baseless, false and an attempt to defame India to hide their own follies,” the IT ministry said.

    Earlier on Thursday, Twitter called the visit by Delhi Police to its offices a form of “intimidation” and said it was concerned about its employees and the potential threat to freedom of expression.

    ALSO READ: Concerned over intimidation tactics by police, potential threat to freedom of expression – Twitter

    Twitter had marked several tweets by ruling BJP leaders on an alleged strategy document of Opposition to target the government over COVID-19 as containing ‘manipulated media’.

    The company said it will strive to comply with applicable law in India to keep its service available in the country.

    The microblogging platform further said it plans to advocate for changes to elements of the new IT rules for free and open public conversation.

  • ‘New social media rules not against privacy; tracing messages only for very serious offences’: Government

    In a statement, the IT Ministry termed WhatsApp #39;s last moment challenge to the intermediary guidelines as an unfortunate attempt to prevent norms from coming into effect.