News Analysis India

Tag: Twitter

  • Govt free to initiate action against Twitter in accordance with the IT rules: Delhi HC

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Delhi High Court on Thursday said the Centre was free to initiate action against Twitter in accordance with the IT rules in case it had breached them. Parallelly, new Union information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the law of the land is supreme, adding those who live and work in India have to abide by the country’s rules.

    Justice Rekha Palli granted two weeks to Twitter to file hard copies of the notarised affidavit of a competent officer on compliance with the new rules. “It is made clear that since this court has only granted time to Twitter to file its affidavits to show compliance of the rules and there is no interim protection granted, it will be open for the Union of India to take action against Twitter in accordance with rules in case of any breach of the rules,” the court said, while slating the case for next hearing on July 28.

    For its part, Twitter said it was not seeking any protection. The microblogging site said it has appointed a resident of India as its interim Chief Compliance Officer effective July 6. Regarding the Nodal Contact Officer, it will try to fill the position on an interim basis in two weeks. And the process of hiring an interim Resident Grievance Officer is expected to over be by July 11, it informed.

    While the appointments are interim, it would not lessen the responsibilities imposed on those officers to ensure compliance with the new IT Rules, Twitter assured. Twitter also told the court that its first compliance report covering the period of May 26 to June 25 will be filed by July 11.

  • Free speech incidental to user contract, don’t perform public function, Twitter tells Delhi High Court

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Twitter Inc has told the Delhi High Court that it does not impart public function and ‘serving the ends of freedom of speech and expression’ was only incidental to its contractual relationship with the users.

    In a note submit to the high court in connection with the suspension of a senior advocate’s account, the microblogging site said that “services on the Twitter platform is a contractual relationship and in its commercial venture, that it incidentally also serves the ends of freedom of speech and expression would not convert the nature of the activity.”

    “On the ipse dixit of its activity being of a public nature in the wider sense of the phrase, the Respondent No.2 (Twitter Inc) cannot be said to be imparting a public function…,” it submitted.

    Twitter has asserted that since it provides contractual services to its users as per its terms and conditions, any dispute would go before ordinary courts for redressal and not to the high courts under writ jurisdiction.

    Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde moved the high court under its writ jurisdiction in December 2019 after his Twitter account was permanently suspended for allegedly re-tweeting two posts.

    Twitter responded by claiming that Hegde’s petition was not maintainable.

    In its note, Twitter contended that suspension of Hegde’s Twitter account was a contractual dispute and there was no positive obligation on it to provide its service.

    The US-based firm stated that its services are covered by the Information Technology Act which has a mechanism grievance redressal mechanism.

    Hegde’s recourse is to file a complaint on the portal under the Act, Hegde added.

    In his plea, filed through advocate Pranjal Kishore, Hegde asked if large multi-national corporations like Twitter were not amenable to the constitutional scrutiny for their actions.

    According to his petition, the first of the two posts re-tweeted by him in November 2019, was of Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) and a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) Politburo.

    She had posted Gorakh Pandey’s poem ‘Unko phaansi de do’ on her Twitter profile.

    Hegde had re-tweeted and shared Krishnan’s post with the caption ‘Hang Him’, an English translation of the poem’s title, the petition said.

    The second post was a picture of August Landmesser which Hegde was using as his profile header/ cover photo for over a year, it said.

    The government, in its response filed through central government standing counsel Kirtiman Singh, said the issue of suspension of account was prima facie between Hegde and Twitter and it has not directed that the account be suspended.

    The plea contended that suspension of the senior lawyer’s Twitter account “is illegal, arbitrary and contrary to the Respondent No.2’s (Twitter) own terms of use and rules” and also violates his right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution.

    It also submitted that the government was not a necessary party to these proceedings and claimed that the petition was not maintainable and it should be dismissed.

  • File US notarised affidavit in two weeks’; no protection for breach of IT Rules: Delhi HC to Twitter

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted two weeks’ to Twitter Inc to file an affidavit, notarised in United States, on compliance with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules here and made it clear that it was not extending any protection to the micro-blogging platform.

    The high court said that Central government was free to take action against Twitter Inc in case of any breach of the new IT Rules.

    “It is made clear that since this court has not passed any interim order, this court has granted time to Respondent No 2 (Twitter Inc) to file affidavit, no protection is granted. It is open to Centre to take action against the Respondent 2 in case of any breach of the Rules,” a bench of Justice Rekha Palli said while listing the matter for further hearing on July 28.

    Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, told the court that it was not seeking any protection either. “The consequence (of non-compliance) is that the protection to intermediaries falls off. I’m not seeking any protection,” he said.

    The high court also directed that affidavits on compliance with the rules be also filed by the officers appointed by Twitter under the new IT Rules.

    “Twitter prays for two weeks’ time for filing notarised affidavit of competent official of respondent nos 2 (Twitter Inc). Two weeks time is granted. Scanned copies to be filed by Tuesday, July 13,” the high court said after Poovayya submitted that he would get notarised affidavit from the US and the same would require some time.

    The high court on July 6 had directed Twitter to inform it by July 8 as to when it will appoint a resident grievance officer (RGO) in compliance with the new IT Rules.

    Poovayya told the court that pursuant to the direction, a note was filed, clarifying the status of appointment of the interim chief compliance officer (CCO), interim RGO as well as a nodal contact person on interim basis.

    While an interim CCO has already been appointed on July 6, an interim RGO and interim nodal contact officer will be appointed by July 11 and within two weeks, respectively, Poovayya told the court and said that Twitter was “actively recruiting for permanent position”.

    He said that usage of “interim” would not lessen the responsibilities imposed on these officers to ensure compliance with the new IT Rules. The high court, however, said “tomorrow you may take benefit of ‘interim’. This (your stand) is neither in the letter (to the Centre) nor on an affidavit”.

    Poovayya explained that since Twitter was in the process of setting up a liaison office in India, it could not appoint “permanent employees”. “Interim does not take away the responsibility of the officer under the rules. Permanent employee without a liaison office would have tax issues etc. There is no difference in obligation,” he told the bench.

    Poovayya added that presently, the contact address of Twitter Inc was that of a legal counsel in Bengaluru and that he was “unable to put a date” as to when the liaison office would be established in India. “It is admittedly not done in three months. COVID and a lot of other precipitative things happened. By the end of this week, we will file a compliance report,” he explained.

    The senior advocate clarified that compliance was without prejudice to Twitter’s right to challenge the new IT Rules. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for Centre, objected to the absence of any affidavit and affirmation from Twitter.

    With regards Twitter’s stand that it would “endeavour in good faith” to comply with the rules and appointment of officers was via a third party contractor, the law officer said that he sought accountability from the micro blogging website.

    “This is not diplomatic parlance. We want accountability, full accountability of great servitude. It can’t be left in half-way house via third party,” Sharma said.

    Poovayya explained that the word “endeavour” was used to avoid being in contempt of court in case of non-compliance, to which the court responded, “you are already in contempt.Now you are trying to salvage the situation”.

    The court nonetheless added that it would take Twitter has the bonafide intent to comply with the rules. The Centre said in its affidavit that Twitter has failed to comply with India’s new IT Rules, which could lead to its losing immunity conferred under the IT Act.

    The affidavit had said that Twitter has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 as on July 1 for the following reasons — chief compliance officer has not been appointed; the positions of RGO and nodal contact person are vacant, and the physical contact address, which was shown to be there on May 29, is not available again on Twitter website.

    Petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, represented through Senior Advocate G Tushar Rao and advocate Akash Bajpai, said in his plea that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance when he tried to lodge a complaint against a couple of tweets.

  • File US notarised affidavit in two weeks’; no protection for breach of IT Tules: Delhi HC to Twitter

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Thursday granted two weeks’ to Twitter Inc to file an affidavit, notarised in United States, on compliance with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules here and made it clear that it was not extending any protection to the micro-blogging platform.

    The high court said that Central government was free to take action against Twitter Inc in case of any breach of the new IT Rules.

    “It is made clear that since this court has not passed any interim order, this court has granted time to Respondent No 2 (Twitter Inc) to file affidavit, no protection is granted. It is open to Centre to take action against the Respondent 2 in case of any breach of the Rules,” a bench of Justice Rekha Palli said while listing the matter for further hearing on July 28.

    Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, told the court that it was not seeking any protection either. “The consequence (of non-compliance) is that the protection to intermediaries falls off. I’m not seeking any protection,” he said.

    The high court also directed that affidavits on compliance with the rules be also filed by the officers appointed by Twitter under the new IT Rules.

    “Twitter prays for two weeks’ time for filing notarised affidavit of competent official of respondent nos 2 (Twitter Inc). Two weeks time is granted. Scanned copies to be filed by Tuesday, July 13,” the high court said after Poovayya submitted that he would get notarised affidavit from the US and the same would require some time.

    The high court on July 6 had directed Twitter to inform it by July 8 as to when it will appoint a resident grievance officer (RGO) in compliance with the new IT Rules.

    Poovayya told the court that pursuant to the direction, a note was filed, clarifying the status of appointment of the interim chief compliance officer (CCO), interim RGO as well as a nodal contact person on interim basis.

    While an interim CCO has already been appointed on July 6, an interim RGO and interim nodal contact officer will be appointed by July 11 and within two weeks, respectively, Poovayya told the court and said that Twitter was “actively recruiting for permanent position”.

    He said that usage of “interim” would not lessen the responsibilities imposed on these officers to ensure compliance with the new IT Rules. The high court, however, said “tomorrow you may take benefit of ‘interim’. This (your stand) is neither in the letter (to the Centre) nor on an affidavit”.

    Poovayya explained that since Twitter was in the process of setting up a liaison office in India, it could not appoint “permanent employees”. “Interim does not take away the responsibility of the officer under the rules. Permanent employee without a liaison office would have tax issues etc. There is no difference in obligation,” he told the bench.

    Poovayya added that presently, the contact address of Twitter Inc was that of a legal counsel in Bengaluru and that he was “unable to put a date” as to when the liaison office would be established in India. “It is admittedly not done in three months. COVID and a lot of other precipitative things happened. By the end of this week, we will file a compliance report,” he explained.

    The senior advocate clarified that compliance was without prejudice to Twitter’s right to challenge the new IT Rules. Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, appearing for Centre, objected to the absence of any affidavit and affirmation from Twitter.

    With regards Twitter’s stand that it would “endeavour in good faith” to comply with the rules and appointment of officers was via a third party contractor, the law officer said that he sought accountability from the micro blogging website.

    “This is not diplomatic parlance. We want accountability, full accountability of great servitude. It can’t be left in half-way house via third party,” Sharma said.

    Poovayya explained that the word “endeavour” was used to avoid being in contempt of court in case of non-compliance, to which the court responded, “you are already in contempt.Now you are trying to salvage the situation”.

    The court nonetheless added that it would take Twitter has the bonafide intent to comply with the rules. The Centre said in its affidavit that Twitter has failed to comply with India’s new IT Rules, which could lead to its losing immunity conferred under the IT Act.

    The affidavit had said that Twitter has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 as on July 1 for the following reasons — chief compliance officer has not been appointed; the positions of RGO and nodal contact person are vacant, and the physical contact address, which was shown to be there on May 29, is not available again on Twitter website.

    Petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, represented through Senior Advocate G Tushar Rao and advocate Akash Bajpai, said in his plea that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance when he tried to lodge a complaint against a couple of tweets.

  • Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari seeks quashing of police notice asking him to appear in person

    By PTI
    BENGALURU: Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari on Thursday sought the quashing of a notice issued by the Uttar Pradesh police seeking his physical presence in connection with a case registered for uploading and circulating a “communal sensitive” video on the platform.

    Appearing on behalf of Maheshwari before the single bench of Justice G Narendar in the Karnataka High Court, his counsel CV Nagesh contended that the notice under Section 41 -A of the CrPC was issued “without jurisdiction, without the sanction of law”.

    He claimed that the first notice was issued on June 17 under Section 160 of the CrPC. The legal obligation under Section 160 of the CrPC is based upon a person who resides at a place which is located within the territorial jurisdiction of the police station where the crime is registered, the counsel argued.

    After the notice under Section 160 was issued, Maheshwari told the investigators that he did not know anything about the issue, Nagesh said. He added that even if Maheshwari appeared before them in person, the reply would be the same. “The IO (investigating officer) was not satisfied because there was a hidden agenda. Then what he (IO) did is, he invoked the powers under Section 41-A of the CrPC, which is not right,” he alleged.

    “Law does not empower him (the IO) to do so. It is an act which has been done without the sanction of law,” the counsel argued. The Twitter MD resides in Bengaluru, and his office is located in the city, Nagesh pointed out.

    Maheshwari had earlier indicated that he was prepared to cooperate with the investigation through video conference. The case has been posted for further hearing on Friday. The Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) police issued the notice under Section 41-A of the CrPC on June 21 asking him to report at the Loni Border police station at 10:30 AM on June 24.

    Maheshwari then approached the Karnataka High Court as he lives in Bengaluru in Karnataka. On June 24, the High Court, in an interim order, restrained the Ghaziabad police from initiating any coercive action against him.

    Justice Narendar had also maintained that if the police wanted to examine him, they could do so through virtual mode. The Ghaziabad Police on June 15 booked Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India Pvt.Ltd.

    (Twitter India), news website The Wire, journalists Mohammed Zubair and Rana Ayyub, besides Congress leaders Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Shama Mohamed and writer Saba Naqvi. They were booked over the circulation of a video in which an elderly man, Abdul Shamad Saifi, alleges he was thrashed by some young men who also asked him to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ on June five.

    According to police, the video was shared to cause communal unrest.

  • Those who work in India will have to abide by rules: New IT minister on Twitter-Centre standoff

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: All those who live and work in India will have to abide by the rules of the country, newly sworn-in Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on Thursday on Twitter’s standoff with the central government over new IT rules.

    Vaishnav was talking to reporters after meeting BJP general secretary (Organisation) BL Santhosh at the party office here. On a question that Twitter was not adhering to IT rules, he said whosoever lives and works in India will have to abide by the rules of the country.

    Vaishnav, the MP from Odisha, on Wednesday took oath as the Cabinet Minister and was given the charge of Railways along with the Information and Technology Ministry. He said was thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him the responsibility.

    He said his focus will be on improving the life of the last man standing in the queue.

    In past, Vaishnav, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha, had raised the issue of cyber bullying of Karnataka-based Rashmi Samant’s resignation from the position of Oxford Student Union President in the United Kingdom and described it as a serious case of racism.

    US-based company Twitter has been in the eye of a storm over its alleged failure to comply with the new IT rules in India, which mandates, among other requirements, the appointment of three key personnel — chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer by social media platforms with over 50 lakh users.

    All the three personnel have to be residents in India. While the rules came into effect on May 26, Twitter is yet to adhere to the social media guidelines, despite repeated reminders from the government.

  • Rahul Gandhi takes dig at Centre over Rafale deal, rising fuel prices

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday took a dig at the Centre over the Rafale deal and the rising fuel prices and said that the people who question the government are imprisoned.

    Taking to Twitter Congress leader urged people to fill the blanks.

    “Fill in the blank: Rafale of ‘friendship’, Tax collection – oil is expensive, There is a blind sale of PSU-PSB, Questioning will lead you to jail, Modi government is ____!” the Congress MP said in a tweet (roughly translated from Hindi).

    Earlier on July  4, the Wayanad MP had slammed the Centre and questioned why is the Centre not ready for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rafale deal.

    Earlier, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala had on Saturday demanded an inquiry by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) inquiry into the Rafale deal after France initiated investigations into alleged corruption in the Rs 59,000 crore Rafale deal signed with India in 2016 for the sale of 36 Dassault-built fighter jets.

    The Congress said that it will also take up this matter in the upcoming Parliament session. 

  • Twitter Inc failed to comply with country’s new IT Rules: Centre to Delhi HC

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that social media giant Twitter Inc has failed to comply with India’s new IT Rules, which is law of the land and is mandatorily required to be complied with.

    The Centre, in an affidavit filed in the high court, said any non-compliance amounts to breach of provisions of IT Rules, leading to US-based Twitter losing its immunity conferred under the IT Act. The affidavit has been filed in response to a plea by lawyer Amit Acharya, in which he claimed non-compliance of the Centre’s new IT Rules by the microblogging platform.

    The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing on Tuesday. The Centre’s affidavit, filed by N Samaya Balan, working as Scientist-E in the Cyber Law Group with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), said admittedly Twitter Inc is an intermediary within the meaning of provision of IT Act, 2000 and a Significant Social Media Intermediary (SSMI) under the IT Rules 2021.

    It said that in spite of the three months’ time granted to all SSMIs to comply with the IT Rules 2021 having expired on May 26, Twitter has “failed to fully comply” with the same. The IT Rules were notified on February 25.

    “I submit that the respondent no. 2 (Twitter Inc) had initially appointed the interim resident grievance officer (RGO) and the interim nodal contact person. Later the respondent no. 2 (Twitter Inc) informed the answering respondent (MEITY) that the said interim RGO and nodal officer have withdrawn/ resigned from their positions,” the affidavit said.

    “I submit that as per the details gleaned from the respondent No.2 website/mobile application, in the interim the grievances from India are being handled by personnel of respondent No. 2 situated in the United State of America which amounts to non-compliance with the IT Rules 2021,” it added.

    The affidavit, filed through Central government standing counsel Ripudaman Singh Bhardwaj, said that Twitter has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 as on July 1 for the following reasons — chief compliance officer has not been appointed; the position of the RGO is vacant; the position of nodal contact person (even on an interim basis) is vacant, and the physical contact address, which was shown to be there on May 29, is not available again on Twitter website.

    “I submit that the IT Rules, 2021 are the law of the land and respondent no.2 is mandatorily required to comply with the same. Any non-compliance amounts to breach of the provisions of the IT Rules, 2021 thereby leading to respondent no.2 losing its immunity conferred under section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000,” the officer said.

    The reply added that the immunity conferred on intermediaries under the provision of law is a conditional immunity subject to the intermediary satisfying the conditions under the Act and as provided in Rule 7, failure to observe the IT rules,2021 results in provisions of Section 79(1) of the IT Act, not being applicable to such an intermediary.

    The Centre said as Twitter qualifies as a SSMI, it is obligated to comply with the provisions of the IT Rules, 2021. On July 3, Twitter has also filed its affidavit stating that it was in the “final stages” of appointing an interim chief compliance officer and an interim resident grievance officer under the new IT Rules.

    In the meantime, grievances raised by Indian users are being looked into by a grievance officer, it has said. The microblogging site has also said it may fall within the definition of a “significant social media intermediary” under the IT Rules, 2021.

    The rules seek to regulate dissemination and publication of content in cyber space, including social media platforms, and were notified in February by the central government. Twitter said in “substantial compliance” with Rule 3(2) and Rule 4(1)(c) of the new IT Rules, it did appoint an interim resident grievance officer.

    However, even before steps could be taken to completely formalise the arrangement, the interim resident grievance officer withdrew his candidature on June 21, it said and denied that it has not complied with the intermediary guidelines.

    In his plea, filed through advocates Akash Vajpai and Manish Kumar, Acharya said that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance when he tried to lodge a complaint against a couple of tweets. Twitter has argued that the plea is not maintainable as a writ petition and that Acharya moved the court “prematurely” without waiting for the redressal of his grievance under the rules.

    It said Acharya had no locus standi to raise a complaint with respect to the tweets in question and added it has informed that the complaint has now been considered and disposed of.

  • In final stages of appointing Resident Grievance Officer: Twitter tells Delhi HC

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Twitter on Saturday told the Delhi High Court that the interim Resident Grievance Officer of the microblogging site withdrew his candidature on June 21 and it is in the final stages of appointing a person for the post of Resident Grievance Officer.

    The company said it is in the final stages of appointing a replacement while in the meanwhile the grievances of Indian users are being addressed by the Grievance Officer.

    Twitter’s response filed in a petition alleging non-compliance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, in which the Delhi High Court had issued notice.

    The reply states that, Twitter Inc. incorporated under US laws and operates services on micro-blogging platform Twitter in India and the process of appointing a replacement for the interim resident grievance officer who resigned on June 21.

    ALSO READ: First compliance report by Google, FB under new IT rules big step towards transparency, says Minister Prasad

    Earlier, Twitter told the Delhi High Court that it has complied with Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and already appointed Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 on May 28.

    A single-judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli sought a response and listed the matter for July 6.

    However, petitioner advocate Akash Vajpai appearing for the petitioner had argued that appointment is not as per rules.

    Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya appearing for Twitter Inc had told the High Court that there was not compliance at the date of filing of the petition but now Twitter has complied with the rules and appointed Resident Grievance Officer.

    The Court was hearing a petition seeking direction to the Central government to pass necessary instruction to Twitter Communication India Private Limited and Twitter Inc to appoint Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 without any delay.

    The petitioner has said that he has filed a petition against the non-compliance of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 by the Twitter Communication India Private Limited & Twitter Inc and seeking an appropriate Writ or instruction against Respondent Centre Govt and Twitter to perform its statutory and executive duty under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

    According to Rule 4(c) of the IT Rule, every Significant Social Media Intermediary has to appoint a Resident Grievance Officer, who shall, subject to clause (b), be responsible for the functions referred to in sub-rule (2) of rule 3, stated the petition.

    The petition was filed by Amit Acharya a practicing Advocate in Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court, through lawyers Akash Vajpai and Manish Kumar.

    The petition said that every significant social media intermediary has a responsibility not only to appoint a Resident Grievance Officer (employee of SSMI who should be resident in India) who will act as single point authority for receiving and disposing off complaints within a fixed time but will also receive and acknowledge any order, notice and direction issued by the appropriate government/competent authority or court of competent jurisdiction.

    “Every SSMI (significant social media intermediary) will also develop a mechanism for receipt of complaint in relation to violation of any provision under the aforesaid rule and will provide ticket number through which every complainant would be able to track status of his/her complaint. Moreover It is also responsibility of SEM to provide reason for any action taken or not taken while disposing off such complaints,” the petitioner said.

    The petition pointed out that Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 has come into force from 25.02.2021 and Respondent Centre had given 3 months to every SSMI to comply with these Rules and these three months period got over on 25.05.2021 but Respondent Twitter has separately & jointly failed to appoint any Resident Grievance Officer to redress the complaints of its users with regard to the violation of the provisions of the aforesaid Rules.

    “At this juncture, it is also important to mention that Respondent No. 2 and 3 (Twitter Communication India Private Limited & Twitter Inc) not only failed to appoint Resident Grievance Officer but has also not appointed Nodal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer mention under Rules 4 of the IT Rules, 2021,” the petition said.

    The petitioner apprised the Court that he is also a subscriber and user of Twitter when scrolling his Twitter on May 26, 2021, found some of the tweets of two individuals very defamatory, false and untrue but when he tried to look for Resident Grievance Officer so that he can register his complaint against the alleged defamatory and untrue tweets, he found no details of the Resident Grievance Officer on the page of Twitter, which is a clear violation of subrule 2(a) of Rule 3 which says that The intermediary shall prominently publish on its website, mobile-based application or both, as the case may be, the name of the Grievance Officer and his contact details.

    Therefore, the petitioner has urged the Court to issue direction to Centre Union of India to pass necessary instruction/order to Twitter to appoint Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 without any delay.

    He also sought an appropriate direction against respondents to discharge their executive, statutory and all other obligations in relation to Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 without any delay.

    The petitioner also sought direction to Twitter Communication India Private Limited and Twitter Inc to implement Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

  • Twitter down for some users, few features inaccessible

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: Many users faced glitches while accessing Twitter on Thursday morning. The Twitter App seemingly worked, but users faced problems while accessing the microblogging site via browser site. Twitter flagged the issue and has assured users that it would be fixed soon.

    Twitter acknowledged the glitch and tweeted in reply to the users. “Profiles’ Tweets may not be loading for some of you on the web and we’re currently working on a fix. Thanks for sticking with us!” it tweeted.

    Profiles’ Tweets may not be loading for some of you on web and we’re currently working on a fix. Thanks for sticking with us!
    — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 1, 2021

    “Tweets should now be visible on profiles, but other parts of Twitter for the web may not be loading for you. We’re continuing to work on getting things back to normal,” Twitter added.

    Users complained that the browser website is showing “Something went wrong” messages on the screen every time they try to access the website.