Twitter lost immunity over user-generated content in India: Modi government

SOCIAL media giant Twitter no more enjoys liability protection against user-generated content in India since it has failed to comply with the country’s new information technology rules, the Narendra Modi government has said in a court filing, Reuters reported.

The statement is the first the government has officially said that the microblogging site has lost its immunity after repeatedly criticising the company for non-compliance. Twitter has been under the scanner for some time and the dispute has raised concern that it will find it difficult to do business in a more stringent regulatory environment.

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The Indian information technology ministry told the New Delhi High Court in the filing dated July 5 that Twitter’s non-compliance amounted to flouting of the provisions of the Information Technology Act, which made the social media platform lose its immunity.

Indian information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad (Photo by PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)

The filing came in a case which was filed by a Twitter user who wanted to complain about some tweets that were allegedly defamatory and said the company was not complying with the new law that requires appointment of certain new executives.

Reuters added that Twitter declined to comment. It also mentioned that the company said it was making all efforts to comply.

India’s new information technology rules aim at regulating content on social media firms and making them more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the origins of messages. The country’s information and technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed the social media site saying it deliberately defied the law and warned all social media firms to abide by the new rules.

Recently, as Twitter locked horns with the Indian government, the country’s police have filed at least five cases against the company or its officials, related to issues like child sexual abuse, display of wrong map of India on its careers page, etc. Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari has also been named in the complaints.

Court raps Twitter over appointment of grievance officer

Twitter also faced the high court’s wrath on Tuesday with the latter telling it that it could not take “as long as it wants” to appoint a grievance officer. The company has been given time till Thursday (8) to inform the court when it will appoint an India-based officer.

“How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that,” Justice Rekha Palli said.

To that, senior counsel Sajan Poovayya, who represented the social media company, said “it might need two weeks’ time”.