Government sends ‘ one last notice’ to Twitter to adopt new IT Rules

Platform could lose exemption from liability.

The govt.’s notice to Twitter, however, did not given a specific deadline to comply with the rules.

The government on Saturday sent out “one last notice” to U.S.-based social media platform Twitter to immediately comply with the new IT Rules that came into effect on May 26, and warned that failure to do so will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT Act.

In a notice addressed to Twitter Inc’s deputy general counsel Jim Baker, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) said the refusal to comply with the rules, which came into force more than a week ago, demonstrated Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for the people of India on its platform. “...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with the rules, failing which the exemption from liability available under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000, shall stand withdrawn and Twitter shall be liable for consequences as per the IT Act and other penal laws of India,” the notice said.

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Twitter declined to comment on the notice.

MeitY pointed out that while Twitter has not shared the details of its chief compliance officer, the resident grievance officer and the nodal contact person nominated by the company are not employees of Twitter Inc. in India, as required under the rules. Further, the office address submitted for Twitter Inc. is that of a law firm in India.

Noting that Twitter, in its earlier responses, had failed to address clarifications sought by the Ministry and indicate full compliance with the rules, the MeitY said, “Needless to state, such non-compliance will lead to unintended consequences, including Twitter losing exemption from liability as intermediary available under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000. This has clearly been provided under rule 7 of the aforesaid rules.”

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India has been among the first countries in the world, outside the parent country of Twitter Inc., to enthusiastically adopt the platform, the government said.

The Ministry added it is “beyond belief” that the company has doggedly refused to create mechanisms that will enable the people of India to resolve their issues on the platform in a timely and transparent manner. “Leave alone proactively creating such a mechanism, Twitter Inc. is in the inglorious bracket of refusing to do so even when mandated by law,” it said.