Twitter has to comply with new IT rules for digital media, says Delhi High Court

We are doing so and appointed a resident grievance officer, the social media platform says.

Representational image only.

The Delhi High Court on Monday said Twitter has to comply with the new Information Technology Rules for digital media if they have not been stayed by the court.

Justice Rekha Palli also issued notice to the Centre and Twitter on a plea by advocate Amit Acharya, seeking to appoint Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

“They have to follow it [Rules], if it has not been stayed,” the court said during the hearing.

The Central government standing counsel said Twitter has not complied with the Rules, but the social media platform claimed that it has complied with them and appointed a resident grievance officer.

Mr. Acharya, in his plea filed through advocates Akash Vajpai and Manish Kumar, claimed that he wanted to raise grievance against two alleged “offensive and objectionable tweet” with the resident grievance officer.

“However the Petitioner was unable to find the contact details of the resident grievance officer on the website of Twitter,” he said.

The petition said the Information Technology Rules 2021 have come into effect from February 25, 2021 and the Centre had given three months’ time to every significant social media intermediary to comply with them.