Twitter has to comply with new IT rules for digital media, says HC
Twitter has to comply with the new Information Technology
Rules for digital media if they have not been stayed, the Delhi High Court said on
Monday.
Justice Rekha Palli issued notice to the Centre and social media platform Twitter seeking their
stand on a plea by a lawyer, Amit Acharya, claiming non-compliance of the rules
by it.
While Twitter claimed
before the court that it has complied with the rules and appointed a resident
grievance officer, the central government disputed the claim.
"They have to follow it (rules), if it has not been
stayed," the court said.
In his plea, filed through advocate 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.
During the hearing, central government standing counsel Ripudaman
Singh Bhardwaj told the court that Twitter has not complied with the rules.
Acharya, in his plea, said that the new IT Rules took effect from
February 25 and the Centre had given three months to every social media intermediary,
including Twitter, to comply with them.
He contended that the three-month period got over on May 25, but
no resident grievance officer was appointed by Twitter to deal with complaints
regarding tweets on its platform.
The petition has sought a direction to Twitter to appoint a
resident grievance officer without further delay. It has also sought a
direction to the Centre to ensure that the IT rules are complied with.
Twitter had recently said it was committed to India as a vital
market, but criticised the new IT rules and regulations, saying they
"inhibit free, open public conversation".
Responding to Twitter's comments, the Centre had said the social media platform
was levelling baseless and false allegations to defame India and dictating
terms to the world's largest democracy.
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