The Centre told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that Twitter was prima facie in compliance with the new Information Technology Rules by appointing a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) and Nodal Contact Person on a permanent basis. Justice Rekha Palli, who was hearing a petition alleging non-compliance of IT Rules by the US-based microblogging site, sought an affidavit from the Centre to bring its stand on record within two weeks.
The court said that Twitter’s affidavit on its compliance with IT Rules was finally on record. Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya said the appointed persons will work on a full-time basis and are fully capable of performing the functions in terms of the law.
On July 28, the court had expressed displeasure over Twitter appointing a contingent worker as CCO and said that the social media platform was in non-compliance with the new IT Rules.
India’s new IT rules, which were unveiled in February this year, mandate significant social media firms, among other things, to appoint officials to address on-ground concerns in the country. Facebook and Google complied with this requirement in May, when the proposed rules went into effect in the South Asian market.
The court had earlier granted time to Twitter to file an affidavit to show compliance with the IT Rules.
Petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, represented by senior advocate G Tushar Rao, claimed that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance of IT Rules by Twitter when he tried to lodge a complaint against a couple of tweets.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 seek to regulate dissemination and publication of content in cyberspace, including social media platforms and were notified in February by the central government.
The matter would be heard next on October 5.
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