Plea says Twitter failed IT Rules, Twitter says appointed Grievance Officer
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New Delhi: Reminding the need for complying with the newly enacted Information Technology rules for social media, the Delhi High Court sent a notice to micro-blogging site Twitter and the Central government.
The plea filed by lawyer Amit Acharya said that the details of a Resident Grievance Officer to be appointed as per the new IT rules have been missing, a violation of the IT rules that came into effect on May 25.
Meanwhile, Twitter told the court that the officer was appointed on May 28 in compliance with the rules. A bench comprising Justice Rekha Palli granted three week-time to Twitter to put on record that it has appointed a Resident Grievance Officer.
The petition was filed by advocate Amit Acharya, who has alleged that he was unable to find details of a resident grievance officer on Twitter's website which violates the new I-T Rules, 2021 that came into effect on May 25.
The petitioner also argued that Twitter has appointed a US resident as the Grievance Officer but the same "is not in true sense implementation of Rule 4 of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021"
He also urged the High Court to issue direction to the Centre to pass necessary instruction to Twitter India and Twitter Inc to appoint resident grievance officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 without any delay.
It has also sought direction from the Centre to ensure that the IT rules are complied with.
While the micro-blogging site claimed before the court that it has complied with the rules and appointed a resident grievance officer, the Central government disputed the claim.
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".
Under the new digital rules, social media companies like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have been asked to identify within 36 hours the originator of a flagged message as well as to conduct additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer.
