Key Points:
- On Saturday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology warned the tech and Social Media giant, Twitter, to conform to the newly formed IT rules by the Government.
- “Despite being in operation in India for over a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc. 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 and through fair processes,” the ministry has stated in its letter.
- The strong worded letter mentioned that of Twitter fails to send the compliance details to the ministry, it will be a “lack of commitment towards providing a safe experience to the people of India”.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology warned the tech and Social Media giant, Twitter, to conform to the newly formed IT rules by the Government. The strong worded letter mentioned that of Twitter fails to send the compliance details to the ministry, it will be a “lack of commitment towards providing a safe experience to the people of India”.
“Despite being in operation in India for over a decade, it is beyond belief that Twitter Inc. 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 and through fair processes,” the ministry has stated in its letter. “Users who are abused on the platform or are harassed or are subject to defamation or specula abuse or become victims go a whole range of other abusive contacts must get a redressal mechanism that the same people of India have created through a due process of law.”
India’s New IT Rules suggest the Social Media platforms to:
1) Appoint local officers for compliance, liaison and grievance handling
2) A company like WhatsApp should be able to track down the ‘first originator’.
3) The Indian government also wants ‘significant’ social media intermediaries to monitor online content using artificial intelligence (AI)
What is the Clash against Twitter?
- It started from the Post Farmer’s Rally comments on Twitter on Republic Day when the Indian government asked Twitter to ban a few accounts and Twitter wasn’t prompt enough.
- Then came in the Toolkit incidence of Greta Thunberg wherein the Indian Government said that Twitter was being misused for creating unrest in India.
- After this, Twitter showed the geo-location of certain locations in Union Territory of Ladakh as part of the People’s Republic of China at a time when India and China were engaged in the peaceful resolution of border-related issues through bilateral dialogue.
- Twitter was then accused of Promoting Vaccine Hesitancy.
- The government said Twitter took no action against posts that “maliciously” termed B.1.617 mutant as an Indian variant.
- Twitter recently labeled statements of BJP spokesperson as ‘Manipulated Media’ and the Hashtag trended for quite a long time. The Delhi Police even visited the Twitter Office for this.
- Twitter also said that it is concerned about the safety of its staff working in India as well as the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people Twitter serves.
- In regards to the New Rules, Twitter said that the rules obstruct free speech.
- The Indian Government replied to this statement saying that ‘the platform will have to abide by the rules as these have been finalized after wide consultations with all stakeholders.’
- Twitter has appointed an interim grievance redressal officer in India- Dharmendra Chatur, after the revolt.
So, the Twitter and the Indian Government clash has been going on from right before the New Laws came into existence.
