Keypoints:
- Twitter will be editorially responsible for the posts and it will no longer be considered as a platform hosting something that somebody has tweeted.
- According to the digital rights organisation, the new rules are “unconstitutional” and are already being challenged in the court.
Twitter becomes the first US based social media giant to lose its legal protection in India. This was followed by a series of events which amplified the disagreement between the Government and Twitter. However, Twitter continues to maintain its cooperative stance. It has also said that effort is being made to comply with the new guidelines.
Twitter will now be responsible for its tweets and all the data hosted by it. Twitter will be editorially responsible for the posts and it will no longer be considered as a platform hosting something that somebody has tweeted.
According to ANI report, Twitter has been named in an FIR filed in Uttar Pradesh in connection with an incident in Ghaziabad. Now, Twitter will not be immune to criminal charges for what content somebody posts on Instagram. Twitter’s top executives may now be questioned for any content which the authorities feel as unlawful or inflammatory, etc.
A Twitter spokesperson has said that, “We are keeping the MeitY apprised of the progress at every step of the process. An interim Chief Compliance Officer has been retained and details will be shared with the Ministry directly soon. Twitter continues to make every effort to comply with the new Guidelines.”
If Twitter gets charged against anything, then it will totally be liable for punishment under any law, including the Indian Penal Code (IPC). If Twitter agrees to comply with the IT rules, it might come under the legal cover of a third party.
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that Twitter has failed to comply with intermediary guidelines – introduced on March 25 and came into effect on May 26. Twitter deliberately chose not to comply inspite of receiving multiple opportunities.
On twitter, the minister posted his statement and said that Twitter chooses to flag content “only when it suits”.
Section 79 of the IT Act, 2020 says that any intermediary will be exempted from liability for any third-party information, data or communication link made available or hosted by it. Along with this, it will also be exempted if the function of the intermediary is “limited to providing access to a communication system over which information made available by third parties is transmitted or temporarily stored or hosted”.
With this, Twitter users will not be affected and Twitter will not be banned. There will be no impact on twitter users.
According to the digital rights organisation, the new rules are “unconstitutional” and are already being challenged in the court.
