Twitter says it will comply with new IT rules after Delhi High Court issues notice

Twitter on Monday reiterated to comply with the new IT intermediary guidelines in India as the Delhi High Court issued notice on a plea against the non-compliance by Twitter India and the Twitter Inc.

The plea, moved by advocate Amit Acharya, urged the High Court to issue direction to the Centre to pass necessary instruction to Twitter India and Twitter to appoint resident grievance officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 without any delay.

The High Court issued notice to the Centre and Twitter, seeking their stand on the plea.

A Twitter spokesperson told IANS that as stated earlier, the micro-blogging platform strives to comply with applicable law in India.

"We continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the Indian law," the Twitter spokesperson added.

While Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Telegram, LinkedIn etc have either fully or partially complied with the new IT rules, Twitter is yet to follow suit.

Twitter last week requested the IT Ministry to consider a minimum of three-month extension in order for the company to implement the new intermediary guidelines.

Twitter, which witnessed a police raid on its offices in Delhi and Gurugram early this week related to the alleged Congress toolkit controversy, reaffirmed that it continues to accept grievances from users and law enforcement via its existing grievance redressal channel available under the new IT Rules.

The company spokesperson had said that it plans to advocate for changes to elements of these regulations that inhibit free, open public conversation.

"We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government and believe it is critical to adopt a collaborative approach. It is the collective responsibility of elected officials, industry, and civil society to safeguard the interests of the public," the spokesperson said.

The new rules notified in the gazette of India on February 25 under the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021, came into effect from May 26.

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