Twitter – No Longer an intermediary in India
Due to its non-compliance with the new Information Technology Rules, which went into effect on May 26, Twitter is no longer recognised as an intermediary in India and will now be handled as a publisher.
Regulations & Requirements
The regulations required all social media businesses to appoint statutory officials, which Twitter did not do despite repeated requests from the government. Twitter and its officials have lost their immunity and safety net as a result of this move, and will now be held accountable for the acts of its users.
The regulations required all social media businesses to appoint statutory officials, which Twitter did not do despite repeated requests from the government. Twitter and its officials have lost their immunity and safety net as a result of this move, and will now be held accountable for the acts of its users. Despite the fact that none of the social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, have this publicly available, the names of its grievance officers are.
First Action against Twitter
After an elderly Muslim was purportedly beaten up on June 5th in a town in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, and the video of the abuse went viral on Twitter, several journalists, political leaders, and Twitter were mentioned in a First Information Report (FIR) on June 15th.
Loss of Legal Protection to Twitter
In India, Section 79 of the Information Technology Act shields firms like Twitter from liability arising from the acts of their users on their platform by designating them as a “intermediary” rather than a publisher. Twitter’s loss of legal protection will have no impact on its users. However, according to the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), the “intermediary” position is not something that the Indian government has awarded, but rather an intrinsic legal protection, and as such, the government cannot change the distinction.
Twitter and India Govt Splits
For a long time, Twitter and the Indian government have had a tense relationship. On multiple occasions, the government has compelled Twitter to remove particular tweets, particularly those critical of the government’s COVID-19 response. The government even dispatched a team from the Special Cell of the Delhi Police to raid and search Twitter India’s office in Delhi/NCR, which was later referred to as a normal inspection. In reaction, Twitter withdrew the blue tick from the account of the Vice Presidents of India, which it later restored.