Twitter Says It Has Appointed Permanent Officers To Comply With India's New IT Rules

Social media behemoth Twitter informed the Delhi High Court on 6 August that it has recruited a chief compliance officer (COO), resident grievance officer (RGO) and nodal contact person permanently to comply with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules.

However, the court stated that the affidavit provided by the microblogging site, in this case, is not on record and ordered Twitter to make sure it is.

The copies of the affidavit have been served to other parties, including the Centre's counsel, who will return on 10 August with instructions, according to Justice Rekha Palli.

Twitter's attorney Sajan Poovayya said the company designated permanent officials for the positions of CCO, RGO, and nodal contact person on 4 August under India’s new IT rules and filed an affidavit in accordance with the court's earlier decision.

When the court asked during the hearing whether Twitter was complying now, Chetan Sharma, the Centre's Additional Solicitor General, responded saying "seemingly so, but we need to verify", reported The Times of India.

On 28 July, the court said that statements by Twitter "clearly show total non-compliance" with the new IT rules and expressed dissatisfaction with the social media giant’s appointment of a “contingent worker” as the CCO.

At that time, Justice Palli said that while the laws required Twitter to nominate a key managerial person or a senior employee as CCO, the company revealed in its affidavit that it had chosen a contingent worker through a third-party contractor.

The court noted that “he (CCO) is categorical (in his affidavit) that he is not an employee. This itself is in the teeth of the rule. There has to be some seriousness about the rule. Some sanctity has to be given".

Sharma said that Twitter was breaking the rules since the CCO must be a full-time employee of the social media intermediary, not a contractor.

According to him: "It has been months. You can't have it so easy. We hold our hands because we are before your lordship."

While Poovayya said that "the person appointed as CCO would also act as the RGO, effective 7 July," Advocate G Tushar Rao, appearing for petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, objected to this.

Rao argued that the two positions could not be held by the same person because the roles were different. But, according to Poovayya, the laws do not prohibit the employment of the same person as CCO and RGO.

Acharya, in his appeal, noted that he learned about Twitter's non-compliance with IT laws when he attempted to file a complaint about some tweets.

However, the high court had ordered Twitter to reveal not just all of the circumstances surrounding the appointment of the CCO and RGO, but also to explain why a nodal contact person had not yet been chosen and when the post will be filled.

The court had previously given time to Twitter to present an affidavit demonstrating compliance with the IT rules. According to the Centre's affidavit, Twitter failed to comply with India's new IT Rules, which might result in the company losing its IT Act immunity.

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 were notified by the Central government in February this year. This law aims to regulate the transmission and publication of content in cyberspace, including social media platforms.