Twitter failed to comply with new IT Rules: Centre tells HC

New Delhi, July 05: The Centre Monday told the Delhi High Court that social media giant Twitter Inc has failed to comply with India''s new IT Rules, which is law of the land and is mandatorily required to be complied with.

The Centre, in an affidavit filed in the high court, said "In spite of 3 months time granted to all SSMIs (significant social media intermediaries) to comply with the IT Rules 2021, having expired on May 26, Twitter Inc has failed to fully comply with the same."

"Twitter has failed to comply with IT Rules 2021 as of July 1 for -- not appointing Chief Compliance Officer, Resident Grievance Officer, Nodal Contact Person (even on an interim basis), & not showing physical contact address on Twitter website," it added.

The new IT Rules, 2021 are law of the land and Twitter is mandatorily required to comply with it

"Any non-compliance amounts to breach of provisions of IT Rules thereby leading to Twitter losing immunity conferred under Section 79 (1) of IT Act, 2000," it said.

The affidavit has been filed in response to a plea by lawyer Amit Acharya, in which he claimed non-compliance of the Centre''s new IT Rules by the platform.

Micro-blogging platform Twitter has been at loggerheads with the government over various issues, including during the farmers'' protest in January and later when it tagged political posts of several leaders of the ruling party BJP as "manipulated media", drawing a sharp rebuke from the Centre.

Twitter recently named California-based Jeremy Kessel as India''s grievance redressal officer on the platform''s website -- although the appointment does not meet the requirements of new IT rules that clearly mandate key officers including the grievance officer, to be resident in India.

Notably, Twitter has lost its legal shield as an intermediary in India, becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.