Govt. is free to take any action against Twitter : Delhi HC

 

The Delhi High Court while hearing a petition filed in relation to Twitter's compliance with the New IT Rules denied interim protection to the social media giant. The Single-judge bench comprising Justice Rekha Palli gave the Central government a free hand to take action against Twitter for non-compliance with the IT Rules as it may deem fit and proper, noting that it was already in violation of the set deadline.  It, however, allowed the social media giant to file an affidavit in the matter. 

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, who was representing the Central government in the proceedings held before the Court that Twitter had not submitted any affidavit in the matter. He said, "We want the accountability of certitude", on which Senior Advocate Sajan Poovayya, who was representing Twitter, assured that there will be an affidavit to this effect. On this, Justice Palli interrupted only to point out that it was already in contempt. Having said that the Court pointed out that though no affidavit has been filed, a short note has been filed by Twitter. 

 

Granting Twitter the exception to file an affidavit, Justice Palli made it clear that 'no kind of protection is given to Twitter, and the Centre is free to take any action against it if it finds Twitter in violation of the rules. The statement was made keeping in mind that Twitter was already in violation of the deadline set by the Centre for compliance with the new IT Rules. 

 

Earlier in the day, Twitter had informed the High Court that it will try to appoint a Resident Grievance Officer within 8 weeks. Noting that the Interim Nodal Contact Officer and Resident Grievance Officer Dharmendra Chatur's resigned on June 21, the social media giant in the affidavit had mentioned that it had engaged the services of an interim Chief Compliance Officer via a third-party contractor with effect from July 6. However, it said that 8 more weeks will be required to fill this post as well.

 

Revealing that its interim physical contact address is 4th Floor, The Estate, 121 Dickenson Road, Bangalore 560 042, it added that a new liaison office will serve as its permanent physical contact address. Moreover, the affidavit disclosed that Twitter's first compliance report covering the May 26-June 25 period will be filed by July 11.

 

At the same time, it stressed, "While Twitter is striving to comply with the 2021 Rules, Twitter reserves its right to challenge the legality, validity, and vires of the Rules, and Twitter’s submissions regarding compliance are filed without prejudice to its right to challenge the Rules".

 

Twitter's reply came after it was sued in the Delhi High Court over purported non-compliance with the Centre's new IT rules. The petition filed by advocate Amit Acharya argued that Twitter must perform its statutory and executive duties as it is a "significant social media intermediary" as per the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Maintaining that he is deprived of his statutory right to lodge a complaint in the capacity as a Twitter user, he sought a direction for the appointment of a Resident Grievance Officer. 

 

At the outset, Justice Rekha Palli made it clear that the microblogging service has no choice but to comply if the rules are in place. On Monday, the Centre accused it of not abiding by the law of the land. Its affidavit read, "In spite of three months' time granted to all significant social media intermediaries to comply with the IT Rules, 2021, Twitter Inc has failed to comply with the same". 

 

A day later, Justice Palli too pulled up the social media giant for its non-compliance with the IT rules. Observing that she will not permit Twitter to take any amount of time to appoint the requisite officers, the judge affirmed that it should have taken some firm steps in this regard. Moreover, she accused it of giving the court the wrong impression that a resident grievance officer had been already appointed. 

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