Twitter Given Many Opportunities, It Failed To Comply With New IT Laws: Govt
Twitter will be directly editorially responsible for posts published on its platform, rather than considering it to be the only platform hosting content from different users
Mumbai: Union information and technology minister Ravishankar Prasad on Wednesday justified Twitter losing legal protection in India, saying that the social media giant failed to comply with the guidelines despite being given multiple opportunities.
Also Read: Twitter Loses Legal Protection, Fails To Comply With New IT Rules: Official
“There are numerous queries arising as to whether Twitter is entitled to safe harbour provision. However, the simple fact of the matter is that Twitter has failed to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines that came into effect on the 26th of May.
Further, it was given multiple opportunities to comply with the same, however, it has deliberately chosen the path of non-compliance,” Prasad said.
https://twitter.com/rsprasad/status/1405043034660560899?s=20
Further justifying the action, the minister said that in a country like India, with the amplification of social media, “even a small spark can cause fire”, adding that this was one of the many reasons why the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules were notified.
“It is astounding that Twitter, which portrays itself as the flag bearer of free speech, chooses the path of deliberate defiance when it comes to the Intermediary Guidelines,” he added.
https://twitter.com/rsprasad/status/1405043037995114502?s=20
In reference to a recent incident in Uttar Pradesh where a 72-year-old Muslim man, Abdul Samad Saifi, being brutally beaten up in Ghaziabad’s Loni went viral, many shared the video claiming the incident of being a communally motivated hate crime.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that “What happened in UP was illustrative of Twitter’s arbitrariness in fighting fake news. While Twitter has been over-enthusiastic about its fact-checking mechanism, its failure to act in multiple cases like UP is perplexing & indicates its inconsistency in fighting misinformation.”
https://twitter.com/rsprasad/status/1405043041300193281?s=20
However, denying such allegations, the police in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad filed an FIR on Tuesday, 15 June, against nine entities including Twitter Inc and Twitter Communications India Pvt for having done nothing to prevent the video from getting viral.
The Ghaziabad Police noted in their FIR, “There is no communal angle to the incident in Loni where a man was thrashed and his beard was chopped off,” news agency ANI reported.
Meanwhile, Microblogging platform Twitter has lost its status as an intermediary platform in India as it is yet to comply with the amended information technology rules that came into force on May 26. It is the only social media platform among the mainstream that has not complied with the new rules. law.
This means that Twitter will be directly editorially responsible for posts published on its platform, rather than considering it to be the only platform hosting content from different users.
“Now, if there is a case in court, Twitter cannot seek safe harbour under the Information Technology Act. In any case, filed after May 26, Twitter cannot say it is an intermediary and claim exception.”
The Information Technology (Intermediate Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules were notified in February and came into force on May 25.
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