The petitioner alleged that he was unable to find details of a resident grievance officer on Twitter's website which is in violation of the new I-T Rules, 2021. Twitter told the High Court that it has complied with new rules

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued a notice to social media giant Twitter on a petition filed against it for allegedly not complying with the new I-T rules.

A bench headed by Justice Rekha Palli said Twitter has to comply with the new Information Technology Rules for digital media if they have not stayed.

The petition has been filed by advocate Amit Acharya, who has alleged that he was unable to find details of a resident grievance officer on Twitter's website which is in violation of the new I-T Rules, 2021 which came into effect on May 25.

The petitioner also argued that Twitter has appointed a US resident as the Grievance Officer but the same “is not in true sense implementation of Rule 4 of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021”.

Meanwhile, representatives of Twitter told the High Court that it has complied with new rules and has already appointed a resident grievance officer on May 28. The microblogging site also said it will file an affidavit in the matter.

The next hearing on the matter will be on June 6.

Last week, Twitter issued a statement responding to the new I-T rules framed by the government, saying while it would strive to comply with applicable law in India, it was "concerned" by the recent events regarding its employees in India and the "potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve".

In response, the Centre had said Twitter refuses to comply with "those very regulations in the 'Intermediary Guidelines' on the basis of which it is claiming a safe harbour protection from any criminal liability in India".

The government termed Twitter's statement "unfortunate", totally baseless, false and an attempt to defame India to hide their own follies".

What Are The New I-T Rules

The new I-T rules say that if the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp do not comply with the new guidelines, they will lose the protection that “intermediaries” get in under the I-T Act. So what are the new rules, and why are companies taking so long to comply with them?

Under the new law, the big tech companies have been asked to appoint a chief compliance officer from India, who can cater to the demands of the government and address the issues raised by the government. For instance, if the government asks for user data from any of the social media apps, and if the demand is legal, the compliance officer will provide the data. Along with a compliance officer, the companies have also been asked to hire a nodal officer that will coordinate with the law enforcement authorities whenever required.