Greeva Garg –
With the introduction of new IT Rules in India, Twitter is facing several setbacks in the Indian digital domain as Twitter in non-compliance with the Indian Social Intermediary Guidelines 2021 is reportedly losing its legal protection.
Several digital rights experts and technology lawyers have viewed their confusion with Twitter’s intermediary Status and asked the Courts to decide whether this social media platform has complied with Indian rules.
Twitter is currently vulnerable to face criminal and civil liability, if sued in the Indian Courts for non-compliance of the rules.
The new rules notified on February 25, 2021, were implemented one month later to its enactment in March. The Centre specifies, these rules are necessary to menace serious crimes in India.
According to the Internet Freedom Foundation of India, “There is no immediate penalty which flows from non-compliance beyond loss of immunity determined by courts on evidence and legal submissions. If social media firms don’t comply with the IT rules, they risk losing legal protection against liability for user-generated content. As per 79 of the IT Act, intermediaries are immune from liability/penalty if they comply with legal takedown requests of user posts from courts and public authorities,” it added.
India being the top growing market for Twitter, they are legally bound to comply with new rules directed by the Centre.
Legal experts call it a case which is too hard to decipher and depends on the Court’s decision.