Queency Jain –
Failure to appoint statutory officers in compliance with the new Information Technology (IT) Rules, social networking site Twitter has lost its legal immunity in India.
Section 79 of the IT Act protects the social media firms from liability of third party content but since twitter did not comply with the new norms by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, the immunity has been taken away by the Government of India.
An official has already made it clear that any case, after 26 May, will not provide any protection to Twitter as the Government has already provided the firm with extra time to comply with the rules, but Twitter chooses not to share the details of appointment of officers with the Government.
Though Twitter has claimed that it has already appointed an interim chief compliance officer and will share the details directly with the Information & Technology ministry, the same is not shared till now.
In conclusion, the legal immunity provided under the IT Act has been taken away by the Government.