Greeva Garg –
In the effect of Twitter’s deliberate non-compliance with the new IT rules of India, their legal status is reportedly diminishing and the government now left the interpretation to the courts to desist Twitter from undermining Indian norms.
Large Social Media Platforms are protected from the liability arising out of user-generated content under the provisions of Information Technology in various jurisdictions when undertaken services of intermediaries. This protection is provisioned as Safe Harbour for Social Media Intermediaries.
In India, this protection is granted under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. This protection is conditional and could be enjoyed by the intermediary if complied with due diligence while discharging duties under the Act and observing guidelines prescribed by the Central government.
With the issue of new rules of February 2021, Twitter has been categorised into ‘Significant Social Media Intermediaries’.
As per the new rule the categorisation for a significant intermediary, the threshold set is 50 lakh registered users in India along with various additional obligations. These additional provisions came into force of May 26.
In a tweet Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union IT Minister stated that, “Twitter has not complied with the new rules, so they lose the protection for Safe Harbour as an intermediary in Section 79 of the IT Act.”
The concerning issue is handed over to the Government. The Court is obliged to decide whether an intermediary is eligible for Safe Harbour protection in appropriate proceedings.
After having notified the rules, the government now left the interpretation to the courts to desist Twitter from undermining Indian norms.