Made Permanent Appointments on August 4, in Compliance With IT Rules: Twitter Tells Delhi HC

Cowsher

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posted on 3 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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The Central government, however, said it needs to verify this information.

Social media giant Twitter on Friday told the Delhi High Court that it made permanent appointments of officers on August 4, in compliance with the new Information Technology (IT) rules of the country. The Central government, however, said it needs to verify this information. The next hearing in the matter will be on August 10, the high court said.

Twitter has informed the Delhi High Court that it has appointed Vinay Prakash as the permanent Resident Grievance Officer ( RGO) and Chief Compliance Officer( CCO) while Shahin Komath has been made the Nodal Contact Officer (NCO).

During the last hearing, the court had nudged Twitter to appoint the chief compliance officer and resident grievance officer as contingent workers and not as permanent employees, saying that it is unacceptable and the company has to comply with the rules whole-heartedly.

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday told Parliament that Twitter has appointed a chief compliance officer and a resident grievance officer as a contingent arrangement, but has not designated a nodal contact person. On May 26, 2021 (the day when new rules for social media were enforced), Twitter was non-compliant as it failed to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal contact person and a resident grievance officer as mandated in the norms, Chandrasekhar said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

“Subsequently, they appointed a chief compliance officer and a resident grievance officer as a contingent arrangement. Twitter has also not designated a nodal contact person and the matter is sub-judice,” he added. Social media platforms like Twitter are intermediaries as defined in the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.

In order to ensure accountability of social media platforms to users and enhanced user safety, the government has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which came into effect from May 26, 2021, the minister said. He added that in case of non-compliance, the intermediaries are liable to lose their exemption under Section 79 of the IT Act, 2000.

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