Twitter became the first American platform to lose its legal shield in India for 3rd party content.
Twitter failed to appoint statutory officers under the new IT rules by May 25 and ignored the “one last notice” issued on June 5.
The Times of India reported:
NEW DELHI: Twitter has lost the coveted “safe harbour” immunity in India over its failure to appoint statutory officers on the company’s role in line with the new IT rules, and its top executives, including the country managing director, could now face police questioning and criminal liability under IPC over ‘unlawful’ and ‘inflammatory’ content posted on the platform by any user.
With this, Twitter becomes the only American platform to have the protective shield – granted under Section 79 of the IT Act, even though others such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram remain protected, official sources said.
Last month the Delhi Police Special Cell raided offices of Twitter in Delhi and Gurgaon in connection with their “Toolkit” probe.
Police sent a letter to Twitter India after the social media giant labeled BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra’s tweet as “manipulated media.”
The BJP party (right-wing) is one of the two major political parties in India.
“We want to know what information Twitter has about the toolkit and why they chose to give the ‘manipulated media’ label. Our team is conducting raids at their Delhi office in Mehrauli and their Gurgaon office on Golf Course Road,” said the officer.
Read more from the Times of India here.
