Recent times have not been kind to popular micro-blogging site Twitter – the US social media platform has been in dire straits in the world’s second-largest internet market for quite some time now. Now, to prevent further disasters, it seems that Twitter is willing to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 after it informed the Delhi High Court about the appointment of a Chief Compliance Officer, Resident Grievance Officer, and Nodal Contact Person permanently.
You may remember that Twitter’s first interim Resident Grievance Officer Dharmendra Thakur quit soon after his appointment, prompting Twitter to make the controversial move to appoint California-born Jeremy Kessel to be his successor. Soon after the Delhi Police “visited” Twitter India’s office, Twitter appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer.
Now, Vinay Prakash has been appointed as Twitter’s Chief Compliance Officer and its Resident Grievance Officer, while Shahin Komath has been appointed as Nodal contact person. The same was informed to the Delhi High Court by Twitter’s lawyer Sajan Poovayya at a hearing Friday.
This has been done to comply with the IT Rules, 2021, which has already been nothing short of a headache for Twitter. If you have been following us, you are no stranger to the bitter feud between Twitter and the ruling BJP government as both sides have crossed swords on multiple issues this year, ranging from the farmers’ protests and the suspension of accounts to the Congress toolkit. This move, which includes an affidavit in compliance with the court’s earlier order, is supposed to pacify the government, or so Twitter hopes.
The High Court had earlier noted that the micro-blogging platform had appointed a “contingent worker” as its Chief Compliance Officer, which was at odds with the mandates of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 202, which was brought into effect this May to regulate the dissemination and the publication of content online, especially on social media platforms. It aims to empower the users of OTT platforms and social media platforms, coming at a time when social media companies are striving to make their platforms safer for their users.
Now, it will be seen whether the appointments comply with the rules, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing the federal government, said during the hearing. The court will hear the case again on August 10.
