Twitter has lost its “Safe Harbor” exemption in India because no legal representative has been appointed, as required by the government’s new IT regulations. This means that Twitter and its executives are responsible for any content on the platform that is deemed illegal or “inflamed”.

“The company was given additional time to comply with the guidelines, but despite our repeated indulgence, including renewals, we were unable to adhere to the new IT rules. This enabled us to match Twitter. Has lost the Safe Harbor protection and is now exposed to IPC lawsuits against illegal content from third parties. “TOI report According to government sources.

I contacted Twitter and said that an interim Chief Compliance Officer had been appointed in India, the details of which will be communicated to the IT Department shortly.

“We continue to keep MeitY informed of the progress at every step of the process. The interim Chief Compliance Officer will remain and details will soon be shared directly with the ministry. Twitter will adhere to the new guidelines. We strive to do this. “

Why was Twitter removed from mediator status?

When the new IT rules go into effect, Indian social media companies will Originally I had it until May 25th To comply with the new rules. The new guidelines require the social media platform to set up a complaint mechanism and appoint a complaints officer. The complaints officer must register the complaint within 24 hours and deal with it within 15 days.

Most platforms, however, did not obey the rules due to the blockade and restrictions of COVID-19.

On June 5, the center posted a “final notice” on Twitter urging it to comply with legal requirements or lose its intermediary status.

A few days later, Twitter reached out to the government I’m looking for more time for compliance With new IT rules. Twitter intends to abide by the rules but said it needed more time due to the pandemic situation in India.

“The government believes that anyone who does not follow the guidelines has lost their mediator status. Today, all criminal proceedings that apply under Indian criminal law apply to Twitter. “Indian Express” report Source says.

Twitter was the first American platform to lose its protection in Sector 79 of IT law and its position as an intermediary in India.

Twitter received a final notice from the IT ministry on June 5th.

What does it mean for Twitter to lose mediator status?

Without the protection of Section 79 of the IT Act, Twitter is liable for “information, data or third-party communication links that it provides or hosts”. In principle, you can be made criminally liable for content on the platform. For the time being, the loss of Twitter’s legal protection has no effect on the end user.

In fact, nine defendants, including Twitter Inc, were beaten on June 5 in a town in the Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh after a video of the abuse was talked about on Twitter. An FIR was sent to a person. “Twitter Communications India Pvt”. A tweet about the incident revealed that the attacker forced the victim to sing “Jai Shree Ram”. Claims later rejected According to Ghaziabad Police Department.

After losing the mediator position, Twitter became responsible for so-called “inflammatory” tweets. Twitter has been accused by FIR of not removing “misleading” content related to the incident. Twitter and several journalists were accused of “stirring up community sentiments” in a post that shared a man’s allegation.

How did other social media platforms like Google, YouTube and Facebook get around this?

Other social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook continue to enjoy the exception of Indian social media intermediaries. And that immunity comes from compliance.

By the end of May, Google, Facebook and WhatsApp had sent the data from the new compliance officer to the IT ministry. report Along HT ..

June 1, WhatsApp called Palais B Lal As an Indian complainant.

On June 8th, Facebook nominated Spoorthi Priya as the Indian Complaints Officer on its website.

Twitter loses FIR-nominated broker status for the Ghaziabad case – Technology News, Firstpost

Source link Twitter loses FIR-nominated broker status for Ghaziabad-Technology News, Firstpost