To maintain its status as an intermediary platform, Twitter has finally employed a resident grievance officer, as required by India’s New IT Rules 2021. Vinay Prakash, the social media giant’s India Grievance Officer, was recently added to the company’s roster. It has also released a compliance report in order to comply with the country’s new IT rules.
For those unfamiliar, India’s new IT Rules 2021 were adopted in February to regulate social media companies. The guidelines took effect in May, requiring any social media platform with more than 5 million users to designate a chief compliance officer, a resident grievance officer, and a “nodal contact person” to address and resolve on-the-ground user complaints.
While Facebook and WhatsApp were fully or somewhat compliant with the requirements, Twitter was not. And as a result of this, the corporation found itself in major legal trouble in India. Indeed, a Delhi court apparently removed Twitter from its “safe harbor” protection list last week. It revoked the platform’s liability protection that protected Twitter from facing legal issues for any user-generated content in India.
However, it appears that Twitter has finally responded to the government’s concerns by creating a local Grievance Officer. Vinay Prakash has been named as Twitter’s India Grievance Officer, with contact information available on the company’s official support page.
In addition, the business explained how users may now report Twitter accounts directly from a tweet, List, or profile. It also explains how to report Twitter Fleet accounts, Twitter Spaces, and certain types of abuses. It also provided an in-depth report on how it handled complaints from Indian customers, as required by the new criteria.
As a result of these actions, Twitter hopes to reclaim its status as an intermediary platform in India and avoid any more legal entanglements. Furthermore, it should end the ongoing spat between Twitter and the Indian government, which the microblogging platform would welcome in the future.
