The Delhi High Court has said that the Centre is free to initiate action against Twitter in accordance with the IT rules in case it had breached them. Further, Justice Rekha Palli has granted two weeks to Twitter to file hard copies of the notarised affidavit of a competent officer on compliance with the new rules.
Meanwhile, Twitter has informed the Delhi High Court that it is in the process of appointing an interim resident grievance officer, who will be a third-party contractor, by July 11, 2021. Further, Twitter stated that it will also release its monthly compliance report for the period of May 26, 2021 to June 25, 2021 on July 11, 2021.
As per the company’s submission to the court, it has appointed an interim chief compliance officer on July 6, 2021 and is going to appoint a nodal contact person on an interim basis within the next two weeks, in order to become compliant with the new intermediary guidelines effective on May 26, 2021.
Further, Twitter stated that it has publicly posted job openings for all three roles and is looking to formally fill the positions with its own employees within the next eight weeks. Additionally, Twitter is also setting up a liaison office in India that will serve as its permanent address throughout the country.
It added that while it intends to comply with the new IT Rules, 2021, it reserves the right to challenge the legality, validity, or legitimacy of the rules and that its compliance submissions are not affected by its right to challenge the new rules.
Twitter in its submission also said that it has communicated the appointment of its interim chief compliance officer to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and has made available an interim physical contact address in Bengaluru.
