Twitter is no longer protected from user-generated content in India by its liability protection, as the government stated in a court filing this Wednesday. This comes amid tensions between India and Twitter over South Asian nations' new IT rules.New Delhi filed a court document Monday stating that Twitter had lost its immunity in India following the failure of the American social network to comply with new IT rules in India. The new rules were unveiled in February, and came into effect in May.Recent weeks have seen experts state that it is the Indian court, and not the Indian government, who can decide whether Twitter will be allowed to retain its safe harbor protections in the second largest internet market.I declare that the section 79(1) immunity granted to intermediaries is conditional immunity provided the intermediary meets the conditions of sections 79(2) or 79(3). In the filing, N Samaya Balan, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, stated that failure to comply with the IT Rules 2021 will result in Section 79(1) of IT Act 2000 not being applicable to such intermediary.This comes amid increasing tension between Twitter and the Indian government. Google, Facebook, as well as several other companies, have either partially or fully adhered to the IT rules. This requires all social media firms (with over 5 million users in India), to appoint a chief compliance officer, a resident grievance officers, and a nodal contact person to address any on-ground issues.According to the court filing, Twitter has not met any of these requirements. Twitter did not comment on Monday's filing but stated in the past that they would comply with IT rules.India welcomes all social media platforms. They are free to criticize Ravi Shankar Prasad or any other Prime Minister. It is about misuse of social media. Some say that we are bound to American laws. While you may make good money in India, you will assume that American laws will govern you. Ravi Shankar Prasad, India's IT Minister, stated this in a conference last Wednesday.Twitter officials in India could be facing criminal charges for content they consider objectionable. Indian police have filed at most five cases against the company and its officials in India over a variety of issues.In late May, a special team of Delhi police officers surprised two Twitter offices. Many saw this as an intimidation tactic. Twitter stated at that time that it was concerned about recent events in India regarding our employees and the possible threat to freedom to expression for those we serve. It requested three months from the Indian government to implement the new IT rules.WhatsApp has not fully adhered to the new IT rules. Operators of encrypted messaging apps are required to create a way that law enforcement can trace the source of any objectionable messages. WhatsApp, which now has over 530 million users across India, sued the Indian government over this requirement in May. They claimed that making traceability possible would violate citizens' constitutional rights to privacy.Signal is also reported to not have met the traceability requirements. The messaging service did not respond to a request for comment. It is not clear if Apple, which has many millions of Messages/iMessage users in India has met the traceability requirements. It declined to comment.
