Twitter is now in compliance to India's new IT rules, the government declaresNew Delhi said Tuesday that Twitter has now complied with India's new IT rules. This is a development that should ease the months-long tensions between the US social media network and India's government.The Delhi High Court heard from a lawyer representing India that Twitter's recent steps of naming a chief compliance officer, nodal contacts person, and resident grievance officer have made it prima facie compliant to the new law.An Indian Twitter spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a text.India's new IT regulations, which were revealed in February of this year, require significant social media companies, among others, to appoint officials to address issues on the ground in India.This requirement was met by Google and Facebook in May when the South Asian rules were implemented.Twitter was under fire from the Indian government after it did not block some tweets it found objectionable. Twitter requested an extension of time to comply with new rules, and temporarily filled in the roles.The tension between them has been building for several months. Twitter labeled a tweet by Sambit Patra (the spokesperson for India's ruling party BJP) as manipulated media in May. A surprise visit to two Twitter offices in India was made by a special squad from Delhi police to get information about Twitters reasoning behind Patra's tweets being labelled manipulated.Twitter stated at the time that it was concerned about recent events involving our employees in India as well as the possible threat to freedom-of-expression for the people it serves.According to the Indian government, last month's failure of the firms to conform with new IT rules has cost them liability protection. Separately, the Indian government warned Twitter that the firm was not in compliance with the law.Safe harbor protection is a term that describes Internet services. It means that they won't be held responsible for anything their users share or post online.Several top Indian ministers also criticised Twitter.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 be operating in India and making good money, you will assume that American laws will govern you. Prasad, who was India's IT minister until last month, stated that this is clearly unacceptable.Important social media companies that use encrypted messaging services must also devise a way for messages to be traced back to their originator in special cases. Signal and Facebook, as well as Signal, have not met this requirement. WhatsApp sued the Indian government for violating this requirement.This is an ongoing story. There will be more to come.
