Twitter strives to comply with India’s IT rules, says spokesperson after Delhi HC’s snub

“Twitter strives to comply with applicable laws in India. We continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the Indian law,” said Twitter Spokesperson, according to news agency ANI.

The Delhi High Court today issued notice to Twitter after a petition was filed against it for alleged non-compliance of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

Twitter Inc told Delhi High Court that it has complied with the new IT Rules and already appointed a Resident Grievance Officer under Rule 4 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules 2021 on May 28. A single-judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli asked the Centre and Twitter Inc to file a reply on the petition and listed the matter for July 6.

Earlier on Thursday, Twitter had said it was concerned by recent events regarding their employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression.

“Concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and potential threat to freedom of expression for people we serve. We have concerns with regards to intimidation police’s tactics in response to enforcement of global Terms of Service and core elements of the new IT Rules,” a Twitter spokesperson had said.

In response to this, the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on Friday had asked the microblogging company to “stop beating around the bush” and “comply with the laws of the land”.

In a statement on Thursday, MeitY asserted that India had a “glorious tradition of free speech and democratic practices” and Twitter’s statements were an ‘attempt to dictate its terms to the world’s largest democracy.

On May 24, the Delhi Police visited the Twitter India offices after it issued notice to Twitter seeking an explanation on what grounds it tagged BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s tweet on the alleged Congress toolkit designed to target the Central government as ‘manipulated media’.

The Delhi Police Special Cell asked Twitter to explain the rationale and share all the information on how it described the toolkit as manipulated media.