New Delhi: Twitter has appointed an Indian interim grievance redressal officer, though it is not yet clear whether the other positions -- a compliance officer and a nodal officer -- mandated by the Centre's rules have been filled. The new officer has been named in the website of the microblogging platform.
A spokesperson from Twitter declined to comment on the issue. But on May 31, Twitter had told Delhi High Court about the appointment. The person appointed is Dharmendra Chatur, partner at a law firm that represented Twitter at the High Court.
The government had earlier rejected the appointment of outsiders into statutory posts. Its reaction on the new appointment is not yet clear.
On Monday, the High Court issued notice to Twitter after a petition alleged that the social media giant was not complying with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which came into effect last month.
Twitter told the court that it has appointed a Resident Grievance Officer, though the Centre disputed the claim, reported news agency Press Trust of India.
"As we have stated earlier, 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," a spokesperson said.
As the new rules came into effect, Twitter had expressed concern.
"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.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) responded asking the microblogging site to "stop beating around the bush" and "comply with the laws of the land".
The new IT rules include complaint resolution, monitoring of objectionable content, compliance report and removal of objectionable content. For this, the social media firms and OTT platforms are required to appoint India-based compliance officials. The government said social media firms are creating hurdles for this, insisting on getting clearance from their headquarters in the US.