This Article is From Jun 15, 2021

Twitter Appoints Interim Official for Compliance, Says Will Share Details

A spokesperson of Twitter said the company "continues to make every effort" to comply with the new guidelines and is keeping the IT Ministry apprised of progress at every step

Twitter Appoints Interim Official for Compliance, Says Will Share Details

An interim Chief Compliance Officer has been retained, Twitter said today.

New Delhi:

Twitter has appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer as mandated by the Centre's new laws, the social media platform said in a statement this evening.  The details of the official will soon be shared be shared with the IT Ministry. Twitter had initially expressed concern as the new rules came into effect last month and after several warnings from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, appointed an Indian interim grievance redressal officer.

This evening, a spokesperson said the company "continues to make every effort" to comply with the new guidelines and is keeping the IT Ministry apprised of progress at every step of the process, reported news agency Press Trust of India. An interim Chief Compliance Officer has been retained and details will be shared with the Ministry directly, the spokesperson added.

The move by the social media platform comes after the Centre issued notice to Twitter, accusing it of non-compliance. The company was told that it had one last chance to "immediately" comply with the new IT rules and a failure would lead to its losing exemption from liability under the IT Act.

Last week, Twitter had assured the government that it was in the process of finalising the appointment.

Under the new rules, social media platforms that have more than 50 lakh users have to appoint several officials to handle grievances and ensure redressal. Several posts need to be created and Indian officials have to be appointed as grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer.  

The government has been irked by the tardy compliance of Twitter, which contended that the new guidelines were inconsistent with Indian laws.

At a meeting with the company officials in February, the government said as a business entity working in India, Twitter "must respect" the Indian laws and follow them "irrespective of Twitter's own rules and guidelines".

The government had also expressed disappointment about the manner in which the platform "unwillingly, grudgingly and with great delay" complied with the laws.

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