Behind Twitter's 'non-compliance' with new IT rules: Covid-19 pandemic

Twitter said it had appointed a nodal contact person and a resident grievance officer as required under the rules

The appointment of a compliance officer at Twitter was delayed because of the pandemic and other practical issues, which made this a big part of the face-off between the microblogging platform and the government. On Wednesday, it said it has appointed an interim chief compliance officer, whose details will be shared directly with the government.
 
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said on May 28 that in response to its request to provide information about compliance with the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, most major social media intermediaries had shared the requisite details, except for Twitter.

 
In response, Twitter told MeitY in a letter on June 8: “We understand the importance of these regulations and have endeavoured in good faith to comply with the guidelines, including with respect to hiring personnel in India.
 

The guidelines were notified on February 25, 2021, and the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has made it more difficult for us as a practical matter to make certain arrangements necessary to comply with Guidelines within the stipulated time frame.”
 
The firm further said it had appointed a nodal contact person and a resident grievance officer as required under the rules. MeitY had written to all social media firms on May 26 to share their compliance status with the new rules, which require intermediaries like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal officer and a grievance officer resident in India.

 
According to industry sources, a big issue with appointing a compliance officer is the criminal liability associated with the role.
 
The IT rules state that the officer would be “responsible for ensuring compliance with the Act and rules made thereunder and shall be liable in any proceedings relating to any relevant third-party information, data or communication link made available or hosted by that intermediary where he fails to ensure that such intermediary observes due diligence while discharging its duties...”