IT minister may meet social media firms' officials this month: Report

Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is likely to meet representatives of social media firms this month sources said on MondayThis comes amid social media giant Twitters involvement in a standoff with the Indian government for the past several months over the new amendments in the countrys new Information Technology laws with the microblogging platform losing its intermediary status and becoming liable for usergenerated contentEarlier in an affidavit filed before the Delhi High Court the Central government informed that Twitter Inc has failed to fully comply with the IT Rules 2021 in spite of the three months time granted to all Significant Social Media Intermediaries SSMIs The deadline for complying with the new rules was May 26 2021The Government of India has approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of all petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Information Technology IT Rules 2021 from various High Courts to the top courtOn July 28 Delhi High Court pulled up Twitter for not complying with the recently amended IT rules expressed unhappiness with Twitter affidavits and granted the last opportunity to file a better affidavit having the details of the person appointed as Chief Compliance Officer and Grievance OfficerAre you serious about it asked Justice Rekha Palli and criticised Twitter after taking note of the affidavits filed by the companyThe affidavits clearly show of total noncompliance of rules the court said granting one weeks time as the last opportunity to file a better affidavit in terms of the earlier orders passed by the courtThe court made it clear that the affidavit must clearly set out details of persons who have been appointed as Chief Compliance Officer and Grievance officer and also furnish reasons why nodal contact person is not appointed till date and in what time will he be appointedThe matter was adjourned for August 6 for further hearingSenior Advocate Sajan Poovayya representing Twitter informed the Delhi High Court that two affidavits were filed as regards Chief Compliance Officer and Grievance Officer The affidavit of entity has clarified that appointments have been made and we will no more use the word interimBut the court pulled up Twitter for using the term contingent worker and asked what does it meanAdvocate replied that Twitter Incs is situated outside and they do not have a physical office in India But the response could not convince the court which remarked that you are still doing business in IndiaDelhi High Court said it is not happy with the affidavits filed by Twitter The court said it is not acceptable that appointing Chief Compliance Officer and Resident Grievance Officer as contingent workers The court remarked that if the company wanted to comply with IT rules comply wholeheartedlyIndias recently enforced law Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code Rules 2021 came to regulate the functioning of online media portals and publishers social media companies like Facebook Twitter rendering their services as intermediaries and as well as overthetop OTT platformsAccording to amended IT rules social media and streaming companies will be required to take down contentious content quicker and appoint grievance redressal officers based in the country to deal with online content flagged by authorities and courts and assist in investigationsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever