Amid the ongoing tussle between Twitter and Centre over compliance of new IT rules, today the Delhi High Court during a hearing said that it won't provide legal protection to the social media giant if it does not follow India's new information technology rules, which includes clauses like appointing compliance officers based in the country.
The Delhi HC's remark came after Twitter informed the court that it has appointed an interim chief compliance officer, who is a resident of India, two days ago but sought eight weeks to appoint a grievance officer in the country. It said an interim grievance officer will be appointed by July 11 and that an interim nodal contact person will be appointed in two weeks.
Additionally, it also told the court that it will make its first compliance report public by July 11.
Howver the court after noting the details told Twitter to file an affidavit declaring these details formally within two weeks and also asked all interim officers appointed by Twitter to file affidavits stating they would take responsibility for the duties tasked to them.
After the court warned that it cannot take "as long as it wants" Twitter gave a time-frame two days stating that it still reserved the right to challenge the new rules.
Appointments for three full-time positions - a chief compliance officer, a resident grievance officer and a nodal contact person - will be made in eight weeks, Twitter said, adding it is accepting applications for these roles for which job openings have been posted.
Earlier this week, the central government in a court filing said that Twitter no longer has liability protection against user-generated content in India as the US microblogging giant has failed to comply with the new rules.
"While Twitter is striving to comply with the 2021 Rules, Twitter reserves its right to challenge the legality, validity... of the Rules," the social media said in a filing.
On July 6, Delhi High Court gave a stern warning to the company over the appointment of a grievance officer. "How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that," Justice Rekha Palli had said.
