Delhi High Court raps Twitter over delay in key appointments, says `you can`t take as long as you want`

NEW DELHI: In more trouble for Twitter India, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday slammed the micro-blogging platform for inordinate delay in making key appointments in compliance with the country’s new digital laws.

Expressing its displeasure over Twitter delaying the appointment of grievance redressal officer, Justice Rekha Palli of Delhi High Court said, "How long does your (Twitter's) process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long as it wants in our country, I'll not allow that."

The high court further stated that ''Twitter is in defiance of the digital law'' for not appointing the grievance redressal officer as necessitated under new IT Rules.

The high court also directed Twitter to explain why no new India-based grievance officer had been appointed after the resignation of Dharmendra Chatur on June 21.

Twitter Inc no more enjoys liability protection against user-generated content in India as the US micro-blogging giant has failed to comply with new IT rules, the government has recently said in a court filing.

This is the first time that the Narendra Modi-led administration has officially said that Twitter has lost its immunity after repeatedly criticising the company for non-compliance.

The dispute and the public spat has raised concern that American firms will find it difficult to do business amid a more stringent regulatory environment.

The IT Ministry told the Delhi High Court that Twitter`s non-compliance amounted to a breach of the provisions of the IT Act, causing the U.S. firm to lose its immunity, according to the filing dated July 5.

The filing came in a case filed by a Twitter user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said the company was not complying with the new law that requires the appointment of certain new executives.

Twitter has previously said it was making all efforts to comply. The new IT rules which became effective end-May are aimed at regulating content on social media firms and making them more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts and sharing details on the originators of messages.

Union Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has slammed Twitter for deliberately defying the law and said all social media firms must abide by the new rules.

In recent weeks, as acrimony grew between New Delhi and Twitter, at least five cases had been filed against the company or its officials, including some related to child pornography and a controversial map of India on its career page.

Twitter has also landed in legal trouble over child pornographic content on its platform.