An Interim Resident Grievance Officer will be appointed soon in India, microblogging site Twitter India told the Delhi High Court today. Till then, complaints are being addressed by other personnel, it said.
Twitter was responding to a case was filed in High Court by a user alleging that his complaint against Tweets were not acted upon promptly by the social media giant.
“An Interim Resident Grievance officer was appointed as per the new IT Rules. However, even before steps could be taken to completely formalise the arrangement, the official withdrew his candidature on 21.6.2021,” Twitter told the High court.
“We are in the final stages of appointing a replacement. In the meanwhile, the grievances of Indian users are being addressed by the Grievance Officer,” it said in an affidavit filed by Micah L Rubbo, Senior Counsel and Twitter Inc’s Director of Litigation.
Asking for the petition against it to be dismissed on grounds that the petitioner did not have locus standi, the microblogging website submitted details of the Interim Resident Grievance Officer.
“The petition is not maintainable since Twitter is a corporation registered in United States of America,” it told the High Court.
Twitter recently appointed Global Legal Policy Director Jeremy Kessel as grievance officer for India to follow the new IT rules.
Significant social media intermediaries are required to appoint a chief compliance officer, a nodal officer, and a grievance officer — all whom are required to be residents of India, according to the IT rules. Non-compliance would result in these platforms losing their intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.
These firms also must publish monthly reports with details of complaints received and action taken. Taking action could include removing a piece of content or covering photos or videos that may be disturbing to some audiences with a warning.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today praised Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter’s India-based competitor Koo for removal of “offensive posts”.
His comments came as troubles grew for Twitter. Four cases have been filed against the US company so far — two in Uttar Pradesh and one each in Madhya Pradesh and Delhi — over user-generated content after the new rules came into effect.
Critics have raised concerns that Twitter may no longer enjoy protection against user-generated content.
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