Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) will no more enjoy liability protection against user-generated content in India as the U.S. micro blogging giant has failed to comply with new IT rules.
The Indian government said in a court filing on Tuesday.
The statement is the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has officially said Twitter has lost its immunity after repeatedly criticising the company for non-compliance.
The dispute and the public spat had raised concern that American firms will find it difficult to do business amid a more stringent regulatory environment.
India’s IT ministry told the High Court in New Delhi 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 appointment of certain new executives.
Twitter declined to comment, the company has previously said it was making all efforts to comply.
India’s new IT rules which became effective end of May were 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.
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, Indian police had filed at least five cases against the company or its officials, including some related to child pornography and a controversial map of India on its career page.
Police in two Indian states have named Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari in their complaints.
Separately, the state of Uttar Pradesh had challenged the Supreme Court a bar on police action against Maheshwari, after a lower court protected him against arrest over an accusation that the platform was used to spread hate.
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What this means
After losing its intermediary status, Twitter will not be considered a platform that hosts content from various users. Instead, it will be seen as a publisher and will be directly editorially responsible for anything published on the website.
This means that Twitter will be open to lawsuits and legal proceedings in case of any alleged lawful content. It will be liable for punishment under any law, including IT Act, as also the penal laws of the country.
