Complying with the Indian government’s new IT rules, Twitter has now appointed an interim Chief Compliance Officer in India. Announcing the development, the company has promised to share more details on it shortly.
The update comes after a prolonged battle with the Indian government over its new IT rules. The new law required tech companies in India including WhatsApp, Facebook, Google and others to appoint chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer in the country.
A Twitter spokesperson told PTI that the company will “continue to make every effort to comply with new guidelines; Keeping IT Ministry apprised of progress at every step.”
Twitter India had earlier reached out to the government to seek more time to comply with the new IT Rules that were first brought to effect on May 25. The new IT rules were first announced by the government in February.
WhatsApp and Facebook appointed their respective grievance officers for India earlier this month. Twitter, on the other hand, reportedly said that it needed more time due to the pandemic situation in the country.
Following this, the company posted job openings on LinkedIn for the position of chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer in India. Anyone meeting the criteria could apply for the positions, all of which were based in Delhi.
In a statement to India Today Tech last month, prior to the compliance, Twitter expressed concern about the requirement to make an individual (the compliance officer) criminally liable for content on the platform, the requirements for proactive monitoring, and the blanket authority to seek information about our customers.
It went on to add that this represents dangerous overreach that is inconsistent with open, democratic principles. “To keep our service available, we will strive to comply with applicable law in India. But, just as we do around the world, we will continue to be strictly guided by principles of transparency, a commitment to empowering every voice on the service, and protecting freedom of expression and privacy under the rule of law,” a Twitter spokesperson had said.
In response, the Centre had termed Twitter’s statement “unfortunate”, totally baseless, false and an attempt to defame India to hide their own follies. The centre had said that Twitter refuses to comply with “those very regulations in the ‘Intermediary Guidelines’ on the basis of which it is claiming a safe harbour protection from any criminal liability in India”.
>>>ad: Don't Miss TODAY'S BEST Amazon Deals!
Originally Appeared Here