Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and others are in hot waters as the deadline to comply with new legal rules laid down by the government of India three months ago, is ending tomorrow (Wednesday).
On February 25, new rules were notified in the gazette of India under Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021.
The new guidelines mandate all platforms that have more than 50 lakh users in India appoint within three months, a resident grievance officer, a chief compliance officer, and a nodal contact person, and publish their details on the website of the company.
Except one Indian social media company, Koo, none of the top social media intermediaries have appointed a resident grievance officer, a chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person yet.
The rules will come into effect from May 26 (Wednesday).
According to a top official as reported by news agency, failure to abide by the rules will result in social media companies losing their status and protection as intermediaries accorded to them under section 79 of the Information Technology Act and may become liable for criminal action as per the existing laws of India.
Reports suggest that the failure of social media companies to make these appointments in three months has not gone down well with the government.
Earlier yesterday, Delhi Police raided Twitter India's local offices after Twitter marked one of the tweets of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as "manipulated media" in reference to a "toolkit" created allegedly to "undermine, derail and demean" the government's efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic.