The Union electronics and information technology (IT) minister Ashwini Vaishnaw today has underlined the law of the land is supreme and that Twitter will have to fall in line and comply with new social media and intermediary guidelines.
He said, “Whoever is a citizen of India and those who stay in India will have to abide by the laws of the country,” His comment came as Twitter has enlightened the Delhi high court that it will appoint a grievance redressal officer in line with the controversial guidelines within a few weeks. Twitter’s commitment came after the government reiterated the firm’s failure in complying would end the protection provided to it from action over third-party content under the safe harbour clause of the IT Act.
Earlier on the 25th of May, the ex-IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has been involved in an escalating conflict with Twitter over non-compliance with the new rules for over a month. The new guidelines came into effect on the very same day. They include those pertaining to the appointment of India-based grievance redressal and nodal and compliance officers.
The Indian government and Twitter’s confrontation started over orders seeking blocking of accounts that carried a controversial hashtag. Twitter later raised concerns regarding “intimidation tactics by the police” and the “core elements” of the new guidelines. This prompted a strong response from the government, which warned the firm against attempting to dictate terms.
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