A fight between the Indian government and the social media platform Twitter is nothing new. They have been constantly having a go at each other for the last two years. Clearly there is a lack of trust between the two and that is manifesting itself constantly.
This time around, Twitter has moved the High Court in Karnataka against government orders to take down certain content that are alleged to be contentious and against the nation's interest. Twitter's latest act of intransigence is in response to Indian government's warning of 'serious consequences' for non-compliance of such orders.
As it happens, just after it emerged that Twitter was moving the court in the matter, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics & Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said all foreign Internet platforms had to comply with Indian laws.
Earlier, Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Indian Government will make social media accountable for its content. "Social media accountability has become a valid question globally. It's important to hold it accountable, which will first start with self-regulation, then industry regulation, followed by government regulation."
Twitter's case
#TuesdayMusing In India,all incldng foreign Internet intermediaries/platforms have right to court n judicial review. But equally ALL intermediary/platforms operating here,have unambiguous obligation to comply with our laws n rules. #Open #SafeTrusted #Accountable #InternetJuly 5, 2022
Twitter has been asked by Indian authorities over the past year to act on content including accounts supportive of an independent Sikh state (Khalistan), posts alleged to have spread misinformation about protests by farmers and tweets critical of the government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Indian government has previously said that big social media firms, including Twitter, have not complied with removal requests, despite their legal standing.
Twitter is claiming in its request for a judicial review that some removal orders from the government fell short of the procedural requirements of India's IT Act. "Be it any company, in any sector, they should abide the laws of India. This is the responsibility of everyone to abide by the laws passed by the Parliament," the IT Minister responded.
According to amended IT rules, social media and streaming companies are required to take down contentious content and appoint grievance redressal officers based in the country to deal with online content flagged by authorities and courts and assist in investigations.
Failing to comply with the laws will result in the platform being liable for action in case a complaint is filed against some content on it. Noncompliance to the new policies will mean that the platform will lose its intermediary status that provides them immunity against being liable for any data shared/hosted on their platform.
Twitter clever by half
In the past, Twitter had been guilty of delaying tactics, and took an eternity to appoint redressal officers, and almost lost its legal immunity and also copped flak from thee courts.
In general, the perception is Twitter, without complying with the laws and trying to play victim, is resorting to a strategy that is clever by half. There is also brewing discontent among a section of users who allege that the platform has been indulging in arbitrary acts in taking down content. In contrast, other platforms like Meta and WhatsApp have had no problems in complying with local laws. Twitter has always been reluctant to fall in line with Indian laws.
The government has made it clear that no social media company can undermine the constitutional rights of citizens, and the internet must be a safe and trusted place with all platforms accountable to their users. According to estimates, Twitter has more than 24 million users in India.
Meanwhile, a parliamentary panel has suggested that these social media platforms be treated as publishers and recommended a regulatory body to oversee them. This potentially puts these entities up for taking more on more liability for what is essentially user generated content.
Stringent rules are being mulled because current laws treating these social media platforms as "intermediaries" had not done enough in terms of regulation.
