New digital rules in India: Facebook, Google, WhatsApp finally comply; Twitter yet to

Internet and social media giants Google, Facebook and WhatsApp have shared details with India’s IT Ministry as per the requirement of the new digital rules, but Twitter is still not following the norms, reports quoting government sources said on Saturday.

Twitter, they said, has not sent details of the chief compliance officer to the IT Ministry, and shared details of a lawyer working in a law firm as a nodal contact person and grievance officer.

The new IT rules clearly require designated officers of the significant social media platforms to be employees of the company and resident in India.

Meanwhile, most of the large social media platforms have shared details of chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and grievance officer with the ministry, as laid down under the new rules, the reports added.

Significant social media intermediaries, including Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Koo, Sharechat, Telegram and LinkedIn, have shared details with the ministry as per the requirement of the IT norms that came into effect earlier this week. However, Twitter has not yet complied with the IT rules, they said.

After a strong response from the government on Thursday, Twitter sent a communication sharing details of a lawyer working in a law firm in India as their nodal contact person and grievance officer.

The Centre has said the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms, and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal. Non-compliance with rules would result in these platforms losing their intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any third-party data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaints.

After the new norms came into effect on May 26, the IT Ministry had turned up the heat on significant social media companies, asking them to immediately report compliance and provide details of the three key officials appointed.