This photo was posted on Twitter by its CEO Jack Dorsey following his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on November 13, 2018. Jack Dorsey thanked PM Modi “for the ideas for Twitter” and said he enjoyed “our conversation about the importance of the global conversation.”
Jack Dorsey and Narendra Modi after meeting in New Delhi.
Two and a half years later, Twitter finds itself in a bitter battle with the Narendra Modi government. Because Twitter failed to comply with the social media rules announced by the government in February that went into effect in May, Twitter has lost the protection that other social media platforms have from law enforcement.
Twitter has now lost its “intermediary” status in India and, like any other publisher, is liable for legal action under Indian law. Mediator status was a robust safeguard that allowed Twitter to take legal action against the person who posted an offensive post. As the publisher, it is now Twitter’s responsibility to flag the post in a timely and appropriate manner.
FIR IN UTTAR PRADESH
The FIR against Twitter in the Uttar Pradesh incident reported by Loni is a point in the case. The government of Uttar Pradesh registered an FIR against Twitter for failing to label the video of the incident as “manipulated media”.
The video shows an elderly man being attacked by a group of young people. The first posts to go viral on Twitter claimed the man was beaten up for being a Muslim and forced to sing “Jai Shri Ram,” a slogan often used by activists and workers involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and their affiliated organizations.
The older man’s complaint to the police did not raise these allegations. The police later identified and arrested some of the defendants. They were Muslims. The government of Uttar Pradesh has taken legal action against Twitter following the police action in the Loni case.
THE TURNING POINT
However, this isn’t the first time Twitter has crossed swords with the government in a state or in the center. According to Twitter’s own 2020 transparency report, India was among the five countries that accounted for 96 percent of legal requests to remove objectionable content.
The dispute between Twitter and the government took a sharp turn in January this year. It was triggered by Twitter’s response to the Modi government’s request to remove certain content related to the January 26 violence in Delhi.
The government sent legal notices to Twitter to block around 250 accounts, which initially complied. But less than six hours later, Twitter restored the accounts, citing the government’s objection as “inadequate justification” for continuing to suspend the handles.
The center then sent further notifications to Twitter. On February 10th, Twitter posted a blog to get an “update” on the situation more than 500 accounts blocked for “platform manipulation and spam”. Some accounts have only been blocked in India, it said.
However, Twitter also assured it would not block accounts of journalists, activists, politicians and media outlets in violation of “their fundamental rights to freedom of expression under Indian law.”
This clarification was followed by a virtual meeting between government officials and top Twitter executives. The government categorically told Twitter that it was welcome to do business in India but must obey the law.
The Minister for Union Law and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, repeated the same point several times in his statements. The center made it clear that it expects the social media giant to obey Indian laws “Regardless of Twitter’s own rules and guidelines”.
THE LAW
The Information Technology Act of 2000 is the law that gives the government the power to take punitive action against anyone who posts an illegal post and companies that facilitate the distribution of such a post. It allows the government to block online content that “threatens the security of the state”.
Section 69A of the Act provides for the identification of the author of the content as it states that the person should be given a fair hearing before proceeding against them is decided.
The new rules, which went into effect on May 26th, require three major compliance requirements. Social media companies must appoint local compliance, liaison, and complaint resolution officers.
They must also agree to break their encryption clause if it is required to do so by the government under due process. This simply means that companies should disclose the identity of the first creator of online content. End-to-end encryption is a USP for these companies.
Twitter is the only major multinational social media company – others are Google and Facebook, which includes WhatsApp – that has not obeyed the new rules. However, on Tuesday, Twitter announced the appointment of an interim chief compliance officer.
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