New Delhi: India issued “one last notice” to Twitter to comply with new IT regulations that the social media giant says threaten privacy guarantees.
Digital rights activists say New Delhi’s latest rules could be used by the government to identify authors of critical posts on social media sites.
But the government argues they are needed to investigate national security offences and cases involving sexually explicit material.
India’s electronics and IT ministry said it was “dismayed” over Twitter’s “non-compliance” and flagged the May 26 deadline, when the new rules came into force.
“The refusal to comply demonstrates Twitter’s lack of commitment and efforts towards providing a safe experience for people of India on its platforms,” its notice said.
“Needless to state, such non-compliance will lead to unintended consequences including Twitter losing exemption from liability as an intermediary,” the ministry said.
“As a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one last notice to immediately comply with the rules.” The regulations demand that social media companies give details of the “first originator” of posts deemed to undermine India’s sovereignty, state security or public order.
