Proposal to welcome the recent decision by Indian Government that cancelled the 'Intermediary status' of Twitter in India.
Failing to abide by the social media IT rules proposed by the present governance, Twitter have come to the forefront of criticism. The deadline date for compliance of the IT rules was on 26th May. Since then Twitter has failed to follow the rules and still has been upto their propagandistic behaviour of spreading fake news all across the Indian political sphere. Even after recurrent warnings and final notices from the government, the adamant social media giant had failed to employ an employee for the succinct functioning of the grievance redressal system as proposed by the Indian government.
The cancellation of the 'Intermediary status' of Twitter downgrades its 'platform' tag to 'publisher' tag thus enabling them to be legally responsible for posts posted in their outlet that violate the Indian laws.
Jigarkamble Wed 16 Jun 2021 3:53PM
Twitter is the only social media platform which didn't comply with the intermediary guidelines and thus it lost the protection shield granted under section 79 of the IT act.
Google, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook & WA complied with all the guidelines and they remained protected.
Pirate Praveen Wed 16 Jun 2021 8:44PM
The real issue is our fundamental rights, not who is challenging it. It is not only foreign companies who challenged it, but many Indian companies and citizens including me challenged these rules in various courts.
Pirate Praveen Wed 16 Jun 2021 4:05PM
Internet Freedom Foundation has a more nuanced take on this https://nitter.eu/internetfreedom/status/1405039411008442370/
"Even if we presume that the IT Rules are legal and constitutional, where alleged non-compliance is for appointment of officers etc., when companies like Twitter are prosecuted, courts will decide if it is an intermediary and not the government."
Firescar Wed 16 Jun 2021 5:32PM
IFF considers the new social media IT rules as unconstitutional. What's the use of IFF's viewpoint here in this post?
Jigarkamble Wed 16 Jun 2021 5:38PM
Why any outsider has to decide anything with the independent sovereign country like India? Obviously Indian government and Indian courts will decide. The question is company like Twitter will abide to the law of land or not. The answer from Twitter is clear and that's why any action by Indian Government is justified under the rule of law.
Pirate Praveen Wed 16 Jun 2021 8:32PM
Because many laws or sections are declared as unconstitutional by courts in the past (Section 66A of IT act is a recent example). The same constitution that grants parliament rights to enact laws have given the Supreme Court right to strike down unconstitutional laws. So challenging constitutionality of laws are part of the scheme envisioned in our constitution to ensure executive branch does not exceed the power granted to it. A government cannot take away fundamental rights granted in the constitution without judicial scrutiny. There are challenges pending in many courts about the unconstitutionality of these rules.
Pirate Praveen Wed 16 Jun 2021 8:37PM
That is a deliberately twisted question. You can't answer that without considering the inability of the govt to take away the fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution. This is a conflict and courts will decide if the rules are valid or invalid. Twitter has gone to Delhi High court to resolve the conflict. So it is the Delhi High court who will decide the matter.
Pirate Vik Wed 16 Jun 2021 5:50PM
Governments often interpret the law of the land in a certain way and get it wrong. The judicial system is there to keep checks and balance. If twitter is indeed wrong, they will lose in court, similarly if the governments action is not in line with the constitution as decided by the supreme court, they will lose. This takes time, we should await the outcome that the law of the land decide.
Pirate Vik · Wed 16 Jun 2021 3:16PM
why single out twitter though? aren't all of the US tech platforms doing this?