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Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) has filed an affidavit in the case of Amit Acharya v Union of India & Anr. that owing to non-compliance to the IT Rules, 2021, Twitter will lose the immunity.

Affidavit by MeitY is filed in the High Court of Delhi on July 5, 2021, in a writ petition involving tweets by Mahua Moitra and journalist, Swati Chaturvedi. The writ petition has added Union of India the Respondent No. 1, seeking for necessary instruction/order against Twitter to appoint ‘Resident Grievance Officer’.

MeitY, in its short affidavit, lists out the compliance requirements for a significant social media intermediary, as mentioned in the new IT rule, 2021. In doing so the affidavit states that “Respondent No.2 admittedly qualifies as a Significant Social Media Intermediary (“SSMI”) as defined under Rule 2(1) (v) of the IT Rules 2021. Hence, Respondent No. 2 is obligated to comply with the provisions of the IT Rules, 2021 and the compliances set out therein.”

The affidavit also mentioned that Twitter has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021, due to the appointment of a Grievance Officer in the USA. Accordingly, the affidavit also states that in case of failure to comply, the intermediary would lose its immunity and be liable in respect of the offending content.

The affidavit also mentions the petitioner's right to avail remedies for grievance redressal. It states that,

“…the Petitioner being a ‘user’ under Rule 2 (1) (x) may exercise his rights and avail the remedies provided under the IT Act, 2021. I state that the IT Rules, 2021 set out a clear mechanism and specific timelines grievance redressal and removal of the offending content on online platforms.”

It also states that the mechanism by which an individual may file a complaint also needs to be mentioned. Such complaint, as the IT Rules requires, needs to be acknowledged within 24 hours, and disposed of within 15 days of its receipt.

The affidavit accordingly states that;

“I submit that the Respondent No.2 (Twitter Inc) has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 as on 1st July, 2021 for the following reasons:

 a. Chief Compliance Officer has not been appointed;

b. The position of the Resident Grievance Officer is vacant; and

c. The position of Nodal Contact Person,(even on an interim basis),is vacant.

d. The physical contact address, which was shown to be there on 29th May, 2021 is once not again available on Twitter’s website.”

The affidavit by MeitY in the case is filed after Twitter has filed a reply in the case, contending the maintainability of the writ petition. Twitter has contended that in the instance of non-joinder of necessary parties and lack of locus standi of the petitioner, the case be dismissed. Twitter had also stated in its reply that the tweets against which complaint was sought to be filed were not in derogation of the policies.

Background of the case

The affidavit is filed in a writ petition filed by Amit Acharya upon noticing that Twitter’s website did not give information about a ‘Resident Grievance Office’, as mandated by the IT Rules, 2021.

Upon coming across tweets that were allegedly defamatory in nature, the petitioner sought to register a complaint with the grievance officer of Twitter. However, as the petition mentions, only details of the officer based in the US is available on the website.

Aggrieved by the non-implementation of the IT Rules, 2021, the petitioner filed the writ petition, seeking for the court to issue directions to Twitter to follow the rules.