Land of law is supreme: New IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw issues warning to Twitter

Newly appointed Union Electronics and Information Technology (IT) minister Ashwini Vaishnaw carried on from where his predecessor had left off, reiterating the stance of Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Vaishnaw underscored the supremacy of the law of the land, stating that Twitter will have to fall in line. Shortly after taking charge, minister Vaishnaw said, “Whoever is a citizen of India and those who stay in India will have to abide by the laws of the country.”

The Delhi High Court warned Twitter earlier this week that it cannot take 'as long as it wants' in this country to comply with the IT rules, 2021.

The IT Minister’s comments came on the same day when Twitter told the Delhi High Court that it will need eight weeks to appoint an RGO, in line with the new IT rules.

Twitter said it is in the process of setting up a liaison office in India and this office will be their permanent physical contact in the country.

Twitter also told the Delhi High Court that it has posted a job announcement publicly for a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact Person, and a Resident Grievance Officer, as a direct employee and is accepting applications.

The company further said that it has hired a resident of India as its interim compliance officer, effective July 6, and has communicated the development to the ministry of information technology.

The development came after the Delhi High Court warned Twitter earlier this week that it cannot take 'as long as it wants' in this country to comply with the IT rules. It said that the social media platform 'will be in trouble' if it does not appoint a resident grievance officer without any delay.

The Centre submitted that Twitter India is in clear violation of IT Rules 2021. The Centre had informed the Delhi High Court that Twitter has failed to comply with the IT Rules, 2021 as on July 1, on four counts.

It said that Twitter is in violation of the government's rules for not appointing a chief compliance officer; the position of the RGO is vacant; the position of nodal contact person (even on an interim basis) is vacant, and the physical contact address, which was shown to be there on May 29, is not available again on Twitter website.

The central government counsel submitted before the court that Twitter was given a three-month window to comply with IT Rules, but it did not