There has been another development in the Centre versus Twitter saga as Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that the US-based company has failed to comply to the new intermediary guidelines. The development comes even after the micro-blogging platform failed to comply to the new intermediary guidelines.
The minister slammed the platform, saying it has ‘failed’ to comply with the new norms in a series of tweets.
“There are numerous queries arising as to whether Twitter is entitled to safe harbour provision. However, the simple fact of the matter is that Twitter has failed to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines that came into effect from the 26th of May,” Prasad said.
“There are numerous queries arising as to whether Twitter is entitled to safe harbour provision. However, the simple fact of the matter is that Twitter has failed to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines that came into effect from the 26th of May,” he added.
There are numerous queries arising as to whether Twitter is entitled to safe harbour provision. However, the simple fact of the matter is that Twitter has failed to comply with the Intermediary Guidelines that came into effect from the 26th of May.
— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) June 16, 2021
Prasad said that Twitter has been inconsistent in fighting misinformation, and it fails “to address the grievances of users by refusing to set up process as mandated by the law of the land.”
“While Twitter has been over enthusiastic about its fact-checking mechanism, it’s failure to act in multiple cases like UP is perplexing & indicates its inconsistency in fighting misinformation,” he said.
“Further, what is perplexing is that Twitter fails to address the grievances of users by refusing to set up process as mandated by the law of the land. Additionally, it chooses a policy of flagging manipulates media, only when it suits, its likes and dislikes,” he added.
Moreover, government sources have said that Twitter has lost its status as a intermediatary platform and will henceforth be regarded as a publisher. This means that if there is any charge against Twitter for alleged unlawful content, it will be liable for punishment by law.