Twitter Will Have To Obey, ‘LAW OF LAND SUPREME’
Indian Minister of Railways and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that the law of the land is supreme and that Twitter will have to fall in line and comply with new social media and intermediary guidelines.
“Whoever is a citizen of India and those who stay in India will have to abide by the laws of the country,” he said hours after taking over as the minister.
The warning comes amid a tense relationship between Twitter and the government of India over new IT rules that make social media platforms more liable for third-party information; analysts believe this implies Twitter has lost legal immunity in cases involving user-generated content.
Vaishnav, the MP from Odisha, on Wednesday took oath as the Cabinet Minister and was given the charge of Railways along with the Information and Technology Ministry.
Assumed the charge of Minister of Communications at Sanchar Bhawan today. pic.twitter.com/BPQYyDxNVG
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) July 8, 2021
He said was thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving him the responsibility.
He said his focus will be on improving the life of the last man standing in the queue.
In past, Vaishnav, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha, had raised the issue of cyber bullying of Karnataka-based Rashmi Samant’s resignation from the position of Oxford Student Union President in the United Kingdom and described it as a serious case of racism.
US-based company Twitter has been in the eye of a storm over its alleged failure to comply with the new IT rules in India, which mandates, among other requirements, the appointment of three key personnel — chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer by social media platforms with over 50 lakh users.
All the three personnel have to be residents in India. While the rules came into effect on May 26, Twitter is yet to adhere to the social media guidelines, despite repeated reminders from the government.
