Twitter 'Needs 8 Weeks' to Appoint Grievance Officer for India to Comply With Digital Law

In June, India revoked Twitter's legal protection for not complying with the country's digital rules. Three guidelines were announced in February as a preventive measure against cybercrimes and the spread of misinformation. Generally, legal protection is provided to all networking platforms in India.

Twitter informed the Delhi High Court on Thursday that it needs eight weeks to hire a "grievance officer" in India in line with the country's digital laws. 

The platform's statement comes a week after the court slammed the company for taking so long to comply with India's Information Technology (IT) rules, as the deadline expired on 25 May. 

​Twitter, used by over 17.5 million Indians, has revealed to the court that it would be submitting a compliance report concerning the IT rules on 11 July. 

On 28 June, Twitter appointed Jeremy Kessel, who is in California, as the grievance officer for India. Kessel will remain Twitter's grievance officer until a new person is appointed. 

The ongoing tussle between Twitter and the Indian government over IT rules took a new turn on 7 July after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reshuffled his Cabinet and replaced former Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. 

The new minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, studied at the renowned Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

“Law of land is supreme and Twitter must follow the rules", Vaishnaw said on Thursday. 

The tech giant has hinted that it may use its right to challenge the legality and validity of the rules in India. 

India’s IT rules require social media companies to appoint grievance and nodal officers to tend to user complaints and help security agencies trace the origin of problematic content for investigation in major cases.