Social media giant Twitter, which is currently involved in a standoff with the Centre over the latters new Information Technology (I-T) rules, has appointed Vinay Prakash as the resident grievance officer for India. As per the information on Twitters website, users can contact Prakash at grievance-officer-in @ twitter.com.
Prakashs appointment comes just three days after the Delhi high court on July 8 had hit out at Twitter for a delay in appointing the resident grievance officer. TheUS-based technological company sought a time of eight weeks to appoint permanent grievance officers and to also set up a liaison office in India, a request which was denied by the court, Hindustan Times reported.
Twitter had earlier appointed Dharmendra Chatur as its interim resident grievance officer for India. However, Chatur resigned from the post in June.
The new IT rules, which came into effect on May 26, among other important requirements, mandate the appointment of three key personnel – chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer by social media platforms with more than five million users. All these three officers have to be residents in India.
The Centre, on repeated occasions, has hit out at Twitter over its failure and intentional refusal to comply with the IT rules. In June, Twitter lost its status as an intermediary, which meant it will be held responsible for any unlawful content posted by users.
Apart from non-compliance with the I-T rules, Twitter has also faced widespread provocation for showing a distorted map of India- (where Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were shown outside India), along withdisplaying child pornographic content.