India reportedly warns Twitter of ‘unintended consequences’ if it fails to follow new rules

According to Reuters, India’s government has warned Twitter that failure to comply with the country’s new social media rules could result in “unintended consequences.”

According to Reuters, India’s technology minister wrote in a June 5th letter to Twitter that the company’s responses to previous government letters about the new rules did not confirm whether Twitter was in full compliance.

Under India’s Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, which went into effect in May, social media companies may face legal action if they fail to follow the code’s provisions, which aim to regulate the platforms’ content.

According to the new rules, platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp must remove content within 36 hours of receiving a legal order.

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The rules also require businesses to have a grievance officer who responds to user complaints within 24 hours, a chief compliance officer, and a contact person who is available to law enforcement agencies 24 hours a day.

According to Reuters, the June 5th letter to Twitter stated that the company had not yet met the requirements for the new roles, which could result in India holding Twitter legally liable for content on its platform.

However, the letter stated that “as a gesture of goodwill, Twitter Inc is hereby given one final notice to comply with the Rules immediately.”

Twitter has had several run-ins with the Indian government in recent months. At the request of the Indian government, the social platform removed tweets critical of the Indian government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic in April.

And, late last month, police raided Twitter offices in the Indian cities of Delhi and Gurgaon as part of an investigation into why some tweets by government officials were labelled as “manipulated media” under Twitter’s policy. At the time, there were no employees in the offices because Twitter employees in India were working remotely.

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.