Twitter Loses Immunity In India Over User-Generated Content

American microblogging giant Twitter has lost immunity over user-generated content in India for failure to comply with new IT rules, the Indian government said in a court filing.

This is the first time that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has officially said that Twitter has lost its immunity after repeatedly criticizing the company for non-compliance.

The dispute and public squabble have raised concerns that American companies will find it difficult to do business in a stricter regulatory environment.

India’s IT ministry told the New Delhi High Court that Twitter’s breach was due to a violation of the provisions of the IT Act, causing the US company to lose its immunity, according to the filing dated July 5th.

The presentation came in a case brought by a Twitter user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said that the company was not complying with the new law that requires the appointment of certain new executives.

Twitter declined to comment. The company has previously said that it was doing its best to comply.

India’s new IT rules that went into effect at the end of May aims to regulate the content of social media companies and make them more accountable for legal requests for quick removal of posts and share details about the authors of posts.

Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad criticized Twitter for deliberately defying the law and said that all social media companies must abide by the new rules.

In recent weeks, as acrimony between New Delhi and Twitter has grown, the Indian police have brought at least five cases against the company or its officials, including some related to child pornography and a controversial map of India on its Facebook page. 

Two Indian state police officers have named India’s Twitter boss Manish Maheshwari in their complaints. Separately, the state of Uttar Pradesh has challenged in the Supreme Court a ban on police action against Maheshwari, after a lower court protected him against arrest on an accusation that the platform was used to spread hatred.