Twitter to Delhi HC: In final stages of appointing Resident Grievance Officer

Twitter on Saturday informed the Delhi High Court that the company is in the final stages of appointing a resident grievance officer. This was in response to a notice by the Delhi High Court over the social media giant's alleged non-compliance with the new information technology rules.

Appointing a resident grievance officer is one of several norms which Twitter and other social media platforms operating in India have to follow under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The development comes after Twitter's interim resident grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur resigned from his post on June 27. It is believed that Chatur resigned from his post amid differences with the Union government over the IT Rules.

Earlier this week, Twitter, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, had appointed its Global Legal Policy Director Jeremy Kessel as the grievance officer for India. However, the new IT rules require an Indian resident to be appointed to the post.

The new IT Rules were announced on February 25 and social media companies, including Twitter, had time till May 25 to comply. 

Notably, for a couple of weeks, Twitter has been engaged in a tussle with the Centre, the latter accusing the company of non-compliance with India’s new IT rules for digital media intermediaries.