The row over new digital rules that came into effect in May this year has been put to rest with social media giant Twitter complying with the guidelines, the government confirmed on August 10.

Twitter told the Delhi High Court that it has appointed employees with permanent status as Compliance Officer, Grievance Officer, and Nodal Officer in accordance with the new IT rules. The Centre confirmed the action and said that the microblogging site is now in compliance with the guidelines.

“We will have to see how they are doing, appointments made today should not be withdrawn tomorrow,” the government added.

The matter will next be heard on October 8.

Twitter Inc had informed the high court about the appointments on August 6, however, the court had said the affidavit filed by the microblogging platform in this regard was not on record and asked it to ensure that it is brought on record.

Justice Rekha Palli noted that the copies of the affidavit have been served to other parties, including the Centre's counsel who was supposed to come back with instructions on August 10.

During the hearing on August 6, when the court asked if Twitter is now in compliance with the rules, Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, who was appearing for the Centre had said, “Seemingly so but we need to verify.”

The high court had earlier expressed displeasure over Twitter Inc for appointing a contingent worker as CCO and had noted the microblogging platform was non-compliant with the new IT Rules.

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 seek to regulate dissemination and publication of content in cyberspace, including social media platforms, and were notified in February by the central government.

Petitioner-lawyer Amit Acharya, represented by senior advocate G Tushar Rao, has claimed that he came to know about the alleged non-compliance of IT Rules by Twitter when he tried to lodge a complaint against a couple of tweets.

(With PTI inputs)

(Edited by : Kanishka Sarkar)