Reacting to the recent stand-off between Twitter and the government of India, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, on Thursday, said while India welcomes criticism, non-compliance of law under the garb of freedom of speech cannot be tolerated.
In an interview to news agency ANI, the Union minister for communications, electronics and information technology said social media platforms can't lecture India on democracy as India has the distinction of being the world's largest and most vibrant democracy.
"I would like to ask a question. India is a democracy because its elections are fair. We (the BJP) won Assam and lost Bengal recently. We have an independent judiciary that keeps us asking questions like in the case of COVID-19. Media asks us tough questions. That is what freedom of speech and democracy is about. These issues are important, but under the garb of these, you think you won't comply, then it is a misplaced argument," the minister was quoted as saying.
Twitter has lost its ''safe harbour'' protection in India over non-compliance with IT rules and failure to appoint key personnel mandated under the new guidelines, despite repeated reminders, and the platform will now be liable for action under the Indian Penal Code for third party unlawful content.
The Union minister sought to know if other social media platforms could comply with the laws, why couldn't Twitter do the same. He pointed out that the Centre gave the microblogging platform three months' time to appoint resident grievance officer, nodal officer and chief compliance officer and said while others followed, Twitter did not.
Earlier this month, the government had given one last chance to Twitter to comply with the new IT rules, that came into effect on May 26, and had issued a stern warning that failure to adhere to the norms will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT Act.
He said this non-compliance with new IT rules meant that Twitter lost its status as an intermediary and legal shield.
"When Indian companies do business or pharma companies go to manufacture in the US, do they follow American laws or not? If you have to do business here, you are welcome to criticize the prime minister, all of us, but you have to obey India's Constitution and laws," the minister said.
He ruled out any plans to ban Twitter saying, "If half of the government is on Twitter, PM and the President is on Twitter, I am on Twitter, that shows how fair we are. We are not for banning any platforms, but you have to follow the law."
The government has confronted Twitter over multiple instances in the past months, including during the farmers' protest and later when it tagged political posts of several leaders of the ruling party BJP, as "manipulated media", triggering a sharp rebuke from the Centre.
The last flashpoint was the delay in complying with the IT rules that mandate large digital platforms to undertake greater due diligence as well as appoint a grievance officer, a nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. These personnel have to be residents of India.
—With PTI inputs
