May 25, 2021
2 mins read

Twitter, Facebook likely to be blocked in India

Sources said the failure of social media companies to make these appointments in three months has not gone down well with the government..reports Aarti Tikoo Singh

The deadline to comply with the new legal rules meant for big social media platforms, which were issued by the government three months ago, is ending on Tuesday, threatening the operations of the likes of Twitter in India.

According to top official sources, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and others, which were required to abide by the rules notified in the gazette of India on February 25 under Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021, have failed to comply on many accounts till date.

The government’s rules will come into effect from May 26.

“If social media companies do not obey the rules, they may lose their status and protections as intermediaries and may become liable for criminal action as per the existing laws of India,” top official sources said.

Except one Indian social media company, Koo, sources said that none of the top social media intermediaries have appointed a resident grievance officer, a chief compliance officer and a nodal contact person yet.

Sources said the failure of social media companies to make these appointments in three months has not gone down well with the government.

ALSO READ: Trump blasts Facebook for continued ban

With arbitrary suspensions of accounts and inaction over abuses and bigotry on social media platforms, users in India have been persistently complaining against tech giants like Twitter, Facebook and others.

In the latest alleged Congress toolkit controversy, Delhi Police visited Twitter India’s local offices in the National Capital Region on Monday after Twitter had marked one of the tweets of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra as “manipulated media”.

Twitter’s presumptive judgement has triggered widespread outrage among Indian users across the country.

Sources said the social media platforms which were required to furnish monthly reports as to how many grievances were filed and settled, have failed to do so. Some of the platforms, sources said, have sought more time of up to six months for furnishing compliance.

For some platforms, sources said, the standard reply has been that they will await instructions from their company headquarters in the US, who in turn on their own will have an “expert assessment” to take a view.

The US-based social media platforms have grown huge, thanks to their massive user base and profitable revenues in democracies like India. However, none of the platforms have shown any inclination to comply with India’s domestic laws. Instead, social media platforms have refused to be transparent about their fact-checking mechanism and their criteria to label tweets.

ALSO READ: Facebook urged to scrap ‘Insta for kids’

Previous Story

Blinken off to Middle East for peace talks

Next Story

60 million vaccine doses administered in UK

Latest from -Top News

Singapore’s Ruling Party Achieves Landslide Victory

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, whose party won the election, thanked supporters.,..reports Asian Lite News Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) won 87 of the 97 seats in Parliament in Saturday’s general election,

Jaishankar, Lavrov Discuss Pahalgam Terror Attack

Both the Ministers discussed issues of Russian-Indian cooperation and the aggravation of India-Pakistan relations following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar spoke to the Russian Foreign Minister

Rajnath Singh to skip Russia visit

The decision comes amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir…reports Asian Lite News Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will not likely attend Russia’s

WAVES 2025: Jaishankar Advocates Cultural Pluralism

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar delivered a powerful address at the WAVES 2025 Global Media Dialogue, highlighting the significance of cultural pluralism in shaping global change. Speaking on the second day of

India Eyes Supply Chain Shift

India’s electronics manufacturing sector is undergoing a remarkable transformation, positioning the country as a major global hub for production and supply chain diversification. Riding on favourable government policies, geopolitical tailwinds, and a
Go toTop

Don't Miss

Zuckerberg issues apology after Facebook outage

Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger went down for millions of

Social media monitoring in full swing ahead of elections

Officials shared that “any future attempts to spread misleading information