The National Commission for Women (NCW) has sent a notice on Wednesday to Twitter India regarding the removal of pornographic and obscene content on the platform, Live Law reported.
The NCW, taking suo moto cognisance of the issue, has written to Twitter India managing director Manish Maheshwari demanding the removal of such content from the platform within a week. The organisation has also written to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi to investigate the matter and take appropriate legal action.
As per a press note issued by the NCW, the organisation had brought the matter to Twitter’s notice for immediate action earlier, after receiving a similar complaint. However, no action was taken by the microblogging site, said the NCW statement.
“The Commission is disturbed with the fact that despite knowing of the availability of such banned content which not only violates Indian laws but also Twitter’s own policy, no action has been taken till date towards removing them,” added the statement.
Sharing details of a few profiles containing pornographic content on the platform, the NCW has asked Twitter to remove all such content within one week and communicate on the action taken within 10 days.
This move by the NCW follows the introduction of the new Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021 by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) to regulate content on OTT platforms, social media intermediaries and digital news media. The new IT Rules 2021 came into effect on May 26.
According to the new IT Rules 2021, social media intermediaries including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have to establish a ‘grievance redressal mechanism’ for receiving and resolving complaints from users or victims; and remove child pornography, videos relating to rape or any kind of nudity, and remove or disable access to such content within 24 hours of receiving complaints.
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Amidst the ongoing tiff between the Centre and Twitter Inc, the microblogging site has lost its status as an ‘intermediary social media platform’ in India on June 16 due to its non-compliance with the new IT Rules 2021.
Losing this status means losing any kind of legal immunity. If there is any charge against Twitter for alleged unlawful content on its platform, it will now be treated as a ‘publisher’ and not an intermediary and will be liable for punishment under any law, including the Information Technology Act, 2000 as well as the penal laws of the country.