Bombay High Court Questions the Need for New IT Rules as Twitter Moves its India Head out to US

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Aug 13: While the Bombay High Court on Friday questioned the centre on the need for framing the new Information Technology rules without superseding the previous one in force, Twitter moved out its India operations head who was targeted by the government last month for alleged non-compliance of the new IT rules.

As the High Court asked the centre to explain its introduction of the new IT rules without it superseding existing provisions that have been in effect since 2009, the news came that the Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari has been given a new US-based role, a senior company executive announced on Friday, amid the company’s friction with the Indian government and more recently the opposition.

Maheshwari had found himself targeted by the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh government amid a run-in with the party at the centre earlier this year, including being issued summons by the state police which were scrapped by the Karnataka High Court last month.

“Under 69A (1) (ii) of the IT Act, the 2009 Rules have been framed. What was the necessity for the union government to bring in subsequent rules without superseding prior rules…” the court asked Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who was appearing for the centre.

Singh said the centre wanted new laws to check the spread of fake news and offensive content. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni was hearing petitions – filed by digital news website The Leaflet and journalist Nikhil Wagle – seeking an interim stay on implementation of the recently notified Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021. The petitions were two of the many filed in different courts across the country calling the new IT rules “draconian” and “Vague” and apprehending of having a “chilling” effect on the citizens’ right to freedom of speech and expression and impose unreasonable restrictions on various media.

Before reserving its verdict for Saturday evening, the court said it was inclined to grant the petitioners limited relief with reference to adherence to a code of ethics. The ASG tried to defend the code of ethics claiming that even the Press Council of India (PCI) had similar provisions. The court, however, was unimpressed and pointed out that PCI guidelines were advisory norms that did not carry “drastic punishment for breaches.”

“How can you put such an exalted status on PCI guidelines? …not following those guidelines will (not) lead to penalties… Unless you have liberty of thought, how can you express anything? How can you restrict one’s liberty of thought?” the court asked.

This was also in response to the centre playing down petitioners’ fears of facing charges under the new “draconian” law while multiple challenges are still being heard in courts across the country. Last month the Supreme Court had refused to stop hearing in various courts on the new IT rules giving a shot in the arm to those who have challenged the new regulations. The Kerala High Court had restrained the centre from taking any action against a news broadcaster for alleged non-compliance of the rules.

News publishers have alleged the Rules infringe on basic constitutional rights, including freedom of the press, and are designed to allow the government a worryingly tight grip over online content. However, the government says the Rules are required to ensure that all online news websites comply with the law, and to regulate content on social media and OTT platforms like Netflix.

But included in these Rules are several contentious provisions, like requiring messaging services like WhatsApp to break end-to-end encryption to identify senders and recipients. WhatsApp has challenged this part of the new laws in court, arguing that it would mean an invasion of privacy of its users and that a law like this needs the approval of parliament.

Twitter had also raised concerns and the government had accused the company and its India head Maheshwari of flouting the local laws and stripped the company of legal protection and filed at least four police cases.

Maheshwari has been given a new US-based role, a senior company executive announced on Friday, amid the company’s friction with the Indian government and more recently the opposition.

“Thank you to @manishm for your leadership of our Indian business over the past 2+ years. Congrats on your new US-based role in charge of revenue strategy and operations for new markets worldwide. Excited to see you lead this important growth opportunity for Twitter,” Yu Sasamoto, the Vice President of Twitter’s Japan, South Korea and Asia Pacific division, tweeted.

The move came some two months after Twitter had said it was worried about the safety of its staff in India, following police visits to its offices in Delhi and Gurgaon as part of a probe related to the firm’s tagging of some BJP leaders’ posts as manipulated.

“Right now, we are concerned by recent events regarding our employees in India and the potential threat to freedom of expression for the people we serve,” Twitter had said in a statement.

“We, alongside many in civil society in India and around the world, have concerns with regards to the use of intimidation tactics by the police in response to enforcement of our global Terms of Service,” the statement added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration first took umbrage with the US firm in February when it refused to fully comply with an order to take down accounts and posts accused of spreading misinformation about farmers protests that have been the biggest display of dissent faced by the government. Twitter argued some requests were not in line with Indian law.

Following that showdown, India announced new rules that aim to make social media firms more accountable to legal requests for swift removal of posts. These rules led to an escalation of the standoff as Twitter missed the deadlines for the appointment of India-based executives.

Separately the Uttar Pradesh polices summoned Maheshwari for questioning over tweets on the platform about the assault of a Muslim man in Ghaziabad in a move that was described as “malafide”, “harassment” and “arm-twisting” by the Karnataka High Court.

This week, Twitter found itself at odds with the opposition Congress party and its leader Rahul Gandhi, as they slammed the social network for blocking a tweet over the alleged rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl, saying the platform was playing partisan politics.