Twitter to appoint chief compliance officer within a week

Twitter in its reply to the final notice of the government dated June 5, said that it is making all efforts to comply with the new guidelines

Days after the Centre's stern warning, micro blogging platform Twitter is learnt to have informed the government that it will appoint chief compliance officer within a week as per new IT rules.

The US based social media firm has written to the government that it is in advanced stage of finalising chief compliance officer and will submit additional details to the government within a week, sources in the government said.

In its reply to the government for its latest notice, Twitter said that it is making all efforts to comply with the new guidelines but has been unable to do so because of the global impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

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"In order to comply with underlying intention behind guidelines, we've appointed Nodal Contact Person and Resident Grievance Officer on contractual basis as we recruit to fill position on permanent basis," Twitter writes to Govt of India regarding compliance with IT rules, sources said.

"Twitter has been and remains deeply committed to India, and serving the vital public conversation taking place on the service. We have assured the Government of India that Twitter is making every effort to comply with the new guidelines, and an overview on our progress has been duly shared. We will continue our constructive dialogue with the Indian government," spokesperson of the company said.

Last week, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued final notice to Twitter asking it to comply with new social media rules.

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The new social media rules announced in February, which will come into force from May 26, requires large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer, monitoring of objectionable content, preparing monthly compliance report and removal of objectionable content.

The new rules also specify that social media firms adopt features such as traceability of messages and voluntary user verification.