Twitter names Vinay Prakash as Resident Grievance Officer for India

Twitter has been at loggerheads with the Indian government over the new social media rules

Twitter on Sunday named Vinay Prakash as the Resident Grievance Officer for India as mandated by new IT rules, its website showed. Users can contact him using an email ID listed on the page.

"Twitter can be contacted in India at the following address: 4th Floor, The Estate, 121 Dickenson Road, Bangalore 560 042," the page further said.

Prakash's name appears along with Kessel, who is the Global Legal Policy Director and is based in the US.

However, the microblogging platform did not share additional details of the new resident grievance officer.

Also read: Striving to comply with IT rules, but reserve right to challenge their validity: Twitter to Delhi HC

Though Twitter had earlier appointed Dharmendra Chatur as its interim grievance officer for India after the new IT rules came into force on May 26, he stepped down.

Separately, Twitter has also published its first detailed compliance report. In its India Transparency Report: User Grievances and Proactive Monitoring July 2021 report, Twitter said it had received 94 grievances and "actioned" 133 URLs between May 26 and June 25, 2021.

Twitter said the majority of complaints received via Grievance Officer - India channel during the reporting period fell into categories including defamation (20), Abuse/Harassment (6), Sensitive Adult Content (4), Impersonation and privacy infringement (3 each), IP-related Infringement (1), and Misinformation/Synthetic and Manipulated Media (1).

Also Read | Delhi High Court again pulls up Twitter for failing to comply with IT rules

In addition to this, Twitter processed 56 grievances that were appealing Twitter account suspensions.

In a separate category - 'Proactive Monitoring Data', Twitter said 18,385 accounts were suspended over the issue of Child Sexual Exploitation, Non-Consensual Nudity, and similar content, while 4,179 accounts were suspended for Promotion of Terrorism.

The US-based firm also said it will publish this report on a monthly basis and that it will make improvements over time.

As per new social media intermediary rules 2021, which came into effect on May 26, large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) are required to publish periodic compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon.

The rules also mandate the appointment of Indian residents for three key posts - grievance officer, chief compliance officer and nodal officer.