NEW DELHI: Twitter’s interim grievance officer on Dharmendra Chatur has reportedly stepped down leaving the social media giant without an official to handle grievances as mandated by the new IT rules.
The social media giant’s website also no longer displays his name as is mandated by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The company is yet to respond to the development. Twitter now displays the company’s name in the place of grievance officer for India with a US address and an email ID.
Twitter has been in the crosshairs with the Centre over the new rules. The government has accused the company of deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules. The new guidelines, which came to effect on May 25, mandate social media companies to have a grievance redressal mechanism.
“All significant social media companies, with over 50 lakh user base shall appoint a grievance officer to deal with such complaints and share the name and contact details of such officers. The big social media companies are mandated to appoint a chief compliance officer, a Nodal Contact Person and a resident grievance officer. All of them should be resident in India,” the text of the rules state.
The government also sent notices to the social media giant asking them to comply with the new guidelines. Twitter on June 5 had said it intended to comply with the new rules. Subsequently, it appointed Chatur as the interim resident grievance officer for India.