Twitter appoints Vinay Prakash as Resident Grievance Officer for India, releases transparency report

Twitter has appointed Vinay Prakash as Resident Grievance Officer (RGO) for India. As per the microblogging platform's website details, Prakash can be contacted on grievance-officer-in @ twitter.com.

The US-based company also released a 'transparency report' regarding the handling of complaints from users in the country between May 26, 2021, and June 25, 2021, as required under the new IT law. 

Twitter told the Delhi High Court (HC) on July 8 that it will take eight more weeks to designate an RGO in compliance with the Centre's new IT rules. The microblogging platform, in an affidavit filed before the Delhi HC, clarified its stance on the issue of compliance with the new rules of the government.

Twitter also stated that it was also in the process of establishing a liaison office in India. The microblogging site has been in the eye of a storm over its alleged failure to comply with new IT rules in India, which mandate, among other requirements, the appointment of three key personnel -- chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer by social media platforms with over 50 lakh users. All three personnel have to be residents in India.

As per the information updated on Twitter's website, Vinay Prakash is the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO). Users can contact him using the 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 alongside Jeremy Kessel, who is the Global Legal Policy Director and is based in the US. The company has also published its compliance report for the period of May 26, 2021, to June 25, 2021. This was another key requirement under the IT rules that came into effect on May 26.

Twitter had previously appointed Dharmendra Chatur as its interim resident grievance officer for India as required by the IT rules. However, Chatur stepped down last month. Twitter has been at loggerheads with the Indian government over the new social media rules.

The government has confronted Twitter over deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country's new IT rules, despite repeated reminders. Twitter -- which has an estimated 1.75 crore users in India -- lost its legal shield as an intermediary in India, becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.

(With inputs from PTI.)

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