According to the company’s website, Twitter has named Vinay Prakash as its Resident Grievance Officer for India.
The US-based company has been in the eye of a storm over its alleged failure to comply with the new IT rules in India, which mandates, 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 of India.
As per the information updated on Twitter’s website, Vinay Prakash is the Resident Grievance Officer (RGO). 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 Jeremy Kessel, the Global Legal Policy Director and based in the US.
The company has also published its compliance report from 26 May 2021 to 25 June 2021. This was another key requirement under the IT rules that came into effect on 26 May.
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. Despite repeated reminders, the government has confronted Twitter over deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules.
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.
On 8 July, Twitter informed the Delhi High Court that it has appointed an interim chief compliance officer, a resident of India. It will endeavour to fill the regular position within eight weeks as per the new IT Rules.
It had also said it was in the process of making an appointment to an Indian resident as its interim RGO and is expected to do so on or before 11 July. Details would be updated on its ‘Help Page’ as soon as possible.