Ravi Shankar Prasad Lauds Successor Ashwin Vaishnaw’s Take on IT Compliance Rules For Social Media Companies

Ravi Shankar Prasad is all praises for Ashwin Vaishnaw

Tuesday, 13th July 2021

Former IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday praised new appointee into the Union Cabinet and Prasad’s successor, Ashwini Vaishnaw for stressing on social media companies complying with the new IT rules.

In a Twitter post Prasad wrote, “Greetings to the new IT Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw for firmly reiterating that the new IT Rules are designed to empower the safety & security of users against misuse and redress their grievances.” He also added, “Assuring to note that Twitter too has taken some steps to comply with the new Rules.” 

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As to the reason behind Prasad’s removal from the post, it continues to remain fuzzy. It is however believed that it was in connection with his prolonged discord with social media platforms like Twitter and others over the implementation of IT rules.

The government was in a state of friction with Twitter on the issue of elimination of “inflammatory” posts and the implementation of new IT regulations.

The new IT minister on the other hand, soon after assuming his post cleared his stance on the matter stating anybody who live and work in the country will be required to uphold its rules and regulations.

In his support for the new IT rules, Vaishnaw wrote on Koo platform on Sunday, "These guidelines are empowering and protecting users and will ensure a safer and responsible social media ecosystem in India."

The newly appointed minister on Saturday has called for a review meeting wherein they were to discuss the contentious topic concerning the social media and intermediary guidelines and were later put under the head of compliance.

Last week, Vaishnaw was seen picking up the matter where Prasad had left off and attempting to resolve the dispute with a word of caution to Twitter stating the “law of the land is supreme.”

In recent times Twitter has been continually coming in the government’s line of fire for failing to appoint a chief compliance officer in the allotted time period. They made a temporary appointment yesterday and told the Delhi High Court that a permanent appointee would be made within eight weeks.

The new IT rules require various platforms including the social media, OTT platforms and online news publishers to have India-bases grievance officers appointed and adhere to directives laid down by the government on matters of “offensive” content.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

NDTV