Appointing Global Legal Policy Director Jeremy Kessel as the Grievance Officer for India may open another front in the faceoff between Twitter and the Indian government.
Twitter has appointed California-based Jeremy Kessel as the new Grievance Officer for India after the interim Grievance Officer Dharmendra Chatur quit on Sunday.
The appointment of a Grievance Officer is required under the new Information Technology Rules, 2021.
Kessel is the Global Legal Policy Director of Twitter and operated out of San Fransisco, California.
Appointing Kessel as the Grievance Officer may open another front in the faceoff between Twitter and the Indian government.
Screenshot of the Twitter page notifying Jeremy Kessel as its grievance officer for India
That's because, under new IT rules 2021, digital media platforms were directed to appoint a resident grievance officer who should be based out of India.
The guidelines state that the official should be part of a larger grievance redressal mechanism, active monitoring of content on the platform, responsiveness to grievances, expedited processes to take down certain content, monthly compliance reports for Indian users, self-regulation mechanisms and also an oversight mechanism created by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The delay in appointment of the officers saw the company losing its 'safe harbour' immunity granted under the IT Act, making it liable for criminal and penal action for any unlawful content posted on its platform.