Union Home Secretary meets Twitter officials to curb objectionable content

New Delhi [India], Nov 12 (ANI): Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Monday held a meeting with top representatives from micro-blogging platform Twitter, and asked them to implement a mechanism for removal of unlawful and objectionable content from their platform.
A statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that Twitter's global head of Legal, Policy, Trust and Safety Lead, Vijaya Gadde and the Indian representative of Twitter, Mahima Kaul met with Gauba.
The statement added that the Home Secretary advised them to appoint India based contact persons, who would be available round the clock, and put in place an escalation mechanism to deal with the requisitions of law enforcement agencies and the general public for the prompt removal of unlawful and objectionable content.
"It has been noticed that action taken by Twitter for removing/blocking of objectionable/unlawful content has been slow in some cases and compliance for removal of unlawful content has been only about 60 per cent even where orders have been issued by the competent authority after following due process of law," the statement read.
The Twitter representatives were also asked to improve their system of response to investigations related legal requests of law enforcement agencies under provisions of Criminal Penal Code and other laws.
"During the meeting, specific instances of legal requisitions were shown where Delhi police had sought for removal of content openly inciting violence where response by Twitter had been neither full nor timely. Specific legal notices issued by the Delhi Police seeking investigation-related information were also shared with them," the statement added.
The Union Home Secretary has held meetings with social media platforms in June and October 2018. A series of meetings have been conducted by senior officers of MHA, Delhi Police and police officers of other States to sensitise the country representatives of social media platforms about the gravity of unlawful, objectionable content posted on their platforms, and their possible consequences. (ANI)