New Delhi, 28th May 2021: A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court against Twitter for not implementing the new social media guidelines issued by the central government.

The petition against Twitter has been filed on behalf of advocate Amit Acharya, who practices in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court. The petition demands that Twitter comply with the Government of India (GOI) rules.

It must be noted that in February, the new guidelines for social media were announced by the Government of India (GOI). These new rules were given a three months window to be implemented and were said to be implemented from May 26. One of the rules requires social media companies to provide information about an account that initiates a controversial, violent, inflammatory and anti-national post.

Companies like Twitter and WhatsApp have opposed this rule. The companies say that it is against freedom of expression and privacy. Twitter had also issued a statement in this regard, to which the government had strongly objected.

In a statement issued on the indigenous social media app Koo, the IT ministry had objected to Twitter’s attitude, saying it was “hiding its mistake and blaming the Indian government.” Not only this, the government had strongly objected and said “Twitter has tried to drive the world’s largest democracy according to its own.”