Twitter Loses Intermediary Status, Liable For Penal Action For Not Removing 'Misleading Content'

"Due to their non-compliance, their protection as an intermediary is gone. Twitter is liable for penal actions against any Indian law just as any publisher is," sources informed ABP News.

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Uttar Pradesh' Ghaziabad Police has taken big action against Twitter India over its failure to appoint key officers in India on the company’s role in line with the new IT rules.

"Due to their non-compliance, their protection as an intermediary is gone. Twitter is liable for penal actions against any Indian law just as any publisher is," sources informed ABP News.

Police have registered an FIR against nine, naming two Congress leaders and Twitter India after a video of an elderly Muslim man, Sufi Abdul Samad, being assaulted went viral.

As per the police, action has been taken against Twitter India for not removing the "misleading content" linked to an incident in Ghaziabad's Loni on June 5, in which an elderly Muslim man had alleged that he was forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram" and "Vande Matram" and his beard was cut off by miscreants. Police say that the video tried to incite communal trouble.

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On the night of June 14, Police had given the details about the incident and refuted the communal angle by giving out a press release via their Twitter handle. It is alleged on Twitter that despite the clarification given by the police, the video was not removed.

All nine have been reportedly booked under sections 153 i.e. inciting riots, section-153A, spreading enmity between two sects, 295a- inciting religious feelings, and 120b i.e. criminal conspiracy.

Reports suggest that the attackers accused the elderly Muslim man of being a Pakistani spy. One of the attackers threatened the elderly man with a knife. In the recent past also there have been many acts of violence reported over religious differences.