In a court filing, India's government says Twitter has lost its liability protection there since it has failed to comply with IT rules introduced in February
TechCrunchManish Singh
Context & Ripple Effects
India's February 2021 IT Rules gave large platforms a compliance deadline and, per the government's court filing, stripped intermediary liability protection from platforms that missed it — the legal shield that keeps a platform from being sued over user content. The filing is the enforcement lever behind the rules' most aggressive provision: personal criminal liability for the local chief compliance officer who fails to meet government takedown demands.
First-order effects
Twitter's exposure in India shifts from regulatory friction to direct litigation risk: without safe-harbor protection it can be held liable for content hosted on the service, and its executives face personal criminal jeopardy under the same rules.
When the Delhi High Court dismissed Twitter's challenge and fined it for delayed compliance in 2023, it confirmed the model: governments can convert intermediary immunity into an on-demand compliance tool, and other democracies weighing similar rules gain a working template.
The trend: Platform liability law is moving from blanket intermediary immunity to conditional protection that governments revoke selectively to force local staffing and takedowns.
India is pressuring tech companies to make changes that will make them easier to control. On the face of it, that's their right. The deeper truth is they want to control the narrative. >> Twitter has lost liability protection in India, government says https://techcrunch.com/...
@evelyndouek
Evelyn Douek on x
Still the most important battle for online freedom of expression right now and still I have yet to see the US or other governments give the platforms back up
@evan_greer
Evan Greer on x
A bit buried in this piece is the fact that WhatsApp and Signal are likely also not complying with the government's “traceability” requirement. If the government cracks down, Android users will still be able to side-load those apps, but iPhone users won't https://techcrunch.com/.…
@corrine0116
Corrine on x
“The issue is of misuse of social media,” Prasad said last week. “Some of them say we are bound by American laws. You operate in India, make good money, but u will take the position that you'll be governed by American laws. This is plainly not acceptable.” https://www.theverge.co…
@evelyndouek
Evelyn Douek on x
This headline is misleading - the gvt has said this in its filing to the Court but the Court still has to rule, is my understanding. Still, it does mark a continuing escalation and I don't see how this plays out well... https://www.reuters.com/...
@campuscodi
Catalin Cimpanu on x
yeah... good luck with that “Twitter has lost liability protection in India, government says” https://techcrunch.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@charlesmok
@charlesmok on x
Shape of things to come. Everywhere? Twitter has lost liability protection in India, government says https://techcrunch.com/...
@aaschapiro
Avi Asher-Schapiro on x
Twitter is a major platform used to criticize the Indian government, which has been ramping up pressure to censor user-generated content. Local Twitter employees face multiple criminal complaints & now India is stripping Twitter of liability protection. https://www.reuters.com/..…