I'm not one who declared removal of Twitter's intermediary status, the law has: Ravi Prasad
Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said that he was not the one who declared the removal of Twitter's intermediary status, the law did.
"We gave Twitter 3 months' time. Others have followed, they haven't. Rule 7 of (IT) guidelines says if you don't comply then under Sec 79 you may lose intermediary status and may become liable to other laws including penal laws of the country," he added.
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"I am not the one who declared it (removal of Twitter's intermediary status), the law has," he said, adding that "If others followed, why couldn't they?"
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"We asked for 3 officers to be appointed. 3 months' period exhausted on May 26. Gave them the last opportunity as a goodwill gesture," he recalled.
He further said that "When Indian companies do business or pharma companies go to manufacture in the US, do they follow American laws or not? If you have to do business here, you're welcome to criticize PM, all of us. But you've to obey India's constitution and rules."
"When some people do their politics via Twitter, I've no problem... now they're doing politics of Twitter, again I've no problem. It isn't an issue between Twitter and GoI or BJP. It is an issue between Twitter and its users who must be given a forum in case of misuse and abuse," he added.
"India is a democracy as elections are fair. We won Assam and lost Bengal. The Independent judiciary asks tough questions. Media questions senior ministers. That's freedom of speech and democracy. Under the garb of these, if you won't comply with rules, it's a misplaced argument," Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
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