Twitter may have lost protection, but not tag

There appears to be a degree of misperception that the government has, on political whim, removed the tag of “intermediary” for Twitter — or more accurately, taken away the protections enjoyed by Twitter under Section 79 of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 (as amended) for non-compliance with the Intermediary Guidelines of 2021. This has sparked concerns of “executive overreach”.

The basis of these concerns is incorrect. First, intermediaries are those covered under S.2(1)(w) of the IT Act. Twitter was and continues to be covered under this definition. While intermediary has a broad definition, some under this category enjoy comprehensive protection from any form of liability under S.79 of the IT Act.