New Delhi: Hours after the Facebook and Instagram said that they are working to implement operational processes and aims to comply with the provisions of the new IT rules that come into effect from Wednesday, May 26 in India, Google and YouTube on Tuesday said they will also comply with the country’s digital rules. Also Read – Mia Khalifa Gives a ‘Shoutout’ to Pakistan After Her TikTok Gets Banned Without Any Official Reason

Citing its “long history” of managing content according to local laws, Google said it respects India’s legislative process and have a long history of responding to government requests to remove content where it violates the local law or product policies. “We have consistently invested in significant product changes, resources, and personnel to ensure that we’re combating illegal content in an effective and fair way, and in order to comply with local laws in the jurisdictions that we operate in,” a Google spokesperson said. Also Read – Facebook, Twitter to Cease Operating in India From Tomorrow? Check Company’s Official Statement

The statement from Google also covers all its platforms, including YouTube. Several internet majors were yet to meet the requirements till hours ago, setting them up for criminal action. Also Read – BTS’ Butter Becomes Fastest Music Video To Cross 200 Million Views, Beats Dynamite

Earlier in the day, large digital platforms Facebook asserted that it is working towards meeting the compliance requirements. A Facebook spokesperson noted that the company is working to implement operational processes and aims to comply with the provisions of the IT rules.

The new rules, announced on February 25, require large social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to follow additional due diligence, including the appointment of a chief compliance officer, nodal contact person and resident grievance officer.

‘Significant social media intermediaries’ — defined as those with over 50 lakh registered users — were given three months to comply with the additional requirements. Non-compliance with rules would result in these social media companies losing their intermediary status that provides them exemptions and specified immunity from liabilities for any third-party information and data hosted by them. In other words, they could be liable for action.

However, Twitter has not commented on its compliance status. The microblogging platform had drawn flak from the government recently after it put ‘manipulated media’ tag on tweets by BJP leaders on an alleged toolkit used by the Opposition to target Centre over its COVID-19 handling.

There were no immediate comments from WhatsApp on the IT rules compliance. Last week, Koo — the Indian rival of Twitter — had said it has complied with the requirements of the new rules and its Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Community Guidelines now reflect the changes.

Recently, various industry bodies, including the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the US-India Business Council (USIBC), had written to the government seeking up to a one-year extension for compliance, particularly in the view of the pandemic.