New IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tells Twitter 'law of the land is supreme'

After the introduction of the new IT rules which require social media intermediaries (with more than 50 lakh users) to be more accountable for the third-party content published on their sites, the Centre has continuously warned Twitter to follow the new regulations.

The social media giant has so far failed to follow the rules in full, causing it to lose immunity over user-generated content.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, 51, will head the ministries of Electronics & Information Technology, Communications as well as Railways, the government announced late on Tuesday evening.

Ravi Shankar Prasad had been battling U.S. social media giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter to ensure they complied with the IT legislation as they cash in on one of the world's fastest-growing internet markets.

Earlier today, Twitter told Delhi High Court that it would take eight more weeks for it to appoint a grievance officer who is an Indian resident as required by the new legislation. 

Two days ago the court had warned Twitter against not following the new rules as several weeks have passed since the company has crossed the deadline to make the necessary appointment.

"How long does your process take? If Twitter thinks it can take as long it wants in our country, I will not allow that," Justice Rekha Palli of the Delhi High Court had said, NDTV quoted.