Twitter VP in India, will face questions from 31-member parliamentary panel

Twitter Vice President of Public Policy, Colin Crowell, will appear before the parliamentary panel on Information Technology or IT on February 25 after CEO Jack Dorsey cited 'short-notice' to explain his unavailability for the hearing. The 31-member committee conducting the session will discuss the “safeguarding of citizen’s rights on social/online news media platforms”.

This comes after the Parliamentary panel on Information Technology had summoned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before it on February 25, and had refused to meet "junior officials" of the micro-blogging site during its meeting on February 11.

The meeting had been called against the backdrop of growing concerns about safeguarding citizens' data privacy and the possibility of social media platforms being used to interfere in the upcoming elections.

"We thank the Parliamentary Committee for its invitation to hear Twitter's views on 'Safeguarding citizen rights on social/online news media platforms'. These are issues for all Internet services globally.

"Colin Crowell, Global Vice President of Public Policy for Twitter, will meet with the Committee on Monday," a Twitter spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.

Read: Parliamentary Panel Demands Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Appear Before It On Feb 25, Sends Back Twitter India Officials Who Had Answered Summons: Sources

Earlier, speaking to Republic TV, BJP MP Anurag Thakur, who heads the Parliamentary Panel on IT, had expressed his displeasure at Twitter deciding to not sufficiently answer the summons by the panel. He left open the possibility that it could constitute a breach of parliamentary privilege.

However, Twitter has maintained that it is committed to remain unbiased and that its product, as well as policies, are never based on political ideology. The government has been taking a strong view of the misuse of social media platforms and is also proposing to amend IT rules to curb fake news and increase the accountability of such apps.

Over the last few weeks, Facebook, Twitter and Google have promised to infuse more transparency into political advertisements on their platform and announced a slew of measures as part of their election integrity efforts.

On Thursday, Twitter said it has formed an internal, cross-functional group to lead "electoral integrity work" in India that will proactively support partner escalations, and identify potential threats from malicious actors.

The US-based company had also stated that its teams are working closely with political parties across the spectrum to train them on using Twitter to best engage with their constituents.