Parliamentary standing committee on IT summons MeitY, I&B officials over citizens' safety

Amid Twitter row, a parliamentary panel summoned officials of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting today. The action was taken to gather evidence on 'safeguarding citizens’ rights & prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space,' reported ANI. 

This comes few days after Parliamentary Standing Committee had summoned and asked Twitter India to submit in writing about how it is placed in the global branch and how much executive authority does it have in terms of making important policy decisions, as per ANI sources. Responding to Twitter's answer, the Parliamentary Panel asserted that rule of the land is 'supreme' and not the social media firm's policy. 

The committee had lashed out at Twitter over its refusal to follow India's laws regarding the operation of social media platforms. In response to a question of whether the social media giant follows the laws of the land in India, a Twitter representative stated that it follows 'its own policies,' thereby blatantly disregarding India's new IT rules. 

Parliamentary panel summons Google, Facebook

The Parliament Standing Committee on Information Technology on Monday summoned representatives of Facebook India and Google India for a meeting on June 29. The session has been convened to hear their views on safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social online news media platforms. 

This comes days after the IT panel turned down Facebook India's request for a virtual appearance after it received a summons from the panel. Citing the company's COVID-19 policies, Facebook had sought a virtual meeting instead of physical representation, as per news agency ANI. In response to the request, the Parliamentary panel proposed to vaccinate Facebook officials arriving before the committee to make its deposition.

Twitter's defiance

After losing its "safe harbour" immunity in India for its failure to comply with the IT rules, Twitter's defiance came forward. Under the new IT rules, social media intermediaries have been told to appoint a Chief Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact Person and a Resident Grievance Officer - all Indian residents. Twitter's interim resident grievance officer for India Dharmendra Chatur who was recently appointed has reportedly stepped down from the post yesterday. An official statement from Twitter is pending.