NEW DELHI, June 18: The parliamentary panel on information and technology headed by the Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has asked the microblogging platform Twitter to strictly follow the local rules and asked it to explain why it should not be fined for violating the law of the land.
Indian representatives of Twitter appeared before the panel on Friday to discuss the issue of its guidelines and the misuse of its platform. During the deposition, Twitter India’s public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor represented Twitter before the panel.
During the meeting, the panel asked the company, if it follows the law or the land, to which a representative responded saying, “We follow our own policies.” The members then told Twitter that law of the land is “supreme” and asked the company to abide by them. They also asked Twitter to explain why it should not be fined for ‘violating’ rule of land.
The meeting comes as the Centre is at loggerheads with the microblogging site over the new Information and Technology (IT) rules. Last week, the Parliamentary standing committee on Information and Technology summoned Twitter India officials over issues related to misuse of the platform and protection of citizens’ rights.
On Wednesday, Twitter lost the legal protection in India meaning that the company will now be held responsible for tweets, data hosted by it. It will not be considered as a platform hosting something that somebody has tweeted, but it will be editorially responsible for the posts.
The Union government revoked the protection, saying that the social media giant failed to comply with the new IT guidelines despite being given multiple opportunities.
Earlier this month, Twitter faced backlash by government officials after it briefly removed the ‘blue tick’ verification badge from the personal account of vice-president Venkaiah Naidu and of several senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionaries, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Delhi Police is investigating a case of an alleged toolkit created by Congress to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The notice was sent after Twitter tagged the BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra’s tweet on the alleged toolkit as “manipulated media”.
The police reportedly had also questioned Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari on May 31 and visited the Twitter India offices in Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 over the issue.
(Manas Dasgupta)