4 min readNew DelhiJun 19, 2021 09:01 AM IST
First published on: Jun 18, 2021 at 05:24 PM IST
Even as it is caught in a tussle with the Union government over the new Information Technology rules, Twitter was on Friday pulled up by the parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, which told the social media firm that the rule of the land was supreme and it must abide by Indian laws.
Twitter India’s public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor deposed for 90 minutes before the panel, chaired by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Twitter is learnt to have said that it had no intention to defy Indian laws and was already taking steps to comply with them, while apologising to MPs for the delay in this.
The panel has sought a written reply from Twitter on various questions. The committee is also expected to summon Twitter officials again, having indicated that discussions would continue.
At the hearing, Twitter reiterated its stand on the ‘manipulated media’ tag, saying this was not a subjective call but entirely the function of an algorithm. Recently, the tag had appeared on accounts of some BJP leaders and others that accused the Congress of a “toolkit” over Covid protests against the Modi government.
At the Standing Committee hearing, the ruling party members accused Twitter of relying on the advice of NGOs against the BJP. With non-Treasury members largely silent on this, the panel asked that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology coordinate with Twitter to sort out “the technical issues”.
In a statement after the hearing, a Twitter spokesperson said they welcomed the chance to appear before the panel and said the company “stands prepared to work with the Committee on the important work of safeguarding citizens’ rights online in line with our principles of transparency, freedom of expression, and privacy”. It said it will also “continue working alongside the Indian Government as part of our shared commitment to serve and protect the public conversation”.
There was unanimity in the panel, it is learnt, that the Twitter should abide by IT rules and appoint a chief compliance officer.
The social media giant has been in a tussle with the government over its Intermediary Guidelines, announced in February, that require platforms like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc to appoint nodal officers in key compliance positions, create automated processes for taking down pornography, remove offending content within 36 hours of receiving a legal order, and trace down the first originator of offending posts and messages in India.
Questioned by MPs across party lines why it had not complied with the rules, Twitter officials said they were in the process of doing so, that some interim appointments had already been made, and that the delay was due to the pandemic.
The division along party lines among members also showed up on the question of fact-checks by Twitter, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey saying the firm was not “politically neutral” on this. Ruling party members asked the company why it wanted to play the role of “editor and publisher” when it claims to be just an intermediary. Many non-Treasury side members reportedly remained silent on such questions.
Tharoor asked every member to express their views and the discussion was said to have gone on for three hours.
The parliamentary panel had summoned Twitter last week over issues related to “misuse” of the platform and “protection of citizens’ rights”.
Earlier this week, the government accused Twitter of deliberate defiance in complying with the IT rules, and hinted the US giant had lost its intermediary status and would be liable now for users posting any unlawful content.
The communication from UNHRC special branch follows a stand-off between the micro-blogging platform Twitter and the government on compliance with new intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code notified by the government on February 25. (Representational image) 
Share
