Dominion over land, not your politics: Parliamentary physique on info expertise on Twitter

In the midst of a dispute between the Union government and Twitter over the new IT rules, Parliament’s Standing Committee on IT informed the US-based social media giant on Friday that rule of the country was the top priority and the company was complying with that Indian laws.

During a 90-minute testimony before the panel chaired by Congress Leader Shashi Tharoor, Twitter India officials were asked “hard and thorough questions,” including reasons why the company should not be fined since it was found out that it is “against the rules of the country”. Sources said.

Twitter India’s public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal advisor Ayushi Kapoor were removed from the parliamentary panel.

Later in a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said the company was “ready to partner with the committee on important work to protect citizens’ rights online, in line with our principles of transparency, freedom of expression and privacy.”

“We will continue to work with the Government of India as part of our shared commitment to serve and protect public conversation,” the spokesman said, appreciating the opportunity to share his views on Twitter in front of the Standing Committee on Information Technology.

BJP MPs – Nishikant Dubey, Rajyawardan Rathore, Tejasvi Surya, Sanjay Seth, Zafar Islam, Subhash Chandra – were among those present during the meeting, while from the opposition alongside Tharoor were TMC MP Mahua Moitra and TDP MP Jaidev Galla .

During the meeting, panel members, mainly from the ruling BJP, asked Twitter officials if their politics were more important or the rule of the country, to which officials replied that they must respect Indian law but also obey their policies for any greater interest Sources said.

The panel members strongly objected to Twitter’s stance, categorically telling them that rule of the land is paramount, not company policy, sources said.

According to sources, the panel agreed that Twitter should adhere to IT rules and appoint a chief compliance officer.

“The responses (from Twitter officials) lacked clarity and were ambiguous,” a source said.

It was also raised by MPs in the session that instead of appointing a full-time compliance officer, Twitter has appointed an interim officer who is a lawyer, sources said.

Dubey also raised the question of the neutrality of fact checks on Twitter, according to sources, claiming that many of them were not “politically neutral”.

The parliamentary body had summoned Twitter last week over problems related to the abuse of the platform and the protection of civil rights.

Sources said opposition members believed that another round of meetings with Twitter officials should be held, but the panel has asked Twitter for written responses to various questions.

The panel members also held a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Information and Technology, according to the testimony.

Earlier this month, the central government gave Twitter one last chance to comply with the new IT rules “immediately,” warning that non-compliance will result in the platform losing its IT law indemnity.

Sources said the panel will also bring together top officials from Google, Facebook, YouTube and other tech giants.

Twitter and the Center had clashed over the past few months over several issues.

The microblogging site had also encountered backlash when it briefly removed the “blue tick” verification badge from the personal account of Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and several senior RSS officials, including boss Mohan Bhagwat.

The Delhi police had previously sent a message to Twitter asking for an explanation of how they described an alleged “congressional toolkit” against the central government as “manipulated media”.

Police reportedly also interviewed Twitter India’s executive director, Manish Maheshwari, on May 31, and visited Twitter India’s offices in Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 about the toolkit problem.