Twitter Row: Tharoor-Led Parl Panel to Meet Govt Officials Today

Senior Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor.

(Photo: PTI)

Congress ML Shashi Tharoor led parliamentary panel is slated to meet officials of the Information and Technology (IT) and Information and Broadcasting ministries at 4 pm on Tuesday, 6 July.

According to NDTV, the officials have been summoned by the panel to gather 'evidence' on matter pertaining to citizens' rights in the digital space.

Citing sources, NDTV further reported that Twitter's compliance with the IT Rules, 2021, is expected to be discussed at the meeting. Further, the official agenda of the meeting reportedly says:

"Evidence of the representatives of the Ministry...on the subject 'Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space.'

Twitter is presently at odds with the Indian government over various issues.

Meanwhile, the Centre on Monday, told the Delhi High Court that Twitter has failed to comply with IT Rules 2021 as on Thursday, 1 July, leading to a loss of its immunity as an 'intermediary'.

According to IANS, in a short affidavit, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said, "IT Rules, 2021 are the law of the land and Respondent No. 2 (Twitter) is mandatorily required to comply with the same. Any non-compliance amounts to breach of the provisions of the IT Rules, thereby leading to Respondent No. 2 losing its immunity conferred under Section 79(1) of the IT Act, 2000."

Previously, on 29 June, the committee had questioned Twitter India about why the Twitter accounts of Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Tharoor had been locked for a while.

(With inputs from NDTV)