Twitter to work on agreeable date to set up meeting between Jack Dorsey and govt panel

Update: Twitter India’s Director of Policy Mahima Kaul will represent Twitter before the Parliament Comittee on information technology. A date for the meeting has not been officially announced yet. After **failing to appear** for a panel meeting summoned by the parliamentary committee on information technology, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and other Twitter executives have come under a lot of fire from the government. While the parliamentary committee is considering ways of sending a “strong” message after the snub, Twitter has stated that the social media giant is ready to settle on “mutually agreeable” dates when Dorsey is available. [caption id=“attachment_5534731” align=“alignnone” width=“1024”] Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Twitter. Reuters[/caption] However, Twitter citing the unavailability of top officials as the primary reason for not making it to the panel meeting does fall somewhat flat as the social media giant was given 10 days to prepare for the meeting. The meeting date, which was initially set for 7 February, was also deferred to 11 February, to allow Twitter India more time. The panel had summoned representatives of Twitter and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to be present before it on Monday at 3 pm to discuss the issue of “safeguarding citizens’ rights on social media/online news platforms”. Twitter on Saturday said it is ready to appear before the committee with company officials from its India office. A member of the parliamentary committee talking to the Economic Times said, “The letter clearly indicated that the Indian representatives (of Twitter) do not have the authority to frame a policy or (looking into) its enforcement. The committee, thus, felt it futile to interact with such representatives and decided to interact with the company’s CEO or his deputy.”

The Parliamentary Commitee on Information Technology takes very serious note of this.

We will take appropriate action on 11th February.

Citizens are welcome to send their concerns/issues via email to the Parliamentary Commitee.

comit@sansad.nic.in https://t.co/oKBzdoJkhV

— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) February 9, 2019

As per a report by the Times of India, Twitter India could be anticipating **allegations of having anti-right-wing political leanings** and selectively blocking handles on grounds of policy violation. The social media company has stated that none of its actions is biased and that each decision is taken on a “case to case” basis.

#JustIn -- @misskaul, Director, Policy to represent Twitter before the Parliamentary Committee. pic.twitter.com/FF5iBLJ5g2

— News18 (@CNNnews18) February 11, 2019

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Meenakshi Lekhi, a Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi also weighed in on the controversy, saying, “In this situation, if Twitter is disrespecting established institution of Parliament, then there are repercussions. If there is any violation of any sort, then there are repercussions to those violations.”