Twitter CEO, senior officials won't appear before parliamentary committee, cite 'short notice'
New Delhi, Feb 9 (IBNS): Citing "short notice" of the hearing, Twitter CEO and senior officials have turned down a meeting with the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology, media reports said.
The meeting, which was scheduled to be held on Feb 11, was called to discuss issues regarding the use of social media.
The committee reportedly called Twitter officials by sending a letter on Feb 1.
Though the meeting was originally scheduled to take place on Feb 7, it was later postponed to 11th of the same month, giving 10 days time to Twitter officials to appear.
Reacting to Twitter's refusal to meet, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has been quoted by ANI, " Chairman of RS&Speaker of LS will decide on what will be the action in such cases when somebody refuses to submit before parliamentary committee,govt doesn’t take decisions on it. "
Piyush Goel on 'Twitter CEO&senior officials refusing to appear before Parliamentary Committee on IT:Chairman of RS&Speaker of LS will decide on what will be the action in such cases when somebody refuses to submit before parliamentary committee,govt doesn’t take decisions on it. pic.twitter.com/tYcn0rNVlK
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2019
The micro-blogging site was also accused of being anti-right wing bias.
However, the company said in a statement, "Whether it’s trends, the content that appears in users’ timelines, or how the company enforces its policies, Twitter believes in impartiality and does not take any actions based upon political views or viewpoints. Twitter’s product and policies are never developed nor evolved on the basis of political ideology."
Twitter India summoned by parliamentary panel over 'anti-Right-wing bias'
Twitter has made more than 70 product, policy, and operational changes since the beginning of 2018, all with the aim of making people feel safe expressing themselves on the service. Abuse and hateful conduct comes from accounts across the ideological spectrum and Twitter will continue to take action when its rules are broken.
Colin Crowell, Global VP - Public Policy, Twitter said, “Twitter does not review, prioritize, or enforce its policies on the basis of political ideology. Every Tweet and every account is treated impartially. We apply our policies fairly and judiciously for all. If there are “false positive” decisions, these are not political statements of intent; they are the basic human error rate of running the fastest, most open conversational tool in history.”
Last year, the Centre had issued a notice to Facebook, asking for its response over the Cambridge Analytica data breach .
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Image credit: Colin Crowell Twitter
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