The Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology on Monday summoned Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey and other officials of the social media company on February 25, the panel’s head Anurag Thakur told PTI.
The panel, which has sought Dorsey’s opinion on complaints about perceived bias against right-wing handles on the micro-blogging platform, declined to meet Twitter India’s representatives on Monday, the Hindustan Times reported. Twitter has not yet said if Dorsey can meet the new timeline.
On Saturday, the panel had threatened to take action against Twitter after the company refused to send its top officials for the hearing citing the short notice it had been provided.
The ministry’s summons were issued days after the Youth for Social Media Democracy, a right-wing outfit, held protests, accusing the social media firm of suspending or shadow-banning accounts that appear sympathetic to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the government, according to the Hindustan Times.
Last month, Twitter Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey had said his team was preparing for the Lok Sabha elections and they wanted to ensure that the “integrity of the conversation around the election”. The polls are expected to be held in April and May.
On January 10, Twitter had announced that it will provide an advertising dashboard that will show expenditures by political parties in India on the platform during the course of the election.
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