The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, has called a meeting to discuss the rights of citizens in the digital space, ANI reported on Monday.
The panel has summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 4 pm on Tuesday, NDTV reported.
According to an agenda circulated among members of the panel, the meeting will be held to gather “evidence of the representatives of the Ministry...on the subject of safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space”.
Unidentified officials told NDTV that Twitter’s non-compliance with the Centre’s new information technology rules was also likely to be discussed at the meeting.
The Centre has repeatedly criticised Twitter for not fully complying with the new IT rules. It told the Delhi High Court on Monday that Twitter had lost its “safe harbour immunity” because of that. Twitter will be stripped of the protection social media websites have against legal proceedings for unlawful content posted by users if the court accepts the Centre’s submission.
Also read: Parliamentary panel summons Facebook, Google officials to discuss misuse of platforms
The new information technology rules are a sweeping set of regulations – which were announced in February and became effective in May – framed to regulate social media companies, streaming and digital news content, virtually bringing them, for the first time, under the ambit of government supervision.
The rules require social media platforms to appoint chief compliance officers in order to make sure the rules are followed, nodal officers to coordinate with law enforcement agencies, and grievance officers. They also state that platforms with over 50 lakh users must help identify the originators of messages upon the government’s request.
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