Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 29: Even as India filed the fourth case against Twitter, this time for child pornography, two other social media platforms Facebook and Google were on Tuesday asked by the Parliamentary Committee on Information and Technology (IT) to comply with new IT rules and follow the country’s laws.
The panel also asked the internet giants to put in place stringent data privacy and security safeguards and sought Twitter’s response on the recent locking of several accounts for brief periods.
Based on a complaint from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police lodged a case against Twitter on the issue of child pornography — the fourth against the social media platform since it lost legal immunity for content posted by users amid a massive row with the government. The fresh case has been filed under the Posco Act and the IT Act.
In its complaint, the NCPCR said pornographic material involving children was continuously being posted on Twitter. The commission — which complained about this issue earlier — had written two letters to the Cyber Cell and the Delhi Police chief and had asked a senior officer of the Cyber Cell to appear before it on June 29.
Last week, a case was filed against Twitter in Ghaziabad in connection with tweets on the alleged assault on a Muslim man.
The issue is now pending in the Supreme Court as Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari got protection from arrest by an order of the Karnataka High Court. The Uttar Pradesh police have challenged the order in the top court.
Maheshwari has also been named in another First Information Report (also filed in Uttar Pradesh) — over an incorrect map of India on the Twitter website; the map showed Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh as a separate country. Another FIR has been registered against Maheshwari in Madhya Pradesh, with the same allegation.
Twitter lost legal protection from prosecution over users’ posts earlier this month after its failure to comply with new digital rules, including appointment of Indian officials for the grievance and redressal system.
Twitter had clashed with the government over the new IT rules, which it claimed were against the Constitution. The row intensified after it tagged tweets by BJP leaders on an alleged “Congress toolkit” as “manipulated media”.
Meanwhile, the executives of social networking website Facebook India and search engine Google deposed before the House panel on Tuesday over issues like safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of social or online news media platforms’ misuse, according to sources. The panel, led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, will next summon representatives of YouTube and other social media intermediaries, too, in coming weeks, they said.
Facebook India was represented at the deposition by Shivnath Thukral, its Director of Public Policy, and Namrata Singh, its Associate General Counsel. Google India sent Aman Jain, it Country Head for Government Affairs and Public Policy, and Gitanjali Duggal, the Legal Department Director.
Besides complying with India’s new IT Rules, the Committee directed both Facebook and Google to follow the instructions issued by the government as well as court orders. It told the executives that there were loopholes in the companies’ existing data protection policies.
Facebook’s officials had earlier informed the Committee that the company’s COVID-19 protocol disallow them from appearing in person. Tharoor, however, insisted saying the Parliament Secretariat does not allow any virtual meetings.
The official agenda circulated among members of the panel for the deposition said, “To hear the views of representatives of Facebook India and Google India 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.”
Tharoor has also instructed the Parliament Secretariat to seek a response from Twitter India within two days on why his account, along with that of IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, was locked for a brief period.
On June 18, representatives from micro-blogging site appeared before the same panel. The meeting took place against the backdrop of the US-based social media giant’s recent run-ins with the government on a series of issues.
They faced tough questions and were told bluntly that “Indian laws are supreme and the company has to abide by the laws of India in India,” according to sources.
A Twitter spokesperson later said the company was prepared to work with the committee on “safeguarding citizens’ rights online in line with our principles of transparency, freedom of expression, and privacy.”