On Wednesday, Twitter became the first US-based social media platform to lose legal protection in India, meaning that the company will now be held responsible for tweets, data hosted by it. It will not be considered as a platform hosting something that somebody has tweeted, but it will be editorially responsible for the posts.
Indian representatives of microblogging platform Twitter appeared before the parliamentary panel chaired by Congress’ Shashi Tharoor to discuss the issue of its guidelines and the misuse of its platform. During the deposition, Twitter India’s public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor represented Twitter before the panel.
During the meeting, the panel asked the company, if it follows the law or the land, to which a representative responded saying, “We follow our own policies,” news agency ANI reported.
Twitter spokesperson said after the meeting, as per ANI report, “We appreciate the opportunity to share our views before the Standing Committee on IT. Twitter stands prepared to work with the Committee on the important work of safeguarding citizens’ rights online in line with our principles of transparency, freedom of expression, and privacy.”
The spokesperson also said, “We will also continue working alongside the Indian Government as part of our shared commitment to serve and protect the public conversation.”
The meeting comes as the Centre is at loggerheads with the microblogging site over the new Information and Technology (IT) rules. Last week, the Parliamentary standing committee on Information and Technology summoned Twitter India officials over issues related to misuse of the platform and protection of citizens’ rights.
