Rule of land supreme, not your policy: Parliamentary panel on IT to Twitter

Amid a tussle between the Union government and Twitter over the new IT rules the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT on Friday told the USbased social media giant that the rule of the land was supreme and the company must abide by the Indian lawsDuring a 90minute deposition before the panel chaired by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor the Twitter India officials were asked tough and searching questions including why it should not be fined as it has been found violating rules of the country sources saidTwitter Indias public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor deposed before the parliamentary panelAlso Read lsquoNew IT rules give the government disproportionate control over the internetrsquoBJP MPs Nishikant Dubey Rajyawardan Rathore Tejasvi Surya Sanjay Seth Zafar Islam Subhash Chandra were among those present during the meeting while from the opposition there were TMC MP Mahua Moitra and TDP MP Jaidev Galla apart from TharoorDuring the meeting panel members mostly from ruling BJP asked Twitter officials whether their policy is more important or rule of land to which officials responded that they respect the Indian laws but they have to follow their policy as well for larger interest sources saidThe panel members took strong objection to Twitter stance and categorically told them that the rule of land is supreme not the company policy sources saidAs per sources there was unanimity in the panel that Twitter should abide by IT rules and appoint chief compliance officerThe answers by Twitter officials lacked clarity and were ambiguous a source saidIt was also raised by the MPs in the meeting that instead of appointing a fulltime compliance officer Twitter has appointed an interim officer who is a lawyer sources saidThe parliamentary panel had last week summoned Twitter over issues related to misuse of the platform and protection of citizens rightsAccording to sources the opposition members opined that another round of meeting should be held with Twitter officials but the panel has sought written reply from Twitter on various questionsThe panel members also held a meeting with Information and Technology Ministry officials after the depositionEarlier this month the Central government issued a notice to Twitter giving it one last chance to immediately comply with the new IT rules and warned that failure to adhere to the norms will lead to the platform losing exemption from liability under the IT ActSources said the panel will also summon top officials of Google Facebook YouTube and other tech giantsTwitter and the Centre have been at loggerheads over several issues for the last few monthsThe microblogging site had also faced backlash when it briefly removed the blue tick verification badge from the personal account of VicePresident M Venkaiah Naidu and of several senior RSS functionaries including its chief Mohan BhagwatEarlier Delhi Police had sent a notice to Twitter seeking an explanation of how it described an alleged Congress toolkit against the Central government as manipulated mediaThe police reportedly had also questioned Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari on May 31 and visited the Twitter India offices in Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 over the toolkit issueThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever