Centre-Twitter standoff: Parliamentary Panel summons Twitter on June 18 over new IT rules

The ongoing tension between the micro-blogging site Twitter and the Central government is far from over. The representatives of the company have been summoned by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology to appear before it on June 18.

The panel has also called officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to present their side on the ongoing controversies.

The panel, chaired by Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, will hear the explanation by Twitter. It will also look into the shreds of evidence from representatives of the IT Ministry 'on the subject safeguarding citizens rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms, including special emphasis on women security in digital space'.

Last week, Twitter said that it was making every effort to comply with the new guidelines under IT Rules 2021.

Though Twitter has appeared before the panel earlier, this will be their first appearance since the feud between the Central government and the microblogging site over compliance with the new digital media rules.

The controversy and new IT rule 2021

Tensions grew between Twitter and the Central government after the social media site criticised the new IT rules and regulations, saying they 'inhibit free, open public conversation'.

The Centre responded that the social media platform was levelling baseless and false allegations to defame India and dictating terms to the world's largest democracy.

Subsequently, the government gave Twitter a final notice to comply with all the norms under the IT Rules 2021.

The Centre has asked all social media platforms with more than 50 lakh (five million) users to follow its orders and appoint a resident grievance officer to deal with complaints on the various platforms.