The parliamentary standing committee on information technology headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has summoned Facebook and Google executives to take up the issue of safeguarding citizens' rights and preventing the misuse of online platforms, especially with regard to the security of women in digital space.

Representatives of Facebook had earlier informed the parliamentary committee that their company's policies do not allow officials to appear in person due to the Covid-19 protocols. 

However, the committee’s chairman has made it clear to Facebook that its officials will have to appear in person since the Parliament Secretariat does not allow virtual meetings.

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The committee would also summon representatives from YouTube and other social media platforms in the coming days to hold discussions on these issues.

Earlier this month, the parliamentary committee had summoned Twitter over issues related to misuse of the platform and protection of citizens’ rights. The meeting took place at a time when the US social media giant has taken a confrontationist stand with the government over complying with the new IT rules.

The committee had taken strong exception to Twitter India officials’ saying that they abide by their company policy and made it clear to them that the law of the land is supreme. The committee also asked Twitter why it should not be fined as it has been found to be violating rules of the country.

During the 95-minute meeting, members of the committee asked some tough questions to Twitter India officials but their answers lacked clarity and were ambiguous, sources said. 

Twitter India executives were also asked why the company had still not appointed a full-time Chief Compliance Officer in India and what its policy was on content that could incite communal hatred. Twitter was asked about its policy on content flagged as controversial or inflammatory, sources said.

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Both the Twitter officials were told to submit in writing their status in the company and the powers they had in terms of taking important policy decisions, sources said.

A Twitter spokesperson said later that 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."

The microblogging site had faced backlash when it briefly removed the ‘blue tick’ verification badge from the personal account of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu. Last week it had blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s account for an hour, citing a US copyright law.