Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, top officials refuse to appear before Parliamentary Committee: Report

The parliamentary committee meeting was scheduled for February 7, but was later postponed to February 11 to allow the Twitter CEO and senior officials more time to make themselves available.

Picture tweeted by Jack Dorsey of him meeting PM Narendra Modi last year.

New Delhi: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and top officials have reportedly refused to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on IT that had summoned them over the issue of safeguarding citizens' rights on social media platforms, The Parliamentary Committee, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, had issued a summon to Twitter via an official letter on February 1. The parliamentary committee meeting was scheduled for February 7, but was later postponed to February 11 to allow the Twitter CEO and senior officials more time to make themselves available. Twitter cited "short notice of the hearing" as the reason, despite being given 10 days to travel, the sources of news agency PTI said.

The letter sent to Twitter by the Parliamentary IT Committee on February 1 clearly stated that "it may be noted that the Head of the Organisation has to appear before the Committee". It further stated that "He/She may be accompanied by another representative."

Thank you Prime Minister @narendramodi for having us today. I enjoyed our conversation about the importance of global conversation. Also: thanks for the ideas for Twitter! pic.twitter.com/aelfOEZ65v

— jack (@jack) November 13, 2018

The Parliamentary IT Committee received a letter on February 7 from Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's global lead for legal, policy, trust and safety, stating, "No one who engages publicly for Twitter India makes enforcement decisions with respect to our rules for content or accounts in India." Deputing a junior employee to represent Twitter at the Indian Parliamentary IT Committee has not gone down well with Indian lawmakers especially since they have no decision making authority, the letter from Gadde said. This comes at a time when there are growing concerns about safeguarding citizens' data privacy and election interference through social media platforms. Twitter's conduct is being watched globally and their response is being seen with concern as India's Parliamentary hearing is amongst the fourth in the world after the US Congress, Singapore and EU hearing. Last November, Twitter had to apologise after a furore erupted in India when Jack Dorsey was seen lamely holding a poster saying “smash Brahminical patriarchy”. Boycott calls multiplied along with threats to file a case against Dorsey for inciting hate. Twitter India went into a damage-control mode issuing an explanation. “Recently, we hosted a closed door discussion with a group of women journalists and change makers from India to better understand their experience using Twitter. One of the participants, a Dalit activist, shared her personal experiences and gifted a poster to Jack.

During Twitter CEO @jack's visit here, he & Twitter's Legal head @vijaya took part in a round table with some of us women journalists, activists, writers & @TwitterIndia's @amritat to discuss the Twitter experience in India. A very insightful, no-words-minced conversation 😊 pic.twitter.com/LqtJQEABgV

— Anna MM Vetticad (@annavetticad) November 18, 2018

“It is not a statement from Twitter or our CEO, but a tangible reflection of our company’s efforts to see, hear, and understand all sides of important public conversations that happen on our service around the world.”