Parliamentary panel takes serious note of Jack Dorsey's absence; summons Twitter CEO on Feb 25

Dorsey and the top officials of Twitter had refused to appear before the committee on IT in the meeting scheduled on Monday. Representatives from Twitter’s India office had appeared before the committee, instead.

Troubles have increased for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after Parliamentary committee too a serious note of his absence from meeting scheduled on Monday and sent fresh summons to him./ Image: AFP

New Delhi: The Parliamentary committee on Information and Technology has summoned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, to appear before it on Februray 25, for alleged bias against right wing handles on the micro-blogging website. The chairman of the Parliamentary panel on Information Technology Anurag Thakur told PTI that Dorsey has been summoned on February 25. After non-appearance of Dorsey on Monday despite a summon issued on February 1, the committee has reportedly taken a serious note of the refusal by the Twitter head. Dorsey and the top officials of Twitter had refused to appear before the committee on IT. Representatives from Twitter’s India office had appeared before the committee, instead.  However, they were not invited for the deliberations, PTI said citing its sources. The Parliamentary Committee, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, had issued a summon to Twitter via an official letter on February 1 over the issue of safeguarding citizens' rights on social media platforms. The panel decided to call Twitter officials to hold deliberations, against the backdrop of growing concerns about safeguarding citizen’s data privacy and over apprehensions  that social media could be used to meddle in the upcoming polls. The government has been warning different social media platforms of likeable strong action in case any attempt was made to influence the country’s electoral process through undesirable means. Twitter, in a statement , said that Dorsey was unable to attend the meeting scheduled on Monday because  of the “short-notice.” Twitter has been facing heat over allegations of political bias. It has however refuted the charges and said that the company’s product and policies are never based on political ideology. The ministry’s summons turned up days after the Youth for Social Media Democracy, a right-wing outfit, held protests, accusing the social media firm of suspending accounst that appeared to support the ruling BJP, several media reports said.