Twitter India summoned by Parliamentary Panel over allegations of bias

Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur summoned Twitter India on February 11 to explain the allegations of bias that have been made against the social media platform. The Parliamentary committee is set to hear the views of representatives of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology and Twitter on the subject of 'Safeguarding citizens' right on social media and online news platforms.

This development has come days after the members of 'Youth for Social Media Democracy' staged a protest outside the office of Twitter India in Delhi. The protesters alleged that the Twitter India has acquired a biased attitude towards the right wing group.

Some of the protestors accused the microblogging website for spreading selective fake news. The protestors also claimed that the act of "selectively" authenticating Twitter handles of people with 'leftist propaganda' has often led to the spread of fake news around the digital platform.

Talking to news agency ANI, one of the protestors said, "Twitter has acquired a biased attitude. They block our accounts and impressions of the tweets. We won't tolerate this; they will have to change their policy."

READ: Twitter India Randomly Asks 'Kya Chal Raha Hai'; Internet Comes Up With Most Inane Responses Including "FOGG"

In November 2018, a massive controversy triggered against Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey after he was captured holding a placard that read “Smash Brahminical Patriarchy". Not only social media users, several prominent political leaders turned against Jack Dorsey on his very own microblogging platform, citing that his 'blunder' had caused offence to a certain section of Indian society.

READ: Red-hot Outrage Over Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's 'Smash Brahminical Patriarchy' Placard In India. Read Here

 In response to the massive outrage, Twitter India had released a statement stating that the statement "Smash Brahminical Patriarchy" dis not reflect the views of Twitter as a company or Jack as the CEO". 

(With ANI inputs)