NEW DELHI: The Parliamentary standing committee on Information and Technology on Tuesday asked Google and Facebook to follow the Indian laws, while telling their representatives that the security of citizens is priority.
After summoning the representatives of Twitter, the committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called Facebook and Google for a session, which turned out to be a briefing meeting, with the members patiently hearing the technological aspects of the two tech giants.
The panel secretariat will also be writing to Twitter for explanations about the basis on which the accounts of Tharoor and Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were suspended. Prasad’s account was suspended for an hour purportedly on account of the copyright violations.
“Google gave statistical report about actions taken against contents which violate its policies, including removing and deleting videos and comments on its YouTube platform,” sources said. The panel told the two social media giants they have to conform to Indian rules. The panel grilled the representatives of the two about “end to end encryption and origin of contents”.
“Unlike the previous meeting with the Twitter representative, which was much heated, Tuesday’s session was more focused, with the members showing interests in understanding the technical aspects,” sources added.