Feb 25, 2019
NEW DELHI: Networking platform Twitter has agreed to appoint a nodal officer
to work with the Election Commission to deal with issues relating to upcoming
elections, especially of interference in political and electoral matters by
foreign and vested interests.
Colin Crowell, global vice-president of public policy for Twitter, appeared
before the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology (IT) on February
25, as scheduled, to discuss concerns over possible misuse of social media platforms
to influence elections.
The parliamentary panel had summoned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before
it on February 25, and had refused to meet "junior officials" at its meeting
on February 11. However, Dorsey expressed inability to appear and deputed Colin
Crowell to attend. Anurag Thakur, chairman of the panel, read out a letter addressed
to him by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during the meeting.
Twitter was told to reply in 10 days to questions in a written format. Its
officials are likely to be called again at the next panel mneeting on March
6. Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram have also been summoned for an appearance
that day.
The exercise follows concerns over complaints of interference by social media
platforms in the last US presidential election. A complaint was submitted to
the panel alleging an "anti-rightwing" bias on Twitter.
"We deeply appreciate the opportunity to answer questions from the honourable
parliamentary committee and to outline the specific steps we have taken to help
ensure the safety of our users," a Facebook spokesperson told PTI.
