Officials from Twitter India appear before Parliamentary Panel headed by Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi, June 18: Representatives of Twitter India and officials of the Information Technology Ministry officials been called before a parliamentary panel on Friday to examine the issue of safeguarding citizens' rights and preventing misuse of online news media platforms.

The parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, will hear their views on the subject. The Parliamentary Standing Committee had earlier summoned Twitter. Twitter India's public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor deposed before the panel on Friday.

This meeting comes at a time when the social media giant is engaged in a row with the Centre over a range of issues including its stand on the new IT rules.

On Wednesday, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that Twitter failed to comply with intermediary guidelines and has "deliberately" chosen the path of non-compliance despite being granted multiple opportunities.

Slamming the micro-blogging platform over non-compliance, Prasad said that it is "astounding" that Twitter that portrays itself as the flag bearer of free speech, chooses the path of deliberate defiance when it comes to the Intermediary Guidelines.

Meanwhile, Ghaziabad Police has sent a notice to Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari, asking him to join a probe in connection with the case involving an assault on a Muslim man earlier this month.

The MD of Twitter India was also questioned by the Delhi Police last month in connection with its probe into the 'COVID toolkit' case.

The microblogging site had faced backlash when it briefly removed the 'blue tick' verification badge from the personal account of Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and of several senior RSS functionaries, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat.