Rule of land is supreme, not your policy, Twitter told by Parliamentary panel on IT

Twitter India officials on Friday deposed before a parliamentary panel chaired by Shashi Tharoor of the Congress on preventing the misuse of social media.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology, chaired by Tharoor, had last week summoned Twitter over issues related to misuse of the platform and protection of citizens' rights.

Twitter India's public policy manager Shagufta Kamran and legal counsel Ayushi Kapoor deposed before the panel on Friday.

Coming against the backdrop of the faceoff between the Union government and the microblogging platform, the panel told the Twitter officials that the rule of land is supreme and not its policy, reported PTI.

According to sources, members of the panel have asked Twitter why it should not be fined for 'violating' the rule of the land.

Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday sent a legal notice to the Managing Director of Twitter India Manish Maheshwari regarding the viral video of the assault on an elderly man in Loni. The MD has been asked to record his statement after the microblogging site "let the anti-social messages go viral".

This is the second time the Twitter MD has been called for an inquiry in the last 20 days.

The police reportedly had also questioned Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari on May 31 and visited the Twitter India offices in Delhi and Gurgaon on May 24 over the toolkit issue.

Recently, Twitter also lost its status as an intermediary platform in India as it does not comply with new IT rules

(Further details awaited)