Twitter CEO, top officials decline to appear before parl panel, cite short notice of hearing

Sources in the parliamentary panel, however, said on Saturday that the social network company cited "short notice of the hearing" as the reason despite being given 10 days for its top officials to travel to India.

The parliamentary committee, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, had issued a summon to Twitter via an official letter on February 1.

The parliamentary committee meeting was scheduled for February 7, but was later postponed to February 11 to allow the Twitter CEO and senior officials more time to make themselves available, the sources said.

A Twitter spokesperson told PTI, "Given the short notice of the hearing, we informed the Committee that it would not be possible for senior officials from Twitter to travel from the United States to appear on Monday."

"Our CEO, Jack Dorsey, and other senior Twitter executives visited India in recent weeks because it is an important market for Twitter and we value the growing interest in Twitter in India," the spokesperson added.

"We have suggested that we work with the Lok Sabha Secretariat to find mutually agreeable dates for this meeting so that a senior Twitter official can attend.  We have also offered representatives from Twitter India to come and answer questions on Monday. We await feedback from the government on both of these matters," the spokesperson added.

The letter sent to Twitter by the parliamentary committee stated that "it may be noted that the Head of the Organisation has to appear before the Committee". It further stated that "He/she may be accompanied by another representative."

The Twitter spokesperson said, "We appreciate and respect the Committee's focus on the issues of user safety and user rights. We understand the Committee's interest in these issues and the importance of hearing from multiple stakeholders regarding the implications for users of social media in India. We have indicated that we are willing to participate in such a broad hearing process."

"We want to reiterate that we not only have deep respect for India's parliamentary process and we are also committed to serving the people who use Twitter in the Indian market," the spokesperson added.

The Parliamentary IT Committee received a letter on February 7 from Vijaya Gadde, Twitter's global lead for legal, policy, trust and safety, stating, "No one who engages publicly for Twitter India makes enforcement decisions with respect to our rules for content or accounts in India."

Deputing a junior employee to represent Twitter at the Indian Parliamentary IT Committee has not gone down well with Indian lawmakers, especially since they have no decision making authority, the letter from Gadde said.

This comes at a time when there are growing concerns about safeguarding citizens' data privacy and election interference through social media platforms.

Twitter's conduct is being watched globally and their response is being seen with concern as India's parliamentary hearing is the fourth in the world, after the US Congress, Singapore and EU hearings.