"Mr Mark Zuckerberg, we have powers and shall use it, including summoning you in India" - a day after putting out this warning to the Facebook founder over a data breach scandal, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad confronted a barrage of questions. Asked about the possibility that the government would summon Mark Zuckerberg, Mr Prasad told NDTV: "Leave it to us. We will examine it." Zuckerberg has apologised for what he described as a "major breach of trust" after it emerged that data of thousands of Facebook users was accessed by disgraced data research firm Cambridge Analytica and used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.
Here are the top 10 points on the big story:
Yesterday, Ravi Shankar Prasad had warned Facebook of action saying that the company's largest market outside of the US was India.Mr Prasad warned: "Mr Mark Zuckerberg, you better note the observation of the IT Minister of India. We welcome Facebook in India, but if any data theft of Indians is done through the collusion of Facebook system, it shall not be tolerated. We have got stringent power in the IT Act, we shall use it, including summoning you in India."
Mark Zuckerberg also said in an interview that Facebook was committed to stopping interference in elections in India.
Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused the Congress of using Cambridge Analytica in last year's Gujarat election.
The IT minister said he had not the slightest doubt of the fact by the way the Congress evaded allegations and stayed silent when there were three news reports on the opposition parties.
"This company is known for aggressive, fake, news, below standard campaign. Do I need to record before you the language of Rahul Gandhi, Gabbar Singh Tax and the whole social media campaign? Therefore the footprint of the DNA of this company was evident in Gujarat," Mr Prasad said.
The minister has alleged that the Congress planned to use Cambridge Analytica for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and boost its president Rahul Gandhi's profile.
The Congress emphatically denied the charge, with its spokesperson Randeep Surjewala saying: "The BJP's factory of fake news has produced one more fake product today. It appears that fake press conferences, fake agendas and fake spins and fake statements have become the everyday character of the BJP and its 'lawless' Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad".
In a tweet this morning, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the government had "invented" the allegations of Congress's links with Cambridge Analytica to deflect attention from a controversy surrounding the killing of 39 Indians in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj stated in parliament that it had been confirmed that the Indian workers, missing since 2014, had been killed by the ISIS. Last year, she had said in parliament that the Indians were presumed alive and safe until there was evidence to the contrary.
The Congress has decided to move a privilege motion against the foreign minister, accusing her of "misleading" parliament on the Indians.
