The BJP had warned Twitter of "repercussions" on Saturday
The CEO of Twitter and other top officials have been summoned by the parliamentary panel on information technology to appear before it by February 15 over "safeguarding citizens' rights" on social media. The head of the panel, BJP lawmaker Anurag Thakur, today said Twitter has been given a 15-day deadline.
The 31-member parliamentary committee passed a resolution today that they will not meet any Twitter officials till the top executives of the global team deposed before them, news agency ANI reported, quoting sources.
Representatives from Twitter India had reached the parliament annex to attend the panel's scheduled meeting today but they were not called in.
In an official letter on February 1, the parliamentary panel had summoned Twitter for a meeting on February 7, which was postponed to today, but Twitter officials declined, citing "short notice of the hearing."
"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," a Twitter spokesperson had said in a statement today.
The BJP had warned Twitter of "repercussions" on Saturday, saying no agency has the right to disrespect institutions of the country.
Twitter had said on Friday it was proactively working with political parties to verify candidates, elected officials and relevant party officials whose accounts will be active in public conversation.
(with inputs from agencies)