Twitter India Says Discussion on With Government on 'Bias' Allegations

After a parliamentary panel summoned Twitter for alleged bias against "right-wing" accounts as general elections loom, the micro-blogging platform on Wednesday said it is in touch with the Indian government on the issue.

"Discussions with the government on this issue are currently on and nothing further can be commented at the moment till further clarity," a Twitter India spokesperson told IANS.

It was still unclear who will represent Twitter in the February 11 meeting.

The Parliament's standing committee on information technology, headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur, summoned Twitter India along with representatives from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for alleged bias against "nationalist" accounts.

The panel will examine the issue of "Safeguarding citizens rights on social media/online news platforms" in its meeting on February 11 in Parliament complex, Thakur tweeted on Tuesday.

This comes after activist-advocate Ishkaran Singh Bhandari met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on January 28 and apprised him of the alleged "discriminatory and unfair practices" by Twitter, which he said were a "threat to national security".

In his application, Bhandari alleged that Twitter was suspending accounts which either support "Indic ideals or the current government".

As India gears up for general elections, owners of global social media platforms are in a huddle over how to curb the spread of misinformation and fake news in the country.

Addressing a town-hall meeting at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi in November, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said fake news is a way too big category, adding the social network is taking "multi-variable" steps to curb the spread of misleading information ahead of 2019 general elections.

Twitter, which is growing with a positive trajectory in India, is also looking for "a unique leader" who can take the country operations to the next level.