Twitter India summoned by Parliamentary panel over alleged anti right-wing bias

In a major development, Twitter India has been summoned by a Parliamentary committee to submit its view on the subject of “safeguarding citizens’ rights on social/online news media platform”. The summons has been sent by the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology, headed by BJP leader Anurag Thakur. It has also been reported that officials from Twitter India will appear before the committee on February 11 at 3 pm and present their case. Moreover, officials from the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology have also been asked to appear before the committee on February 11 and express their views on the subject.

Anurag Thakur tweeted about this development and stated:

“The Parliamentary Commitee on Information Technology will examine the issue:

SAFEGUARDING CITIZENS RIGHTS ON SOCIAL/ONLINE NEWS MEDIA PLATFORMS

MEITY & TWITTER will present their views.

You can tweet/email your views:
comit@sansad.nic.in.”

Therefore, views from the general public over this issue have also been invited. It must be noted here that Twitter India has been summoned after a volunteer group wrote to the Parliamentary committee accusing the Twitter India of being biased against right-wing Twitter accounts. Members of the Youth for Social Media Democracy protested outside the office of the social media giant and alleged that it has acquired an “anti-right-wing attitude” and has been blocking their accounts.

Last year, the Cambridge Analytica scandal had brought forth the concerns of user data breach and the government had sent a notice to Facebook seeking its response. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have emerged as powerful means of communication and given that Lok Sabha polls are around the corner, these social networking platforms could play a huge role in the upcoming elections.

The allegation that Twitter India is prejudiced against right-wing accounts is not without substance. Several popular right-wing Twitter users have voiced their concerns of falling popularity and sudden unprecedented dip in the number of their followers in the past. It seems that Twitter India has been targeting right-wing handles and limiting their outreach. It is not a mere apprehension or hunch but has been illustrated by practical ground realities. It cannot be merely incidental that a number of right-wing or center-right Twitter handles suddenly started facing an acute drop in terms of the number of followers. It seems that there is a well-organised strategy of targeting a particular ideology at the major social media platform. A number of right-wing handles have complained about this in their tweets and it seems that the right wing will have to battle it out. This development last year had raised eyebrows and clearly pointed towards the biases and prejudices that are inherent in Twitter India.

It didn’t come as a huge surprise though given that Mahima Kaul, Public Policy and Governance Head, Twitter India has been very vocal in her support for Rahul Gandhi. In fact, several of her tweets reveal her alleged anti-Modi and pro-Rahul Gandhi bias. Therefore, the sudden dip in the number of followers of right-wing Twitter handles was not at all mysterious. The reasons behind this sudden fall in the outreach and number of followers of such handles became crystal clear. Kaul’s alleged politically biased approach seems to be a perfect explanation for Twitter India’s ideologically biased approach that has led to a sudden downfall in the number of followers of Twitter handles that stand by a particular ideology.

This indeed is a major concern in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It doesn’t augur well for the world’s largest democracy if the social media giant manipulates itself in support of a particular political ideology. The Parliamentary committee, therefore, deserves to be applauded for this bold step.