(Image source from: www.livelaw.in)

Parliamentary Panel on Information Technology on Monday asked Twitter to engage more with Election Commission of India ahead 2019 General Election and also to address the issues on a Real-time basis.

The committee also summoned representatives of other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on March 6.

Anurag Thakur, chairman of Committee told reporters after over three hour long meeting with the officials twitter.

The committee summoned the officials of twitter to hear their views on ‘safeguarding citizens rights on social/online news media platforms’.

The panel asked representatives to ensure that content on their platform should need to support free and fair election without any bias or politically motivated practices.

According to reports, Thakur said, “The Lok Sabha elections should be free and fair. There should not be the kind of complaints as in the US.”

Twitter Vice President, Colin Crowell appeared before the panel.

Last week Twitter in a blog post said that 2019 lok sabha elections are priority for the company and it respects the integrity of India’s election process.

Colin Crowell said , “The 2019 Lok Sabha is a priority for the company and our dedicated cross-functional team is working to ensure that the health of the public conversation is enhanced and protected at this important time.”

“This comes as a part of Twitter’s overall commitment to protect the health of the public conversation on its service and to provide meaningful context around all political entities who use its advertising products,” twitter said in blog post.

-Sai Kumar