New Delhi, February 25: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, which is studying the issue of "safeguarding citizens' rights on social and online news media platforms", has summoned the officials of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram on March 6, 2019. This comes days after the panel asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before it next Monday.

The committee, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, is reportedly investigating whether social media platforms are hindering the free flow of information on the internet. Twitter, which has so far denied shaping its policies to favour or target "any political ideology, will be sending before the panel its vice president for public relations Colin Crowell, instead of Dorsey.

Reports have pointed out that the stern approach adopted by the Centre towards Twitter came days after the Centre received representations from a number of conservative groups, alleging that the micro-blogging site is suspending accounts which promote hardline nationalism.

Demonstrations were also organised outside the Twitter India office in Delhi. One of the participating groups, 'Youth For Social Democracy', said the social media site has lately adopted an "anti right-wing attitude", and has been blocking a spree of accounts ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019.

Crowell has issued multiple statements denying the charge, claiming that Twitter is the most unbiased social media networking site.

In a Facebook post on February 19, the VP said, "To be clear, we do not review, prioritize, or enforce our policies on the basis of political ideology. Every Tweet and every account is treated impartially."

"We apply our policies fairly and judiciously for all. Mistakes can happen. However these mistakes or “false positive” decisions, are not political statements of intent; they are the basic human error rate of running the fastest, most open conversational tool in history," he further added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2019 03:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).