Parliament panel grills Twitter officials over data security, privacy
New Delhi(PTI): A parliamentary panel questioned top Twitter officials over a whistle-blower's revelations on its India operations, and gave them a dressing-down as their replies on issues of data security and privacy were "not satisfactory", sources said.
The officials from the company, however, refuted the whistle-blower's allegations and denied there was any data security breach in India, the sources said.
Top Twitter executives, including Senior Director (Public Policy) Samiran Gupta and Director (Public Policy) Shagufta Kamran, deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology chaired by senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday.
The panel questioned them about the reports on former head of Twitter (security) Peiter Zatko's allegations the microblogging site knowingly allowed the Indian government to place its "agents" on the company payroll where they had "direct unsupervised access to the company's systems and user data".
The Twitter officials denied any such thing having happened, sources in the panel said.
The members also questioned the social media giant's officials if their data security policies is in sync with local policies and with the single global privacy policy.
They asked how does the microblogging site handles conflicts in national privacy policies of different countries, with the sources saying the executives didn't give satisfactory replies.
They also evaded questions about data safety and privacy, a member said, following which they were reprimanded by the MPs. Zatko's allegations were reported by international media houses.
Twitter has already stated it was a "false narrative" and the allegations and "opportunistic" timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on the company, its customers and its shareholders.
The Tharoor-led panel has been holding meetings with various stakeholders including tech companies, social media firms, ministries and other regulators on the issue of citizens' data security and privacy.
The parliamentary committee is also working on a comprehensive report on data privacy and security.
Besides Tharoor, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, TRS MP Ranjith Reddy, BJP's Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and CPI(M)'s John Brittas attended the meeting.
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Instagram removes BJP’s post claiming Cong ‘will snatch wealth of non-muslims’ following backlash
New Delhi: An animated video post shared on BJP’s official Instagram handle, asserting that the Congress party would snatch wealth from non-Muslims to ‘distribute it to its favorite community of invaders,’ has sparked significant backlash. Following the uproar, the photo sharing platform has taken down the post, reports Newslaundry.com.
Meanwhile, it is uncertain whether the post was removed by the BJP or by Instagram following mass reporting by several users as “misinformation” and “hate speech”. The video depicted Rahul Gandhi holding the Congress manifesto which transforms into the logo of the Muslim league. Furthermore, it sought support for PM Modi from every ‘Bharatiya,’ who is also shown wearing a saffron turban.
According to the report, it also contained a clip of PM Modi alleging that the former PM Manmohan Singh had said, “Muslims have the first claim on our resources,” insinuating that if the Congress were to assume power, it would confiscate the money and assets of non-Muslims, redistributing them to Muslims, whom it favored. Labeling Muslims as ‘infiltrators’, the video depicted historical invaders as looters who plundered India's resources and suggested that the Congress party continues to empower individuals from the same community.
The video then communicated that the Congress party’s manifesto is “nothing but Muslim league’s ideology in disguise. If you are a non-Muslim, Congress will snatch your wealth and distribute it to Muslims.” It also slinged the BJP’s official slogan ‘abki baar, 400 paar,’ and called that it was the need of the hour, since Modi only has the “strength to stop the Congress party’s evil plans.”
Similar claims have also been made by several BJP leaders. Recently, Union Minister Anurag Thakur stated that the Congress intends to “Give your children's property to Muslims.”
