india

Updated: Dec 05, 2019 06:40 IST

Micro blogging platform Twitter India appeared before a parliamentary committee examining the issue of cyber safety and security of women in the Parliament Annexe building on Wednesday.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nandurbar Heena Gavit, who led the 20-member panel, asked top executives of the social media giant to specify the provisions it has adopted for “Cyber Safety and Security for Women”.

The panel will meet Facebook representatives on Thursday who will make a presentation on behalf of its family of apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram.

While Twitter was unavailable for comment, people familiar with the development said the company made presentations on its safety provisions, mechanisms to report abuse on the site, and its redressal methods.

Members of the panel also raised queries whether abusive content could be taken down on request, and if its age verification methods were definitive. The safety of children online, too, was one of the queries raised and some of the members looked at lowering the age of entering the site from the current 13 years to 15 years of age. Twitter officials were given 10 days to respond to some of the queries raised during the interaction. The interaction was prompted by several written submissions that the panel has received in the two months that it has been functioning in. LocalCircles, a community engagement site, wrote to the panel about a survey it conducted among 58,000 people. Over 59% voted against anonymity to curb trolling, while 50% said that the platform should take responsibility for abusive behaviour.