New Delhi, August 20: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, headed by Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, has asked Facebook representatives to appear before it on September 2. The parliamentary panel will "hear the views of representatives of Facebook on the subject 'Safeguarding citizens' rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms." Facebook Row: Remove Shashi Tharoor From Parliamentary Standing Committee, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Urges Om Birla.

The Shashi Tharoor-led panel has also summoned representatives of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology over the same issue. Notably, Facebook has been summoned amid differences between members of the parliamentary panel on whether the social media giant should be asked for questioning. The development came days after The Street Journal (WSJ), in its report, alleged that Facebook ignored hate speeches of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. Facebook, WhatsApp Controlled by BJP And RSS to Spread Fake News, Influence Voters in India: Rahul Gandhi on WSJ Report.

The Wall Street Journal claimed that Facebook’s senior India policy executive Ankhi Das intervened in internal content review processes to stop action against BJP’s Telangana MLA T Raja Singh when he made offensive remarks against Muslims. When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi re-tweeted the report last week, Tharoor had tweeted: "The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would certainly wish to hear from @Facebook about these reports and what they propose to do about hate-speech in India."

However, BJP lawmakers Nishikant Dubey and Rajyavardhan Rathore, who are also members of the panel, opposed Tharoor's move. A heated war of words had also erupted between Tharoor and Dubey with both leaders moving notices for breach of privilege against each other.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2020 10:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).