Facebook official appears before Parliament panel on data security

 Senior officials of social media giants Facebook and Twitter were asked to appear before a parliamentary panel to respond on questions regarding data protection and privacy issues.   

Facebook's public policy head Ankhi Das appeared before the Joint Committee of Parliament on issue of data security on Friday.

Senior officials of social media giants Facebook and Twitter were asked to appear before a parliamentary panel to respond on questions regarding data protection and privacy issues. 

The committee, which is looking into the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, following concerns expressed by the Congress, has called all stakeholders to get an overview.

While Facebook officials will make a presentation on the bill today, Twitter officials will do the same on October 28.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who leads the parliamentary panel, said: "Whosoever iso required, whether an individual or an entity, will be asked to depose before the panel on the issue of protection of data and its privacy and their respective social media platforms will be thoroughly examined by the panel."

"It would be inappropriate and unfair to look at the calling of social media platforms from the political prism. The committee has representatives from across the political spectrum and the deliberations on the bill are being held from the national interest perspective," she added.