Twitter questioned on blocking accounts

Representatives from Google, Facebook appear before IT committee

The Standing Committee on Information and Technology has sought an explanation from social media giant Twitter why accounts of IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and committee Chairperson Shashi Tharoor were locked. In a meeting held on Tuesday, representatives from Google and Facebook appeared before the committee on the subject of ‘Safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms, including special emphasis on women’s security in the digital space’. Sources said the committee members discussed the new IT rules with the representatives of both the platforms. Both Facebook and Google have said that they will comply with . “They said that they will comply with the new IT rules, as much as they can,” one of the members said. Facebook pointed out that it was technically impossible to intercept messages in WhatsApp. The new rules mandates tracing the origin of a particular message if required by the law enforcement agencies. Facebook explained that WhatsApp works on end to end encryption. It only sweeps metadata and no messages are intercepted or read by WhatsApp.