Govt asked to get FB assurance on poll bugging

New Delhi: A parliamentary panel on Thursday directed IT ministry officials to get a “written commitment” from Facebook and other social networking sites that their platforms would not be used to manipulate Indian elections, a member present at the meeting said.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, also told officials of the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) to furnish all written communication and queries sent to Facebook and its response, a member of the panel said.

“The chairman told the ministry officials to get a written commitment from Facebook and other social media platforms with an influential market share in the country that their platforms would not be used to manipulate Indian elections,” he said.

Supporting the chairman, members of the panel said government should get in writing the details of steps, FB and other social networking platforms have taken or will take to avoid their misuse.

After the meeting, Mr Thakur posted a tweet inviting questions and queries from the general public on online security and privacy.

The panel members at the meeting also said that India is still playing catch up on the issue of a robust IT data protection policy.