Parliamentary panel invites X, Meta, Google to its Aug 19 meet

The committee wants to hear views of three social media companies “in connection with the examination of the subject ‘Cyber Crimes and Cyber Safety of Women.’”

The parliamentary standing committee on empowerment of women has invited three social media companies, namely X (formerly Twitter), Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp) and Google (YouTube) to attend the next sitting of the committee on August 19, 2025.

Although the committee regularly meets ministries such as MeitY and the ministry of home affairs, it rarely engages with social media companies. (Sansad Tv)

The committee wants to hear the views of the three social media companies “in connection with the examination of the subject ‘Cyber Crimes and Cyber Safety of Women.’” Also present at the meeting would be representatives of the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), who will most likely be mediating the communication between the companies and the committee. However, the ministry refused to comment on the matter.

Although the committee regularly meets ministries such as MeitY and the ministry of home affairs, as well as several non-profit organisations to discuss cyber crimes against women, it rarely engages directly with social media companies. The last such meeting, with representatives from WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and X, was held in 2019.

However, of the three companies invited to the meeting, two remain non-committal. One told HT that no specific agenda or questions have been shared so far. “We don’t know what the purpose of the meeting is, whether it will feed into a report or form the basis of a bill,” a representative said on condition of anonymity. They also questioned the limited guest list, asking why only three companies were invited and not others like Snap, which also have significant user bases in India.

According to the notice of the committee meeting, agenda papers will be circulated in due course through members’ portal and email to the members. The company mentioned above, which is on fence, said that until they get a clear idea of why the meeting is taking place, they will not attend the meeting.

This is not the first time that executives from social media companies have been summoned by a legislative panel in India. More significantly, in 2020, Facebook India’s then managing director, Ajit Mohan, was called to appear before the Delhi Assembly’s Peace and Harmony Committee in connection with the Delhi riots of 2020. Complaints and news reports alleged Facebook had enabled hate speech during the riots. Mohan refused, citing lack of jurisdiction, and later challenged the summons in the Supreme Court.