Facebook grilled by parliament panel, Amazon in cross hairs over refusal to attend

New Delhi: Social media platforms like Facebook came under pressure from parliamentarians on Friday as the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) looking at the Personal Data Protection Bill asked the representatives of the company about portability of data, advertisement revenue generated from India and corporate tax was being paid by them in India.

Members of the JPC have also warned e-commerce giant Amazon, which conveyed in a letter to the committee that most of its experts were overseas and it was difficult for them to travel at this time. There is a growing sense among parliamentarians of JPC that strict action should be initiated against Amazon for not appearing before the parliamentary committee.

“The JPC was unanimous and all the members were annoyed that Amazon decided not to appear before the parliamentary committee. There is a view that union government should intervene and strict action should be taken against Amazon.