House panel asks Twitter to explain blocking of Prasad, Tharoor handles

As the row between Twitter and the government intensifies over the new IT guidelines, the parliamentary standing committee on IT has sought an explanation from the microblogging platform on the blocking of Twitter accounts of Union Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and committee chairman Shashi Tharoor.

It is learnt that the committee wrote to Twitter – it was summoned before the panel on June 18 — and asked it to explain why the Twitter handles of Prasad and Tharoor were blocked, what is its policy on blocking accounts and the safeguards to ensure that random blocking does not take place.

Last week, Prasad was blocked from accessing his account, ratcheting up tensions with the government and Twitter came under fresh criticism for not following Indian laws.