Parliamentary panel debates on summoning Facebook brass

Parliamentary standing committee on information and technology on Wednesday debated for considerable time whether it can summon Facebook top brass following reports that its user data was leaked for unauthorised electoral use in India.

Sources present in the meeting told ET on the conditions of anonymity that the entire committee members unanimously wanted to explore if Facebook’s appearance before the parliamentary panel can be sought to get its explanation on citizen data security and breach of privacy. Facebook is facing a global outrage over suspected breach of personal data of tens of thousands of users spread across different countries. A London based consultancy firm which has offices in India, Cambridge Analytica allegedly harvested Facebook users’ personal data for influencing election outcome in India.

It is learnt when standing committee on IT chairperson and BJP MP Anurag Thakur posed this query; whether India has the jurisdiction to enforce its laws on Facebook to seek accountability for its operations here, Union home ministry and information and technology ministry’s enforcement officials present during the last evening meeting did not rule out that possibility. Union home secretary Rajiv Guaba led a team of his ministerial colleagues, including a joint secretary, to give evidence before the parliamentary committee on citizen data security and privacy. Dr Gulshan Rai, the head of country’s cyber security, a senior officer from the Intelligence Bureau among others were also present to give government’s view point on the subject. The MHA gave a presentation on steps it has taken or are in the offing on security capacity enhancing measures to check online crimes.