Amazon refuses to appear before Parliamentary panel on Data Protection Bill

Amazon's refusal to appear before the panel amounts to breach of privilege, said BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi

Amazon has expressed its inability to appear before the Parliament Committee looking into the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, saying their officials are unable to travel to India due to the Covid-19 pandemic, sources said on Friday.

According to sources, the e-commerce giant had sent a letter to the committee expressing its inability to appear for the meeting scheduled on October 28 saying their experts are abroad and unable to travel to India amid the pandemic.

The committee members are unhappy with the letter by Amazon expressing its inability to appear on October 28 and the joint committee has taken it very seriously and decided that if Amazon does not appear in the meeting, coercive action may be initiated against it, sources said.

Meanwhile, social media giant Facebook has made a detailed presentation before the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill. Facebook's representation was made by two officials who attended the meeting today.

The representatives informed the committee about the company's data protection policy and answered several questions asked by the Committee members about the company's revenue, their spendings on data protection among others.

The Committee also asked Facebook officials about the share of the money the company is spending to safeguards personal data. Facebook officials were unable to answer some of the question put forth by the committee, after which they assured to submit their response in written form.