The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology plans to question major digital and social media platforms, such as X (formerly Twitter) and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to examine whether their paid subscription models threaten net neutrality and consumer rights, committee chairman and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said on Tuesday.
He was speaking to the media after a meeting held on May 26, where members reviewed quality of service standards and equal access to the Internet. Dubey highlighted platforms like X that offer additional features to paying subscribers
“For example, if you give some money to ‘X’, you will have more freedom to write [character limit]”Others get less freedom,” Dube said.
This should be evaluated in the light of Indian constitutional principles, he said.
“We have to take care of 140 crore people, and they should all get equal rights. The right to equality – that is what the Constitution says,” Dubey asserted.
“Net neutrality is important, so that all consumers, i.e. 140 crore people who use the internet, should get equal rights under consumer protection rights,” he further said in an interaction with news agency ANI.
What Dobby pointed out
While the standard free account on X is limited to 280 characters per post, the paid subscription, X Premium, removes this. This paid tier also gives subscribers the ability to format text in bold and italics, undo or edit posts after publishing, and use a custom post author that completely removes traditional character restrictions.
Paid subscribers also get broader algorithmic visibility, meaning the platform prioritizes their posts and pushes their responses to the top of public topics.
What board are you looking at?
The parliamentary committee’s investigation extends beyond the confines of social media letters to include digital and communications services.
The committee is also currently studying whether telecom operators prefer postpaid subscribers over prepaid users, who constitute 90% of the India market according to Dubey.
A private operator’s recent introduction of ‘network slicing’ for postpaid users raised immediate concerns over non-discriminatory internet usage, triggering a pending review by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), a report by ANI quoted sources as saying.
Dube explained that the parliamentary committee has not yet reached any conclusions regarding such practices.
The briefing to the Committee by the Ministry of Communications and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRAI) marks the beginning of ongoing deliberations, with the Committee scheduled to hold two or three more sessions in the coming weeks before finalizing its formal report on consumer protection and net neutrality.
