Overview
- The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, which met Tuesday, received briefings from the Department of Telecommunications and TRAI and said it will summon Meta, X, Google and Amazon to testify on net neutrality and equal access.
- Chairman Nishikant Dubey flagged paid platform features as a concern, citing X Premium’s removal of the 280-character cap plus editing, formatting tools and boosted algorithmic visibility for paying users.
- The panel is also examining telecom-level practices after media reports that a private operator offered 5G-based 'network slicing' for postpaid customers and TRAI has a pending review of those claims.
- Dubey framed the inquiry as a constitutional right-to-equality and consumer-protection issue for India’s roughly 140 crore internet users, noting about 90% are prepaid and 10% are postpaid.
- The committee said it will hold two to three more sittings before finalising a report, and its findings could prompt regulatory action by TRAI or force platforms and carriers to change paid-tier features or service plans.