Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said that post Elon Musk taking over Twitter if it is seen that the social media platform interferes with free speech in India or gives free reign to hate speech, then action shall be taken by the IT committee. Tharoor also heads the parliamentary committee on information technology. The Congress leader said who runs which social media company does not make a difference, what matters is what they do and how.

This comes after Musk’s views on free speech, where he says that even his worst critics should remain on Twitter because “that’s what free speech means”.

SEE: Ankit Wadhwa, Rario CEO on the future of cricket fandom

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” Tharoor’s statement read.

With hate speech fears rising after Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the European Union has said that Twitter under Musk shall have to abide by the EU’s digital media rule.

Musk also clarified on Wednesday what he meant by free speech, “By ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law. I am against censorship that goes far beyond the law. If people want less free speech, they will ask government to pass laws to that effect. Therefore, going beyond the law is contrary to the will of the people,” he tweeted.