India, Aug. 13 -- The parliamentary standing committee on women's empowerment has invited social media companies X (formerly Twitter), Meta (Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), and Google (YouTube) to discuss cyber crimes and women's safety on August 19.

People aware of the matter said representatives of the electronics and information technology ministry were expected to attend the meeting and likely coordinate between the companies and the committee. The ministry refused to comment on the meeting.

The committee regularly meets officials of the ministries and non-profit organisations, but has rarely engaged directly with social media companies. The last such meeting was held in 2019 with WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and X representat...