Union Telecom and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal today ruled out any plan to censor social media, but said the companies need to obey the law of the land.
The comments came in the backdrop of a Delhi court’s order asking social and networking media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google etc to remove objectionable content.
The court’s order had come after Mr. Sibal had taken some measures to rein in social media organisations from hurting religious sentiments.
“No government in the country will ever censor social media. But we need to make sure that everybody obeys the laws of the country. If the print media and visual media obey the laws, the social media can also obey the laws,” Mr. Sibal told the Nasscom Leadership Summit that got underway here this morning.
“I want to say once and for all, without any obfuscation, no government in India will ever censor social media,” he further said.
After the Delhi court order early this month, Internet giants Google and Facebook removed offensive content from their India websites.
