New Delhi: Armed with a Delhi court order
restraining social-networking sites from webcasting any
"anti-religious" content that promotes communal disharmony,
representatives from Muslim, Christian and other religious
communities today met Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal seeking
stringent action against such internet platforms.
According to a Telecom Ministry official, a group of over
100 delegates, including representatives from all religious
communities like imams, ulemas and Christian priests, social
activists, journalists and advocates met Sibal and handed over
a memorandum against the "illegal" activities of websites like
Facebook, Google and Yahoo.
The delegation urged for "legal action as early as
possible as otherwise it may create communal disharmony and
other kind of problem throughout the nation."
The minister assured the delegation that the government
will consider appropriate action against companies which post
offensive content.
Yesterday, a Delhi court had restrained social-networking
sites including Facebook, Google and Youtube from webcasting
any "anti-religious" or "anti-social" content promoting hatred
or communal disharmony.
Reacting to the court's order, Google India today said,
"We believe that access to information is the foundation
of a free society. Google Search helps spread knowledge,
enabling people to find out about almost anything by typing a
few words into a computer.
"And services like YouTube and Google+ help users to
express themselves and share different points of view. Where
content is illegal or breaks our terms of service we will
continue to remove it."
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 22, 2011, 17:12