New Delhi: BJP on Wednesday said any move to regulate social networking sites should be made after taking the view of Parliament but maintained that material which would hurt religious sentiments or is defamatory should be checked.
Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had summoned
representatives of Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft to
discuss allegedly objectionable content being posted on social
networking sites.
Though BJP said such sites should not be unduly regulated
or suppressed, giving them complete freedom to show any
morphed or nude pictures, hate speech, or material which would
hurt or incite religious sentiments also cannot be allowed.
"I wonder why Sibal did not invite You Tube to the
meeting. Had he done so, he would have come to know that these
sites have their own regulation (through filters)," BJP Deputy
Leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia said.
He maintained if the government wanted to regulate theses
websites, it should bring up the issue in Parliament and
pass a legislation.
"Sibal's calling these four organisations and asking them
to sign the paper is just like he told Ramdev to sign a paper
(before Ramlila agitation)," Ahluwalia said.
BJP is against posting of material that hurts religious
or ethical sentiments or posting of morphed pictures.
"Nobody will approve such a thing. Everybody will condemn
it. But there should be concrete proposals. Nobody is saying
there should be laws which strangulate freedom," Ahluwalia
said.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2011, 18:23