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India asks internet firms to remove offensive content India vows crackdown on offensive internet content
(about 3 hours later)
India has asked social networking sites and internet companies to screen and remove content which is defamatory to religious and political leaders. India has vowed to crack down on offensive internet content, accusing web firms of failing to cooperate.
Communications Minister Kapil Sibal made the request to officials from Facebook, Google, YouTube and Yahoo in a meeting on Monday. Communications Minister Kapil Sibal met officials from Google, Facebook and other websites on Monday.
Mr Sibal showed them doctored photos of PM Manmohan Singh and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi on Facebook. On Tuesday he said the firms had told him they were unable to take action.
India has more than 100 million internet users. He said the government would introduce guidelines to ensure "blasphemous material" did not appear on internet. Doctored photos of the PM and Sonia Gandhi have angered the government.
Facebook images 'Give us the data'
The Hindustan Times quoted the companies as saying the large number of users meant broad action was impossible. Addressing a press conference in the capital, Delhi, on Tuesday, Mr Sibal said he had asked the companies in September to remove images and statements deemed offensive to religious groups, but that they had ignored his requests.
Facebook said on Tuesday it recognised the Indian government's concerns. "At a meeting on 4 November, we showed them some of the photos and they too agreed that the photos were offensive," he said.
It said in a statement: "We will remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service." The minister accused the internet firms of not co-operating.
Reports said Mr Sibal is particularly annoyed by the use of tampered images of Mrs Gandhi and Mr Singh on Facebook. "They have given it to me in writing that they will not do anything until we get an order from the court," he said.
Mr Sibal said companies would not be allowed to say, "we throw up our hands, we can't do anything about this".
He said: "My aim is that insulting material never gets uploaded. We will evolve guidelines and mechanisms to deal with the issue. They will have to give us the data, where these images are being uploaded and who is doing it."
Before the press conference, Mr Sibal showed reporters morphed photos of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, as well as pigs running through Islam's holy city of Mecca.
The minister said the government did not believe in interfering in the freedom of the press, but "we have to take care of the sensibilities of our people, we have to protect their sensibilities. Our cultural ethos is very important to us".
India has more than 100 million internet users and web companies say the large number means broad action is impossible.
Facebook said in a statement that it recognised the "government's interest in minimising the amount of abusive content available online".
But, it said, there were policies in place that enabled people to report abusive content.
"We will remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threatening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service."
Facebook said it would "continue to engage with the Indian authorities as they debate this important issue".
India has 28 million Facebook accounts.India has 28 million Facebook accounts.
The minister is reported to have warned the internet sites of "stern action" against firms that fail to act.
"These websites have been told to be more vigilant... and ensure that such objectionable matter is not used on the internet," The Hindu newspaper quoted an official of the telecommunications department as saying.
"We have asked them to actively screen and filter all such material before they are uploaded," he said.
Mr Sibal was quoted as saying that India did not want censorship but self-regulation.
Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India, told Associated Press that internet companies should be aware of national security issues.Rajesh Chharia, president of the Internet Service Providers Association of India, told Associated Press that internet companies should be aware of national security issues.
"I am not favouring censorship - self-regulation is the best censorship available to our system [but] we should not do anything which should harm the peace of the country.""I am not favouring censorship - self-regulation is the best censorship available to our system [but] we should not do anything which should harm the peace of the country."