Lok Sabha Question No. 1397 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-27
Subject: Objectionable Content on Net
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1397

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 27.12.2017

## OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT ON NET

## 1397 SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

Will the Minister of Electronics & Information Technology be pleased to state:-

- (a)  whether  the  Government  has  directed  any  social  networking/media  sites  to  remove  certain objectionable contents from their websites;
- (b) if so, the details thereof including the number of such requests made to these sites during each of the last three years and the current year and their response thereto along with the details of web pages blocked by the Government recently and the reasons thereof;
- (c)  the  number  of  individuals  booked  in  the  country  under  section  66-A  of  the  Information Technology Act during each of the last three years and the current year along with the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether there is any monitoring mechanism in place to regulate the contents posted on social networking sites; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the steps taken by the Government to check the posting of objectionable contents on such sites?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ALPHONS KANNANTHANAM)

(a) and (b): Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 empowers Government to block  any  information  generated,  transmitted,  received,  stored  or  hosted  in  any  Computer Resource in the interest of Sovereignty and Integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of the State,  friendly  relations  with  foreign  States  or  public  order  or  for  preventing  incitement  to  the commission  of  any  cognizable  offence  relating  to  above.  Government  takes  action  under  this section 69A of Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 for blocking of web-sites/Specific webpages with objectionable contents, whenever requests are received from designated nodal officers or upon Court orders for blocking of web-sites / web-pages.

A total of 587, 964 and 1329 URLs of social media web-sites / specific web-pages were blocked in  the  years  2015,  2016  and  2017  (upto  30th  November  2017)  respectively  under  section  69A through the committee constituted under the rules notified under section 69A of the IT Act 2000. Further, a total of 632, 100 and 83 URLs of social media web-sites/web-pages were blocked in compliance with the directions of the competent Courts of India in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (upto 30th November 2017) respectively.

- (c): The  Hon'ble Supreme  Court  in  its  Order  dated  24.03.2015  in  Shreya  Singhal  vs.  UoI case  has  struck  down  section  66A  of  Information  Technology  Act  2000  in  its  entirety  and therefore  cannot  be  enforced.  As  per  the  data  maintained  by  National  Crime  Records  Bureau (NCRB),  a  total  of  2,423  persons  in  2014  and  3,137  persons  in  2015  were  arrested  under combined sections of 66 & 66A of IT Act. NCRB did not maintain data separately for section 66A. The data on section 66A of IT Act is not collected by NCRB since 2016 onwards.

(d)  and  (e):  Government  does  not  regulate  content  appearing  on  social  networking  sites.  At present, law enforcement and security agencies make searches on the Internet on specific case-tocase basis or as appropriate.

The Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 has provisions for removal of objectionable online content.    Section  79  of  the  Act  provides  that  intermediaries  are  required  to  disable/remove unlawful  content  on  being  notified  by  appropriate  government  or  its  agency.  Further,  the Information  Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011 notified under section 79 of the IT Act requires that the Intermediaries shall observe due diligence while discharging their duties and shall inform the users of computer resources not to host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit,  update  or  share  any  information  that  is  harmful,  objectionable,  affect  minors  and unlawful in any way.

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