Move to regulate networking sites should be discussed in Parliament: BJP -Governance Now

Move to regulate networking sites should be discussed in Parliament: BJP

Although BJP is against posting material hurting religious sentiments, it said any move to regulate social networking sites should be made after taking the view of Parliament

PTI | December 7, 2011

BJP today 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.

A senior BJP leader said it is difficult to prevent such content from getting on the sites of these social networks but these should be promptly removed when it was found objectionable or on the basis of complaints.

The party took the view that controlling objectionable material before it is posted on these social networking sites would be difficult due to the high flow of postings, it should be removed the moment it is detected.

"No FDI is needed for such material to come to India. It can easily be posted on the internet," Ahluwalia said, adding perverted images and pictures should be removed when it is pointed out.

Another party leader said these networking sites have filters to check such material from going through but some material may still escape detection.

Incidentally, BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Murli Manohar Joshi were victims of fake Twitter accounts. Jaitley had recently filed a case against a fake Facebook account in his name. But some BJP leaders use these sites regularly.

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabbha Sushma Swaraj, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, young party MP Varun Gandhi and some others are on Twitter while some others on Facebook.

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