Government Orders Blocking of 1,299 URLs on Social Networking Sites

As reported by ET, the Indian government requested social networking sites to block 1,299 URLs between January 2013 and January 2014 to comply with court orders. This was informed by the Minister for Communication and IT Kapil Sibal in the Lok Sabha.

In previous years, the government requested the blocking of 8, 21, and 352 URLs in 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. In 2012, 362 URLs were blocked, including 312 during the North East exodus crisis. In 2013, 62 URLs were blocked under Section 69A of the IT Act, which allows the government to block information to maintain public order and national security. The Minister highlighted these as ongoing efforts to block objectionable content that could disturb public order.