Over 1,600 URLs Blocked In India In The Last 18 Months To Curb Spread Of Fake News
The Union Minister for Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has claimed that 1,662 uniform resource locators (URLs) have been blocked in the last 18 months to curb fake news, Business Standard has reported. The minister gave this statistic while answering a Rajya Sabha question on 3 August 2018.
While answering the question the minister commented that:
Recently, it has come to the attention of the government of India that a number of disturbing instances causing loss of innocent lives have taken place in various parts of the country. These are deeply painful and regrettable, as well as a matter of deep concern for the governmentUnion Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
To give a breakup, Facebook has blocked 956 URLs followed by 409 URLs by Twitter and 152 URLs by YouTube, under Section 69A of IT Act. URLs have also been blocked by Instagram and Tumblr.
As per this section, websites/pages can be blocked in defence of India, its sovereignty, security, integrity, foreign relations, public order and to prevent incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to above, claimed the Union Minister.
The website or page which fails to comply with the act can be fined or punished with imprisonment up to seven years.