Free speech, and the possibility of court-ordered censoring of the Internet, have been spotlighted by news and blogs of the United States’ technology community for the past few months. The wisdom (or the lack thereof) of recently proposed legislation – the Stop Online Piracy Act (“SOPA”) and PROTECT-IP (“PIPA”) – has been hotly debated and protested.
Similar conversations are taking place in India, but unfortunately, the socially conservative country’s situation is much darker and different. For now. India passed a law last year that requires Internet companies hosting user-based content to take down any obscene or offensive material within thirty-six hours of a complaint being submitted. The conservative government seems most concerned with offensive content relating to religion and religious groups, especially considering the country’s history of violence between religious sects.
A journalist, Vinay Rai, filed a lawsuit against over 20 social media sites based on the recent law. His complaint includes references to content that he says, “deeply offends several religions including Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. It involves pages and groups where users have mocked Hindu gods and goddesses, Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ.” Rai’s fears are that, “[s]uch content can create communal riots across the country” and his “intention is to ensure that the sentiments of any religion or community are not hurt.”
When asked why Rai chose to file a lawsuit rather than complain to the offending sites directly, he explained that he, “did not deem it appropriate to approach foreign companies myself.” He felt the government was “the best body to pursue this with multinationals.” However, he made sure to get in another jab about Google and Facebook specifically. “Thousands create accounts with fake identities each day. Men pose as women, women pose as men. People post objectionable, abusive content every day – who regulates them? Who holds them accountable? No one. Social networking giants need to recognize their social responsibility. It is keeping this in mind that the complaint was filed against them.”
“Two Indian courts have agreed with Rai’s sentiment and now several U.S. companies, including Google and Facebook, have been ordered to remove the offensive material from its respective web sites. The companies have appealed the lower court’s orders to the Delhi High Court.”
Two Indian courts have agreed with Rai’s sentiment and now several U.S. companies, including Google and Facebook, have been ordered to remove the offensive material from their respective web sites. The companies have appealed the lower court’s orders to the Delhi High Court. Both the Indian government and the Internet companies seem to be holding firm, and it is not clear that either is willing to budge on this issue. A Google representative said in an email, “We believe that access to information is the foundation of a free society. Where content is illegal or breaks our terms of service we will continue to remove it.”
Many Indian citizens have expressed concern for the government’s stance on censoring sensitive religious materials. In the Hindustan Times, Jatin Panchi, an engineering student from Indraprastha University, said “Inflammatory content on [the] internet cannot be accepted. It hurts some people’s sentiments, but this is no way to rectify that problem. Putting curbs on these websites will hamper our sense of liberty.” Freelance writer Pooja Kapur said, “Censoring content on social media sites is totally unjustified. How different would we be from China or Afghanistan then?”
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