Facebook , Twitter blocks 1,662 defamatory URLs as per Govt. order

New Delhi : Close to 1,662 defamatory URLs were blocked by social media giants like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in order to abide by the requests made by law enforcement agencies. The news has been confirmed by Union Minister Hansraj Gangaram Ahir on July 24.

Facebook has blocked 956 URLs against requests for 1,076 URLs, Twitter 409 URLs against 728 requests, and YouTube 152 URLs against 182 requests, Ahir said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The minister said Instagram has blocked 66 URLs against requests for 150 and others have blocked 79 URLs against requests for 109 URLs. 

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is an address for a particular page on the vast World Wide Web. Facebook and Twitter are major social networking sites in today’s world. The platforms are widely used to share, inform and post news which sometime induces negative feelings.

These URLs were blocked from January 2017 till June 2018. The Union Minister of State for Home said law enforcement agencies closely monitor the web and social media, and take suitable action for blocking such unlawful content under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The government holds regular meetings with concerned intermediaries for strengthening the cooperation framework to guarantee better compliance, he added.