No govt in India will ever censor social media: Sibal

"We have no intention to censor anybody but everybody must obey the law of the country," telecom minister Kapil Sibal said at an industry event today. HT reports.

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday said that no government in India ever wants to censor social media. Sibal was delivering the keynote address at 20th Nasscom India Leadership Forum when he referred to the "pre-screening" of content on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter.

"We have no intention to censor anybody but everybody must obey the law of the country," Sibal said. "Print media obeys the law of the country, electronic media obeys the law and social media should also do so."

"I want to once and for all state without any obfuscation that no government in India will want to ever censor the social media. For any doubting Thomases, we have no intention to censor anybody but we must ensure that everybody obeys the laws of this country," Sibal said.

Google and Facebook removed content from some Indian websites earlier this month after a court directive warning them of a crackdown "like China" if they did not take steps to protect religious sensibilities.

Referring to the case Sibal said the government is a bystander in the case and is not a party to it.