No plans to censor social media: Sibal

Allaying fears of a China-like crackdown on companies like Google and Facebook, Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal has said the government has no plans to censor the social media but they have to obey the laws of the country.

"I have never said that we want to censor. The government doesn't want to do anything with them," Sibal said.

He said print and electronic media are governed by the laws of the country, so the social media cannot be above it.

"It is not for us to tell them because we are not here to decide how they must obey the law ... It is the social media's responsibility," Sibal said.

He said that the government is aware of certain things happening in the social media which are contrary to the laws of the country but the government has not taken any action despite the fact that the present regulations under the Act empowers the government to do so.

"We have our regulations... If we had wanted to act, we would have acted against the intermediaries," he said.

The government has initiated a dialogue process with the social media companies on to how to manage the material on their websites that could offend religious groups.

"The government brought to the notice of the social media [the objectionable content] and asked them what they can do about it," Sibal said.