Over 2,100 URLs on social media blocked till June 2019: Prasad

Over 2,100 URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) were blocked on social media platforms in the first six months of 2019, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

A total of 633, 1,385 and 2,799 URLs were ordered for blocking in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He added that number of URLs ordered for blocking stood at 2,163 till June this year.

"Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 empowers Government to block any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above," he said.

The minister said the government regularly interacts with social media platforms regarding the steps to be taken to make them safer.

Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as well as police are in regular touch with various social media platforms to effectively address the issue of removal of objectionable content.