The Central government, last week, was adamant to set down certain rules and reg ulations that

Social media networks and websites must follow. This was done desp ite having been assured by major networks, like Facebook, that they would remove all content that violated the terms agreed upon. Various sources in the IT ministry agreed that the terms should adhere to the In dian culture and standards, without offending the general population. Communicat ions and IT minister; Kapil Sibal said that even though the government was again st the idea of censorship, the US laws and regulations couldn t be used in framing I ndian policies due to the difference in cultural standards. Sibal commented, "We have to take care of the sensibilities of our people. Cultu ral ethos is very important to us," during a press conference on Tuesday. Source s added that the code of conduct expected from social media sites will contain s evere consequences for websites that display offensive data. The minister, however, pointed out that they had been trying since September 5th to strike a deal with major networks like Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo to encourage them to keep a tab on any objectionable content that could trigger social or communal issues. Sibal announced that these networks had verbally agreed to a few elements of a c ode discussed earlier with the government, but had now taken a stand that they w ould only remove objectionable data if asked to do so by a court order. But on s everal occasions, the companies had failed to respond to any advances made by th e government. The minister clearly stated that the government did not want to interfere with t he freedom of the press but if foreign networks did not cooperate with the gover nment to prevent any provocative material then the government would take necessa ry steps. The minister refused to disclose the elements of the agreement on the code of co nduct, but the refusal of these networks to cooperate with the government to eli minate content has allowed the government to point out data that can be objectionab le. In response to the minister s comments, Facebook said that We want Facebook to be a pla ce where people can discuss things freely, while respecting the rights and feeli ngs of others, which is why we already have policies and on-site features in pla ce that enable people to report abusive content. We will remove any content that violates our terms, which are designed to keep material that is hateful, threat ening, incites violence or contains nudity off the service. We recognize the gov ernment's interest in minimizing the amount of abusive content that is available online and will continue to engage with the Indian authorities as they debate t his important issue." Microsoft and Yahoo chose not to comment on the minister s words, but Google made it very clear that they will not be following the order of the government. A Googl e spokesman told TOI: "We work really hard to make sure that people have as much access to information as possible, while also following the law. This means tha t when content is illegal, we abide by local law and take it down. And even wher e content is legal, but violates our own terms and conditions, we take that down too, once we've been notified. But when content is legal and doesn't violate ou r policies, we won't remove it just because it's controversial, as we believe th at people's differing views, so long as they're legal, should be respected and p rotected." Google also owns YouTube, a video sharing website and Orkut, a social networking site.

Indian officials showed several print outs from social networking sites depictin g caricatures of Mecca, a Hindu Goddess, along with sketches of Manmohan Singh a nd Sonia Gandhi. Sibal said that he had received several complaints regarding pr ovocative material on social networking sites that affected the sentiments of th e people. Following this he has asked his staff to search the internet and was s urprised at the things they found. They were offensive and greatly affected the people of the country. Sibal then called a meeting in early September, 2011. Hence, the on-going battle between the Indian government and major networks, lik e Facebook, throws light upon various issues. Keeping in mind the freedom of the press, the government must formulate the code of conduct in such a way, so that both parties are benefitted and avoid any form of conflict. So will the major s ocial networking sites find it possible to adhere to the rules and regulations s et down by the Indian government?