The Court had earlier asked Search Engines and social media websites to create a firewall that blocks sexual content from being uploaded.
Sexual content can’t be stopped from being uploaded to the Internet, but it can be removed within a few days of uploading, search engines told the Supreme Court on February 21. The court had earlier asked search engines like Microsoft, Yahoo and Google to develop a firewall similar to the Great Firewall in China, that will block sexual content online. Social media networks like Twitter and WhatsApp were also included in the order.
The Search Engines pointed out that YouTube alone gets four and a half hours of videos every minute. They said that lakhs of employees would be needed if they were to scrutinise every piece of content and prevent sexual content from being uploaded. However, if a nodal agency is present to receive complaints against such content, it can then be taken down easily.
NGO Prajwala had earlier used China as an example, citing the country’s firewall that prevents objectionable content from the Internet. The Government has allocated Rs. 195.83 crore towards the creation of a Cyber Crime Prevention Against Women and Children cell to fight crimes against children and women, said additional solicitor general, Maninder Singh, on behalf of the Centre.
While preventing sexual content from being uploaded sounds good, the case may not be as simple as painted. China doesn’t actually block such content from being uploaded. Rather, the country blocks websites that have such content. In fact, the Chinese firewall blocks a lot of other content as well, which may be a problem for countries like India.
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