Web firms: Can’t stop uploading of sexual content

New Delhi: It is not possible to prevent sexual content from being uploaded to the Internet, but it is possible to remove them within few days of uploading, search engines informed the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

On February 1, the court had asked search engines like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, as well as social media networks like Facebook and Whatsapp to come out with a “firewall” similar to the one developed in China to automatically prevent the uploading of any explicit sexual content online.

During the resumed hearing on Tuesday before a bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Uday Lalit, it was pointed out that in Youtube alone four-and-a-half hours of videos are uploaded every minute, and it would require lakhs of employees to scrutinise everything to prevent them from being uploaded. It was submitted that since uploading takes place across the country, it will be impossible to prevent them. However, the contents can be removed if there is a nodal agency to receive complaints and direct search engines to remove the objectionable contents.

Earlier, counsel Aparna Bhat for the petitioner, the NGO Prajwala, pointed out that China had evolved successfully a “firewall” to prevent any offensive material on the Internet. On behalf of the Centre, additional solicitor general Maninder Singh informed the court that the Central government had decided to allocate Rs 195.83 cr towards the setting up of a dedicated “Cyber Crime Prevention Against Women and Children” (CCPAWC) cell to combat the menace of such horrendous crimes against women and children. The amount has been earmarked for three years and the nodal agency will be put in place soon.