India has clamped down on Facebook, Twitter, and other websites to remove content that caused fear and led to a mass exodus from the restive northeastern state of Assam.
“A lot of inflammatory and harmful content [or] information has been found to be appearing on the social networking sites hosted outside the country,” the Department of Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement published by NDTV.
The government banned access to 245 web pages that had altered images that showed alleged atrocities committed against Muslims in the state. India’s government said the images created hysteria and sparked a mass exodus to other parts of the country.
“Most of the content were taken from events unrelated to the incident occurred in Assam.,” the statement reads, adding that such content “disturbed the peace and harmony among the communities leading to public disorder and exodus.”
Google and Facebook said on Tuesday they would work with Indian authorities to remove such content.
“We understand the gravity of the situation, strongly condemn acts of violence and continue to work closely with relevant authorities. Content intended to incite violence, such as hate speech, is prohibited on Google products where we host content, including YouTube, Google+ and Blogger,” said Google a statement, according to the Times of India.
A spokesperson with Facebook said the company “will remove content which breaches our terms,” the newspaper reported.
