Govt Orders Blocking Of 67 Pornographic Websites

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) on Thursday ordered internet companies to block 67 pornographic websites following the orders of Uttarakhand High Court and a Pune court.

The websites violated the new IT rules, introduced in 2021.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has directed internet service providers to block 63 websites based on the order of a Pune court, and 4 websites based on Uttarakhand HC’s order, and directions issued by Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).

“MeitY in compliance of the said (Uttarakhand High court) order read along with rule 3(2)(b) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and in view of certain obscene material available in the below mentioned website that tarnish the image of modesty of women, has directed to immediately take down (block) the … websites/URLs,” stated the DoT order dated September 24.

According to IT Rules 2021 invoked by MeitY, IT companies have to remove or disable access to content hosted, stored or published by them which “shows such individual in full or partial nudity or shows or depicts such individual in any sexual act or conduct” and also content which is allegedly impersonated or artificially morphed.