According to Gardiner Harris' New York Times article, the Indian government is defending the crackdown on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. The government says the blocking of material on these websites is crucial to maintaining peace in India.
The ban of social media came after the riots in Mumbai. Most of the pages that have been blocked are of "general news" including the British newspaper The Telegraph and TV network Al Jazeera.
An article on NDTV states the government has ordered at least 80 pages and user accounts to be banned to avoid more panic in North-East India. The websites contained rumors that have been traced to Pakistan. The websites contained rumors of a possible attack which made people leave their homes.
A government official said "We have found inflammatory and objectionable contents on some pages of Facebook and Google. Some user-accounts at Twitter were also found spreading similar contents. All-together, around 80 such pages and accounts have been ordered to be blocked today."
When I first posted about this topic I thought India had no good reason to block social media websites. If people are posting on these websites creating mass panic, the Indian government should not be criticized.
In the day we live in most people can not go a day without checking some kind of social media website. Most of us have notifications sent to our cell phones when someone "likes" or comments on one of our posts. I can understand why Indian citizens are upset, but obviously there are some issues that need to be worked out before they can open up the internet to social media.
I think the government is right in banning these websites. If the rumors are creating panic in the entire North-East region they should be blocked. The websites could do nothing but cause more panic if they are not blocked.