Seeking the Centre's immediate attention for controlling social networking sites, the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Mr Ashok Gehlot, said on Monday that these companies should be asked to set up their servers in India.
Mr Gehlot drew the attention of those present at the Chief Ministers' Conference here, which included the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, that communal elements had posted some comments on Facebook which resulted in communal tension in a region of his State.
“Effective action was taken immediately against the miscreants,” he said, and added that while his government complied with the idea of freedom of expression, it should not be misused by communal elements and needs to be dealt with all severity.
“I would appreciate if these sites could develop a system which by itself prevents posting of material with communal and anti-national overtones,” he said.
“As the servers of these social networking sites are located outside the country, it becomes an arduous task to obtain any information related to such incidents.
“I would suggest that the Government of India develop a system which can help in obtaining the information from these servers on real-time basis, or as an alternative making it mandatory for these companies to set up their servers in India,” Mr Gehlot said.