J&K government bans 22 social networking sites

Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday banned 22 social networking sites and applications including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter in Kashmir on the ground that these were being misused by anti-national and anti-social elements to fan trouble. The ban will be in place for a month or till further orders, whichever is earlier, said an order issued by Principal Secretary (Home) R K Goyal.

"In the interest of maintenance of public order, the government hereby directs all internet service providers that any message or class of messages to or from a person or a class of persons relating to any subject or any pictorial content through the following social networking sites shall not be transmitted in Kashmir valley with immediate effect for a period of one month or till further orders, whichever is earlier," he said in the three-page order.

The sites and applications which will be inaccessible in the valley include Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Wechat, QQ, Qzone, Google Plus, Skype, Line, Pinterest, Snapchat, Youtube, Vine and Flickr. An earlier report said the government had suspended internet services in Kashmir for a month but this was not correct. To ban the social networking sites and Apps, Goyal invoked the powers conferred on Government under Indian Telegraph Act 1885 read with Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Rules 2007 to ban these sites and applications.