Indian court threatens web giants over content

Internet giants Google and Facebook have removed content from some Indian domain websites following a court directive warning them of a crackdown “like China” if they did not take steps to protect religious sensibilities.

The two firms are among 21 ordered to develop a mechanism to block material considered religiously offensive after private petitioners took them to court over images deemed offensive to Hindus, Muslims and Christians.

Google spokeswoman Paroma Roy Chowdhury said yesterday: “[Our] review team has looked at the content and disabled this content from the local domains of [Google] search, YouTube and Blogger.”

At the heart of the dispute is a law that India passed last year making companies responsible for user content posted on their websites. It gives them 36 hours to take down content if there is a complaint.

A New Delhi lower court hearing one of the cases, a civil suit, told the companies yesterday to put in writing the steps they had taken to block offensive content, and submit reports within 15 days.

Google, Facebook, Yahoo! and Microsoft have appealed in the Delhi High Court against a separate criminal case successfully brought by journalist Vinay Rai.

The High Court has yet to rule on their appeal, but the sitting judge warned last month they were responsible for content on their websites and said he could block sites “like China” if they did not get their house in order.

In the Rai case, the court ordered the companies to stand trial for offences relating to the distribution of obscene material to minors, after being shown images it said were offensive to Mohammed, Jesus, various Hindu gods and goddesses, as well as several political leaders.