By R. Jai Krishna
NEW DELHI--Google Inc. (GOOG) and Facebook Inc. (FB) said
Tuesday they are working on requests from India to remove from
their websites "inflammatory and hateful content" that New Delhi
blames for sparking a mass exodus of people from several
cities.
Tens of thousands of panic-stricken students and workers from
northeast left for home last week, spurred by rumors they would be
attacked in retaliation for communal violence in Assam, a
northeastern state, that left at least 78 people dead.
India on Monday blocked as many as 245 Web pages for hosting
video clips and other content that the authorities said were
distorted and were used for spreading the rumors.
The government is wary of social networks being misused for
inciting violence and has asked companies including Google,
Facebook, Twiter Inc. and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) to remove such
content from their websites.
Facebook, which has about 50 million users in India,
acknowledged receiving the requests and said it is working through
those requests and responding to the agencies.
"Facebook will remove content which breaches our terms," as
defined in its agreement with its users, it said in a
statement.
The U.S.-based company said it is encouraging its users to flag
such content through its website "so that we can investigate and
take action fast."
Search-engine giant Google, which provides services such as
YouTube and Orkut said: "We understand the gravity of the
situation... and continue to work closely with relevant
authorities."
Content intended to incite violence is prohibited on all Google
products, the company said in a statement.
Twitter and Microsoft didn't offer any immediate comments.
According to India, some of these content have been uploaded
from outside the country, mostly from Pakistan, and it wants the
social-networking sites to take quick action to block them.
"...a lot more and quicker action is expected from them
(social-networking sites) to address such a sensitive issue which
concern restoring peace, harmony, public order and national
security," India's Department of Electronics & Information
Technology said in a statement, and added that it is working with
these companies to deal with the situation.
India has been pushing Internet firms, especially
social-networking websites, to censor content. However, they have
refused to do so, citing local information technology laws that
protect them from liability for content posted by users.
In a separate case, Google, Facebook and some other websites are
facing criminal charges in a New Delhi court for hosting, what
Indian authorities call "objectionable content." Senior executives
of these companies are scheduled to appear in the trial court on
Sept. 22 to face charges in this case.
Write to R. Jai Krishna at krishna.jai@dowjones.com
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