India Threatens to Censor Google (GOOG), Facebook 'Just Like China'
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Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) shares may be trading lower Friday amid reports India might move to block the company from operating in the country. Facebook was also included in the warning.
According to NDTV, "the Delhi High Court on Thursday warned social networking site Facebook India and search engine Google India that websites can be "blocked" like in China if they fail to devise a mechanism to check and remove objectionable material from their web pages."
The Court likened the block to that in China.
Not helping the matter was a rep for Google India, who said the material cannot be blocked. According to NDTV, the rep said, "No human interference is possible, and moreover, it can't be feasible to check such incidents. Billions of people across the globe, post their articles on the website. Yes, they may be defamatory, obscene but cannot be checked." The rep did cite an Information Technology Act in India saying the website is protected from such objectionable material as long as it wasn't the author of such material. Protection might be lost if Google India tries to move or monitor the content, or fail to respond from consumer or government complaints.
The next hearing under the High Court is slated for January 16th. No specific comments were made by Google or Facebook about the event.
Shares of Google are 0.8 percent lower Friday. Facebook isn't publicly traded, yet.
According to NDTV, "the Delhi High Court on Thursday warned social networking site Facebook India and search engine Google India that websites can be "blocked" like in China if they fail to devise a mechanism to check and remove objectionable material from their web pages."
The Court likened the block to that in China.
Not helping the matter was a rep for Google India, who said the material cannot be blocked. According to NDTV, the rep said, "No human interference is possible, and moreover, it can't be feasible to check such incidents. Billions of people across the globe, post their articles on the website. Yes, they may be defamatory, obscene but cannot be checked." The rep did cite an Information Technology Act in India saying the website is protected from such objectionable material as long as it wasn't the author of such material. Protection might be lost if Google India tries to move or monitor the content, or fail to respond from consumer or government complaints.
The next hearing under the High Court is slated for January 16th. No specific comments were made by Google or Facebook about the event.
Shares of Google are 0.8 percent lower Friday. Facebook isn't publicly traded, yet.
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