Google and Facebook cave on Indian censorship demands

A court in India has ordered 21 technology firms, including Google and Facebook, to remove content it deemed offensive.

Local reports indicate that the Indian branches of both firms have complied with the New Delhi court's request and removed pages which had been deemed religiously or socially offensive.

Neither company had responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

The policing and censorship of the web in India has become a hot topic in recent months. Authorities have passed laws which require web hosts to remove illegal or inappropriate content from their servers within 36 hours of notification.

The debate over censorship and government oversight spilled into the enterprise last year when Research In Motion entered into a showdown with Indian authorities over access to data on the BlackBerry platform.

Google, which has had a reputation in the past of resisting government censorship efforts, finds itself facing new challenges as the company looks to move into new markets.

Rival firms have begun to take shots at the "Don't Be Evil" motto which has long been a hallmark of the search giant.

Facebook and Google are not alone in grappling with web censorship. Recently Twitter unveiled a system which will allow the microblogging service to block out specific pieces of content based on local government laws and regulations.