Google, Facebook to be blocked in Ind? Govt decision today

New Delhi, Jan 13: Friday, Jan 13 may prove as a historical day for people depending on online business in India. The government will announce its policy for online content for all websites including Google and Facebook which have already received warning that the two popular sites may be blocked in the country, if they do not censor content on their sites.

The search engine giant Google and one of the most famous social networking sites - Facebook landed in a serious legal soup after the Indian government raised its concern over the obscene and objectionable content posted in the sites. Delhi High court on Thursday warned the two sites after telling that their websites might blocked in the country. On Friday, the hearing in a lower court over the same case has been adjourned till Mar 13.

Justice Suresh Kait of Delhi High Court, slamming the representatives of Google India and Facebook, said, "Like China, we will block all such websites," and also asked them to remove "offensive and objectionable" materials from their web pages.

However, former Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohatgi, who defended Google India in the court, 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."

Delhi Police had earlier received a notice by the Delhi High Court based on a petition filed against summons issued by a trial court to 21 websites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and YouTube, for allegedly hosting obscene and derogatory content.

Both Facebook and Google were issued summons by a trial court following which they had approached the High Court opposing the same.

OneIndia News