Google and Facebook challenge Indian censorship order

Leading tech firms such as Google and Facebook have taken to the courts in India to challenge a ruling that they need to block access to what is considered to be objectionable content in the country, with an appeal taken to the High Court in Delhi.

A private petitioner had taken the sites to the court over claims that they contained content that could be deemed as offensive to Muslims, Hindus and Christians - and with local laws making sites responsible for user generated content uploaded the companies would need to take it down within 36 hours of receiving a complaint.

The impracticality of the law was emphasised by Google's lawyer on the case Neeraj Kishan Kaul:

"The search engine only takes you till the website. What happens after that is beyond a search engine's control.

If you use blocks, which is very easy for people to say, you will inadvertently block other things as well. For example: the word 'sex'. Even a government document like a voter ID list or a passport has the word 'sex'."

Many have warned that a Chinese style censorship regime will effectively be in place if the High Court does not over rule the previous judgment from the lower court.