India Court Defers Hearing Against Facebook Inc And Others Into Objectionable Content Case To May 23-DJ

Dow Jones reported that an Indian court on Tuesday deferred until May 23 hearing of a case against 20 companies, including Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Facebook Inc, which face charges that they failed to censor objectionable content from their websites. The case will now be heard by Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja at the Patiala House courts. Executives of all companies have been exempted from appearing in person by an earlier higher court order. The case follows a complaint from a journalist, Vinay Rai, who wants the companies to be prosecuted for alleged offenses such as criminal conspiracy, defamation, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race and obscene content, among others.