Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Jumps Over 0.50% In The Pre-Market Session
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has received requests from the government authorities to remove blog posts or videos from its array of services.
Google which is the largest and the most renowned internet search engine has been receiving requests from government authorities which include executives and the police and even some court orders in the past six months. So far the company has received more than thousand of such requests citing examples of some contents which infringes upon the local laws against hate speech, pornography, or defamation.
Google in its defence states that the requests and the court orders which the company has been receiving in the past six months are not new for the company. The company had been facing such situations in the past couple years. The company further justified the situation by saying that “It’s alarming not only because free expression is at risk,” but drawing attention to the fact that some of these requests come from countries one might not suspect — Western democracies not typically associated with censorship. Substantiating its point by tracing example of the Spanish regulators who had asked the company to remove 270 search results that linked to blogs and articles in newspapers referencing individuals and some high profile public figures, Google re-asserted its point.
Google complied with an average of 65 percent of court orders during the six-month period, and 47 percent of more informal requests, the company said.
Shares of GOOG are up 0.53% to $573.89 in the pre-open session.