Yahoo excused from Indian internet censorship lawsuit due to lack of evidence

Yahoo is the first of the companies accused of hosting offensive content in India to have the charges against it dropped. Filed earlier this year by an Indian journalist, the complaint accuses Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and 18 other companies of portraying “deprave or crude” content considered offensive to Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. It includes a number of examples of objectionable material pulled from websites, though none of the documents relate to Yahoo India. The summons against the company has thus been put aside, though the Delhi High Court has said that it could be revived should any actionable evidence be filed.

Both Facebook and Google have already been forced to remove content following a court order, and the complaint demands that any content posted on these sites be screened before it goes up. Last year India passed a law that makes internet companies responsible for content posted by users and the trial against the remaining 20 companies is expected to proceed later this month.