NEW DELHI—An Indian court set May 23 for the next hearing in a criminal case against Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. and other companies on charges that they failed to censor objectionable content from their websites.
A court notice on Tuesday said the case will be heard by Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja at the Patiala House court, instead of Judge Sudesh Kumar, another magistrate at the court. The notice didn't give a reason for the change.
Company executives weren't required to appear at Tuesday's brief, procedural hearing.
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A security personnel answered a call at the reception counter of the Google office in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad February 6, 2012.
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The case is the highest-stakes example yet of the controversy in India over what role Internet companies should have in policing Web content. If convicted, executives from the companies could face jail time and the companies could face fines, lawyers following the case said.
The case follows a complaint from journalist Vinay Rai, who alleged offenses such as defamation, obscenity and promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race.
Most of the companies have argued that India's information-technology law protects them from liability for content posted by users. The companies acknowledged they have a responsibility to remove content, in some cases, but only if notified about it. Mr. Rai didn't flag the content he found objectionable directly to the companies, complaining instead to the government.
The companies also have argued that monitoring their services without receiving complaints wouldn't be feasible, given the amounts of traffic on their sites, and would stifle free speech.
Microsoft Corp. also is a defendant but isn't expected to be a focus of the case. Google, Facebook and Microsoft have petitioned to be removed the case.
—Amol Sharma contributed to this article.
Write to R. Jai Krishna at krishna.jai@dowjones.com
Corrections & Amplifications
An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the next hearing in the first paragraph. The correct date is May 23.
Google Inc., Facebook Inc. online, Google, Patiala House court, Facebook, Judge Sudesh Kumar, Jay Thareja, India, Vinay Rai, R. Jai Krishna
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