Facebook and Google asked to screen content by India

The Indian government has told social networking giants Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to remove material that might "offend Indian sensibilities", unleashing a storm of criticism from internet users in the world's largest democracy.
Kapil Sibal, the telecoms and information technology minister, on Tuesday confirmed he had met executives from the four companies to ask them to screen content, but no agreement had been reached.
Sibal said the Indian government "does not believe in interfering in the freedom of the press" but some of the images and statements on social media sites risked fanning tensions in India., which has a long history of communal violence. The minister cited one image of pigs running through the holy Muslim city of Mecca.
However the main focus of the government did not seem to be content liable to stir religious feelings.
A report in the New York Times on Monday said Sibal met executives from the four companies about six weeks ago and showed them a Facebook page with a modified image mocking Sonia Gandhi, the president of the ruling Congress party, and told them it was "unacceptable". A modified image of the current prime minister, Manmohan Singh, was shown to reporters on Tuesday.
Little criticism of the Gandhi dynasty, which has provided three prime ministers and the current effective political leader of the country, is tolerated in India.

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