Late last week we brought you news that the government of India had sanctioned prosecution of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and others for their refusal to remove objectionable content from search and social networking sites. The High Court of India refused …

The Indian government has initiated legal proceedings against a number of search, social networking, and technology companies. The government found sufficient cause to pursue prosecution of the companies for refusing to regulate offensive content. Ten of the 21 companies are …

Last week we brought you news that by Indian minister of telecommunications Kapil Sibal had been meeting with executives from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo and asking them to pre-screen and remove content that his office regarded as offensive or …

Yesterday we brought you news that Indian telecommunications minister Kapil Sibal was planning to meet with representatives of Google, Facebook, and others to ask that they screen content his office deemed objectionable, so that it could not be posted to …

One of the most common and well-received types of flash mobs is the dancing variety. These spontaneous assemblies have a knack for hitting the interwebs and taking off quickly – a trend that is proven by this Indian celebration that …

Groupon is launching in India, Israel, and South Africa as it has acquired similar deals sites in each of those countries – SoSata, Grouper, and Twangoo respectively. 

"Collective buying is in its infancy in India, Israel and South Africa and we see strong potential," said Rob Solomon, president and COO of Groupon. "Groupon is shaping the way local merchants market themselves in every corner of the world."

For a long time, supporters of Google’s experiments in social media were able to point to Orkut’s success in Brazil and India.  In those countries, at least, the social network was dominant.  But Orkut fell behind in India last year, and new stats from Experian Hitwise show that Facebook’s made impressive gains since then.

India’s the second-most populous country in the world, and it looks like Google’s getting increasingly serious about acquiring customers there.  Today, Google opened a call center in Hyderabad designed to deal with local small and medium-sized businesses in any of four languages.

Google India’s HR managers may be in for a hectic time.  Days after Google announced $1,000 bonuses and ten percent raises for all the company’s workers, a high-ranking employee has committed to hiring at least 200 engineers in the country.

For a long time, Orkut has been the one bright spot in Google’s social media stable; it’s been the sole product that became really popular in some markets, even as everything else struggled to gain users (and/or not get the axe).  Only new stats indicate that Facebook’s beaten Orkut in India, which represented one of its two strongholds.

If they weren’t already doing so, Google’s lawyers should start paying attention to the BlackBerry encryption proceedings.  It turns out that India’s government intends to target Google (and Skype) once it’s finished trying to gain access to messages sent courtesy of RIM.

India is often considered a place of car guys’ nightmares, where the roads are packed with vehicles and anything from a motorcycle to a bus is likely to swerve across lanes and run red lights.  But Indian police are now addressing the problem in an innovative fashion, using Facebook as a sort of crowdsourced traffic camera.

A country that’s known for its fast-developing tech industry – and for its enormous population – should soon have improved access to Google Apps.  Google and Tata Communications announced a deal today that involves both Google Apps and India (for starters).

It’s full speed ahead for Facebook in India.  The company’s new office in the country is supposed to open within two months, and when it is running at full capacity, reports indicate that the office is supposed to accommodate a whopping 500 or so employees.

A good drive can be one of life’s most enjoyable experiences.  But a bad one is, of course, no fun at all, and poor directions are often responsible for making things take a turn for the worse.  So Google appears to be overhauling the way in which it tells people to get from one point to another.

Today’s a big day for Twitter.  Twitter – which still lists fewer than 80 people on its payroll – has announced a partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s largest integrated telecom company.

This development probably won’t lead to every Bharti Airtel customer becoming a Twitter addict, but it will eliminate big some obstacles.  First of all, the customers needn’t worry about having hardwired Internet connections – the partnership is all about texting.  Second, a lot of fees have been waived.

Numbers from comScore this week, revealed that Google sites account for nearly 30% of all time spent online in India and Brazil. That is three times higher than the average.

The H1N1 flu virus has hit Google India, and although things aren’t as bad as they might have been, it’s having some rather significant effects: around 100 people have gone to a hospital for swine flu tests, and a Hyderabad office will remain closed for two full days.

Facebook’s scoring some big gains in the world’s second- and fifth-most populous countries.  New stats indicate that the social network’s growth rate has started imitating the upright angle of a hockey stick in both India and Brazil.

Here’s an interesting fact for you: India is the world’s second-largest country in terms of population.  And here’s one more detail: by unveiling Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu interfaces, Facebook has put itself in a good position to pursue India’s citizens. 

After a long period of focusing on American content, it looks like Hulu’s going global.  One fresh deal has netted the site shows from the UK, while another partnership will result in the sharing of Bollywood films.  Plus, movement in the opposite direction – Hulu allowing access overseas – is being discussed.