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Google Rejects Most of Russia's Censorship Requests

Google has rejected most requests by Russian authorities to delete content from its search engines, according to a report the company released Monday.

Governments can ask Google to remove content by claiming that it is defamatory or violates local laws, such as laws on hate speech or pornography, the company said.

Some countries have previously asked the search giant to delete speeches made by members of opposition parties.

Russian courts filed fewer than 10 requests for content removal in the second half of 2011, and Google rejected all of them, according to Google's Global Transparency Report.

Other Russian organs, including police and government agencies, filed 10 requests, and the company complied with a third of them.

Google representatives could not describe the specific cases that the Russian requests concerned. This is partly due to the fact that some of these requests are linked to ongoing investigations, they said.

The search engine received a total of 1,000 requests from government agencies around the world in the second half of 2011, Vedomosti reported. Google complied with over half of these requests.

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