Facebook and Google have removed web pages considered offensive to India’s political and religious leadership in order to satisfy a court order. Indian prosecutors are suing a number of Internet companies on behalf of a Muslim religious leader who has accused them of hosting content that insults Islam. Google India did not reveal which sites were removed, while Facebook admitted to removing content from some 'Indian domain websites'.

Meanwhile, Indian authorities defended the actions taken. “There is no question of any censorship,” said Indian communications minister Sachin Pilot. “They all have to operate within the laws of the country.”

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Twitter censorship begins, by agreeing to delete posts if countries request it

Google 'censoring' blog content?

Read More at Mashable.com

News reports claim that Google will now abide by local laws, making content invisible to people of certain countries based on the request of authorities. After implementing the changes, any user who logs onto a domain on Blogger, for example, will be redirected to a country specific domain which will be approved by the user's local country laws. Twitter has also taken adopted the same censorship policy after facing opposition from some country's governments on 'unacceptable content'. 

Read More at ItProPortal.com

Facebook will set a target of raising $5 billion in papers to be filed on Wednesday for an initial public offering. The New York Times and International Financing Review said $5 billion is only a preliminary target, and the final size could be larger. Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook would seek to raise $10 billion at a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion. At $5 billion, it would be the largest IPO ever by an Internet company, topping Google's in 2004 which raised $1.9 billion and valued the company at $23 billion.

Read More via the AFP

• Prince Alwaleed bin Talal explains Twitter investment
• Twitter censorship begins, by agreeing to delete posts if countries request it
• Raja Trad named 'Advertising Person Of The Year' by Dubai Lynx
• Aliqtisadi's cover 'reflects' its readers: Person of the Year 2011 is the Syrian Citizen
• UAE is the region's largest advertising market
• Pan Arab Research Center report reveals 4% increase in regional ad spend in 2011
• Regional PR and digital media sectors to grow in 2012
• Saudi Arabia to launch weather channel
• Mercedes-Benz adds Facebook to its in-vehicle telematics system
• MTV and Coca-Cola among brands that have used Facebook most effectively
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• Google changes search options, angers Twitter
• Dubai Lynx and Wunderman/Y&R launch 'Young Marketers School'
• Digital video ads will increase by over 250%
• Mobile TV is the third most popular 3G service in the Arab world
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• mediaME to publish "Who's Who in Digital Media Middle East 2012"

U.S. lawmakers have asked the Federal Trade Commission whether changes to Google's privacy policy violate terms of a 20-year settlement the company reached with the agency last year. Congressmen Edward Markey and Joe Barton have called on the agency “to investigate whether Google’s proposed changes violate” a settlement made in March. At the time, the FTC claimed that the search-engine used deceptive practices and violated its own privacy guidelines. 

Google has announced that it will be shutting down 'Picnik', its online photo-editing service. Google will be retiring the service, along with a number of other products that Google feels “replicate other features, haven’t achieved the promise we had hoped for, or can’t be properly integrated into the overall Google experience.” The other services include Google Message Continuity, Google Sky Map and Needlebase. 

Read More at DigitalTrends.com

Google, Amazon and Marks & Spencer have secured the top spots on YouGov's annual BrandIndex league table for 2011. YouGov annually measures the quality, value, customer satisfaction and reputation of consumer brands according to the input of 2,000 UK-based consumers.

It has proven to be a difficult year for marketers in the UK. Few brands have managed to improve their perceptions by consumers. "However, many outside the leaders have certainly bucked that trend, most notably British Airways, Android and HTC who achieved the highest increase in consumer ratings from 2010 to 2011,” said YouGov’s associate director for BrandIndex Sarah Murphy.  

Read More at eConsultancy.com

Google is set to spend millions of dollars on a 'privacy' ad campaign in the U.S. that urges people to protect their personal information online.The campaign offers practical advice and tips, including how to manage the data they share with Google and other websites.

The campaign follows widespeard criticism of Google's new search feature called 'Search plus Your World', in which photos, updates and other private information from its Google+ social network are blended with search results. Google's campaign will be featured in newspapers, magazines and even in public advertisements. 

Read More at the LA Times