Brazil orders Google to cancel drug-related web pages

The Federal Court in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais on Thursday issued an injunction, asking Google Inc. to cancel four Internet pages from its social network website Orkut.

The pages are charged with trafficking and stimulating the use of a drug named lanca-perfume, an industrialized scented mixture of ether, chloroform and chloroethane that is commonly used in Brazil, particularly during carnival balls and parades.

The Federal Court also ruled that the contents on the web pages must be preserved to assist police investigations, adding that if Google does not abide by the injunction, it would be fined 334,131 reais (156,869 U.S. dollars) for each page.

The Orkut website has become a favorite among Brazilians, especially youngsters, and some members have been using it to traffic drugs and commit other crimes.

Prior to the injunction, the Federal Prosecution Service in Sao Paulo state on Tuesday threatened to sue Google because the company had refused to provide information about users of Orkut.

Google denied the charges, saying it has taken seriously the issue of illegal contents on Orkut and has been constantly developing new tools to detect and remove those contents from the website.

But Brazilian officials said Google would be expelled from Brazil if it continues to disregard the court's decisions.

Source: Xinhua