Google rejects U.S. call to pull video

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Google says it has rejected a White House call to take down a video that provoked protests in dozens of countries across north Africa and the Middle East.

The Internet search company said Friday the video -- a 14-minute clip from the anti-Islam film "The Innocence of Muslims" -- did not violate its terms of service regarding hate speech, The New York Times reported.

Google said it has blocked access to the video in India and Indonesia because the clip violated local laws.

Google temporarily blocked access to video in Libya and Egypt Tuesday, out of what the company said was a response to the delicacy of the situation in those countries.

Google said its decision was in line with a policy it drafted in 2007 that took cultural norms into account.

The policy reads: "One type of content, while legal everywhere, may be almost universally unacceptable in one region, yet viewed as perfectly fine in another."

The policy statement goes on: "At Google we have a bias in favor of people's right to free expression in everything we do. But we also recognize that freedom of expression can't be -- and shouldn't be -- without some limits."

Google says it is unable to monitor all content because of the sheer volume -- 72 hours of video are uploaded every minute.