Brazil judge orders arrest of Google senior executive over YouTube videos

For the second time in less than a month, a Brazilian judge has ordered the arrest of a Google senior executive in the country after the search engine giant refused to remove videos deemed slanderous from the Internet.

In the latest case, the videos posted on YouTube suggest Alcides Bernal, a mayoral candidate in the southern city of Campo Grande, had committed crimes, the BBC reported Tuesday, citing local media reports.

Judge Flavio Peren ruled the videos were in violation of local election laws and ordered the arrest of Fabio José Silva Coelho, Google’s top executive in the country, unless the offending videos were removed, Reuters reported.

Google said it was appealing the order.

"Google is appealing the decision that ordered the removal of the video on YouTube because, as a platform, Google is not responsible for the content posted to its site," a Google spokesman was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The ruling came on the heels of a similar decision by another Brazilian judge earlier this month.

In that case, a judge in the northeastern state of Paraiba ordered the arrest of another senior Google executive after the company refused to take down videos from YouTube that mocked a mayoral candidate there.

Another judge in a higher court overturned that decision last week.

Also this month, a judge in the southern state of Parana ordered Google to pay $500,000 for each day it delayed obeying an order to remove videos from the video-sharing website that attacked a candidate, the AP said.

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