• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, June 3, 2015

The nonprofit advocacy organization Sikhs for Justice sued Facebook this week for allegedly blocking access to the group's page in India.

Sikhs for Justice speculates in a complaint filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California that its Facebook page was blocked in early May at “the behest, urging or request of the Indian authorities.”

The nonprofit doesn't know for sure, however, because it says that Facebook never explained why it blocked the page in India. The New York-based nonprofit currently advocates for a referendum in Punjab for an independent Sikh country, among other items. The group's page, which has garnered 88,000 “likes,” remains accessible in the U.S.

Facebook says the lawsuit is “without merit” and that the company will defend itself “vigorously.”

While it's understandable that Sikhs for Justice is upset at the perceived censorship, the U.S. legal system probably won't offer much assistance. That's because publishers in America aren't required to give people platforms for their messages: The same way that U.S. judges can't order Facebook or Google to block speech -- even when offensive -- judges also generally can't order the companies to restore any particular content.

Sikhs for Justice isn't the first group to ask a U.S. judge has to rule that a company shouldn't give in to another country's censorship requests. Last year, search engine Baidu.com defeated a lawsuit that challenged its decision to let Chinese authorities block some search results. That lawsuit was brought by New York activists who said Baidu.com censors “pro-democracy political speech.”

Assuming the allegations are true, Baidu and Facebook aren't alone. Consider that Google's YouTube has long agreed to block videos in specific countries, at the request of other governments.

But even if Facebook is on sound legal ground, the company could face a backlash from the public -- especially if it didn't offer any explanation to the nonprofit. If nothing else, it seems that Facebook could face pressure to better communicate its policies when faced with takedown demands.