Google's social network Orkut is quite popular among the Brazilian Internet users and this is not always a good thing, mainly if the content appearing on the website shouldn't be published on such a page. On Wednesday, Alexandre Hohagen, the man in charge of Google Brazil, said that the Mountain View-based company would start filtering the content appearing on Orkut, according to the Associated Press. The same source informs that approximately 55 percent of the total Orkut Internet users, which counts no less than 60 million, come from Brazil, so such a filter would be quite useful especially when considering the fact that social networks are pretty popular among kids and teenagers.

For those of you who don't know, Google got in trouble in August 2008 after having prohibited content appeared on its official Orkut page. Although the officials asked Google to provide details about the users who uploaded the material, the Mountain View company refused to do so. However, it banned the users' accounts that infringed the rules, explaining that privacy laws do not allow the firm to disclose people's details.

According to AP, Google will install its filters in the near future and, as long as it is asked, provide the infringing texts and photos to the investigators. However, the Google Brazil official didn't mention if any detail about the users to infringe the rules was disclosed.

The social networking websites grow up continuously, attracting users of all ages. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that the content appearing on the profile pages should be viewed by all types of users since some members choose to upload offensive or pornographic content. This is exactly the type of case Google wants to avoid, but I guess we'll have to wait a while to see if the new Orkut filters manage to prove their efficacy.