WASHINGTON: A US appeals court on Wednesday ordered Google Inc to remove from its YouTube video-sharing website an anti-Islam film that had sparked protests across the Muslim world in 2012.

By a 2-1 vote, a panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Google’s assertion that the removal of the film “Innocence of Muslims” amounted to a prior restraint of speech that violated the constitution.

The plaintiff, Cindy Lee Garcia, had objected to the film after learning that it incorporated a clip she had made for a different movie.

Cris Armenta, a lawyer for Garcia, said she was delighted with the decision. “Ordering YouTube and Google to take down the film was the right thing to do,” Armenta said in an email.

“The propaganda film differs so radically from anything that Ms Garcia could have imagined when the director told her that she was being cast in the innocent adventure film.”

The controversial film sparked a torrent of anti-American protests across the Muslim world, especially in Pakistan, Egypt and Libya.

American and other foreign embassies were also stormed in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Google had refused to remove the film from YouTube, despite pressure from the White House and others. —Reuters