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[CNN]
Should Google censor an anti-Islam video? - CNN.com
By Jillian C. York , Special to CNN
September 15, 2012 -- Updated 0254 GMT (1054 HKT)
CNN.com
Should Google censor an anti-Islam video?
Editor's note: Jillian C. York is director for international freedom of
expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She is a columnist for Al
Jazeera.
(CNN) -- Just hours after the U.S. consulate came under attack in Libya,
resulting in the death of the U.S. ambassador and three of his colleagues,
YouTube blocked access to an anti-Islam video that sparked protests in Egypt
and Libya. The video, which was made in America and crudely characterized the
Prophet Mohammed, understandably offended many Muslims.
It would appear that the decision by Google -- which owns YouTube -- was based
not on an order by either government but on its own concerns. "We work hard to
create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express
different opinions," YouTube said in a statement. "This can be a challenge
because what's OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video which
is widely available on the web is clearly within our guidelines and so will
stay on YouTube. However, given the very difficult situation in Libya and Egypt
we have temporarily restricted access in both countries. Our hearts are with
the families of the people murdered in yesterday's attack in Libya."
Although the video remains accessible for the rest of the world, users in Egypt
and Libya will, upon attempting to access it, encounter a message that it is
not available in their jurisdiction. This is the same mechanism used when a
copyright holder restricts content to a certain country.
Although restricting the video in the two countries might seem tempting in the
wake of the horrific violence that occurred in Libya, it is in the best
interest of neither the company nor, arguably, the citizens of those countries
for Google to be the arbiter of acceptability.
When it comes to copyrighted content, YouTube is required to abide by the law,
specifically the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which allows a copyright
holder to report content posted by other users as belonging to them (it also
allows for a rebuttal).
YouTube has also taken down content under informal pressure from governments,
such as in 2010, when it removed clips reportedly linked to al Qaeda after a
speech in which British Security Minister Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones stated
that such videos "incite cold-blooded murder and as such are contrary to the
public good."
When it comes to that type of content or the content in the video in question,
the fact of the matter is that there are few regulations by which YouTube must
abide.
In the United States, the content of the video would be deemed protected under
the First Amendment. As an American company, YouTube itself also has a right to
speech, which includes the right to make its own policies regarding what types
of speech it deems appropriate to host.
Those policies have come under fire before. In 2007, a Turkish court ordered
YouTube to be blocked in the country after the company refused to take down
videos deemed insulting to the country's founder; the ban was reversed two
years later. YouTube faced a similar ban in Pakistan in 2010 after refusing to
take down cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
But while some governments think YouTube is too lax, some of its users have
felt it is too restrictive.
Egyptian human rights activist Wael Abbas found his account deactivated in 2007
after posting violent content depicting police brutality in his country.
Eventually, his account was restored and YouTube shifted its policies in
response to his and other users' complaints, allowing content containing
violence to be posted under an exception for videos that are "educational" or
"documentary" in nature. This policy later enabled activists in Egypt, Tunisia,
Syria and elsewhere to post documentation of regime violence.
In the current case, YouTube has stated that the video does not violate its
terms of service. So if the video does not violate the company's rules and
YouTube didn't receive an order from the two countries' governments (as far as
we know), then the only explanation is that YouTube is determining on its own
what serves the best interest of Libyans and Egyptians. This is, indeed, a rare
move from the company and may eventually backfire.
Take another case from this year. When Pakistan blocked Twitter after the
company refused to take down offensive content, citizens were outraged, fearing
it as a precursor to censorship during the election period. Had Twitter simply
taken down the content, the story would have slipped by without notice;
instead, the outrage of citizens forced the government to reverse its decision
in less than a day.
Google should take the lead from Twitter, a smaller and younger company that,
when faced with similar concerns, has stood strong, issuing a policy stating
that content would be "withheld" in a certain country only in the face of a
valid legal order and that the ban would be communicated transparently to all
users.
Instead, by placing itself in the role of arbiter, Google is now vulnerable to
demands from a variety of parties and will have to explain why it sees
censorship as the right solution in some cases but not in others.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Jillian C. York.
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© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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