Turns Out UK Government Only Wishes It Had Special Powers To Censor YouTube
from the not-quite-the-full-story dept
Yesterday we had a post, based on a Financial Times story that suggested YouTube had somehow given the UK government "special" powers to censor videos they don't like.After digging deeper into this issue, it appears that the Financial Times report greatly exaggerated the facts, and while it appears that the UK government still wishes it had the power to censor perfectly legal videos, YouTube is not, in fact, aiding in this process. While anyone can flag lots of videos, YouTube has a "trusted flagger program" which gives those who are flagging many videos -- and those who have a good track record of actually flagging videos that violate YouTube's terms of service -- the ability to flag more videos quickly. It also seems likely (though unconfirmed) that the YouTube policy team that reviews the flags will more quickly review (or take more seriously) flags that come from those "trusted flaggers." However, it's really not all that different than YouTube's regular flagging, and as such won't allow the easy censorship of legitimate content.
The FT's report on "special powers" and claims that such flags would be "instantly reviewed," combined with direct claims from a government official, James Brokenshire, about how content "that may not be illegal, but certainly is unsavoury" needs to be dealt with, because it "may not be the sort of material people would want to see or receive" is still worrisome from the position of what the UK government thinks it should be doing online. But it appears that the idea that YouTube is giving the UK government "special" powers to carry out that task is not accurate.
It is still deeply concerning that the UK government seems to think that it has a role in being the nanny on the internet over what legal videos the public can and cannot watch, but YouTube has long been a supporter of free speech -- even on controversial videos -- as seen by the company's support for keeping controversial videos like Innocence of Muslims online (until recently forced by a court to censor it).
![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: censorship, flagging, james brokenshire, uk, youtube
Companies: google, youtube
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
he's gonna learn the hard way that following orders of a self-interested industry or a main player in their game, wont pay off. it will only bring problems that will be very tricky to fix!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
God damn it Mike
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
state control
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: state control
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: state control
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
Remember, the point of all this is constantly reminding us that we're slaves to their whims.
[ link to this | view in thread ]