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YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

theintercept.com

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Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#71

Post by [deleted] »

hliyan wrote: post #33
isodev wrote: post #11

That's why we have Peertube and your personal (not hosted by a corp) website. It's amazing how people forgot to use the internet in exchange for "easier" UX.

I wonder if the future should simply be a cloud version of a personal computer. Rather than subscribing to a lot of SaaS where your data distributed across various platforms, you "purchase" a cloud computer (could be a tiny SOC + disk, or a VM), install software on it (licensed, not subscription based), and store all your data on it, as good old-fashioned files only you and your programs can access. Including your vi…

[deleted]

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#72

Post by _heimdall »

latexr wrote: post #28
_heimdall wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the government force YouTube to take down the videos? Freedom of speech is meant to protect us from government censorship. Trump sanctions would fall into that category, but a social media site censoring what they don't want to host seems like fair game.

> Did the government force YouTube to take down the videos? Yes, according to the article. That argument is made over and over in it, it’s hard to miss. “Forcing” doesn’t just mean directly requiring the action, it also means the threat of “this is not going to end up well for you if you don’t comply”. Of course, you can argue that Google could and should fight it, but that doesn’t change what the government is doing…

It doesn't seem that clear in my opinion. There is a lot of smoke there, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fire, but I didn't see the article specifically claiming the government directed YouTube to take down the videos.

I saw multiple references there to the government sanctioning groups and that YouTube took down videos based on the sanctions. That very well could be a loophole and a court might deem that a first amendment violation, but it isn't as simple as finding communications where the government directly requested those videos to be taken down.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#73

Post by ta20240528 »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #2

It turns out that it's much easier than anyone thought to end freedom of speech in the United States. If no one cares about the Constitution, then it's just paper. Trump sanctions the International Criminal Court and anyone who provides evidence to it, and now pro-Palestinian groups can't post videos of Israeli abuse on YouTube. The First Amendment is nowhere to be seen.

"now pro-Palestinian groups can't post videos of Israeli abuse on YouTube."

Perhaps not, but they could courier the evidence on a DVD to the Hague.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#74

Post by fluoridation »

teddyh wrote: post #47
boxed wrote: post #45

Youtube takes down snuff. News at 11. It doesn't matter if the snuff is an Israeli shooting a Palestinian, or a jihadi beheading a cartoonist. It's all removed because YouTube doesn't accept snuff on its platform.

Technically, “snuff” is usually defined as at least being made for entertainment (I say “usually”, since commonly other requirements are added as well). But beheading videos and the like are meant to scare their enemies , not to entertain weirdos on the internet. So these are not “snuff” videos.

If you want to get technical, then

>A film or video clip which involves a real non-acted murder.

It seems like any video depicting a real murder would count as snuff. In any case, has YouTube ever allowed either kind?

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#75

Post by _heimdall »

the_af wrote: post #24
_heimdall wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did the government force YouTube to take down the videos? Freedom of speech is meant to protect us from government censorship. Trump sanctions would fall into that category, but a social media site censoring what they don't want to host seems like fair game.

> Did the government force YouTube to take down the videos? The article answers this: > YouTube, which is owned by Google, confirmed to The Intercept that it deleted the groups’ accounts as a direct result of State Department sanctions against the group after a review.

I could see a court finding that to be a first amendment violation, but that isn't the same as the government directly requesting YouTube to take down videos.

Sanctions were put in place and YouTube followed policy to not allow content from sanctioned groups. That sounds like a loophole, and could be found by a court to be a violation, but it isn't nearly as cut and dry as people here seem to be making it out to be.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#76

Post by latexr »

_heimdall wrote: post #72
latexr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Did the government force YouTube to take down the videos? Yes, according to the article. That argument is made over and over in it, it’s hard to miss. “Forcing” doesn’t just mean directly requiring the action, it also means the threat of “this is not going to end up well for you if you don’t comply”. Of course, you can argue that Google could and should fight it, but that doesn’t change what the government is doing…

It doesn't seem that clear in my opinion. There is a lot of smoke there, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fire, but I didn't see the article specifically claiming the government directed YouTube to take down the videos. I saw multiple references there to the government sanctioning groups and that YouTube took down videos based on the sanctions. That very well could be a loophole and a court might deem that…

I’ll say it again:

> “Forcing” doesn’t just mean directly requiring the action, it also means the threat of “this is not going to end up well for you if you don’t comply”.

Which is definitely what the current administration does. If you need an example, look at the recent Jimmy Kimmel case.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#77

Post by DiogenesKynikos »

mpalmer wrote: post #13
DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #2

It turns out that it's much easier than anyone thought to end freedom of speech in the United States. If no one cares about the Constitution, then it's just paper. Trump sanctions the International Criminal Court and anyone who provides evidence to it, and now pro-Palestinian groups can't post videos of Israeli abuse on YouTube. The First Amendment is nowhere to be seen.

The ICC is not a beneficiary of the Constitution, nor is YouTube bound by the Constitution. I'm unhappy for the same reasons as you, but this isn't how 1A works.

The US government has effectively ordered YouTube to take down these pro-Palestinian YouTube channels.

When the government pressures companies to censor Constitutionally protected speech, that is a First Amendment violation. If it weren't, the First Amendment would have no practical meaning.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#78

Post by konart »

Aldipower wrote: post #26
konart wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's amazing how people forgot to use the internet in exchange for "easier" UX. What's so amazing here? This a normal and expected human behaviour. >forgot to use the internet What does this even mean in this context?

> What does this even mean in this context? Look, you've forgotten it otherwise you wouldn't ask this question.

No, I'm just trying to say that the whole "you are using in right/wrong" is bs.

What parent comment implies (at least how a read it) is just your good old gatekeeping.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#79

Post by tamimio »

isodev wrote: post #11

That's why we have Peertube and your personal (not hosted by a corp) website. It's amazing how people forgot to use the internet in exchange for "easier" UX.

And you think it will stop here? Nope, next AWS or whatever cloud where you host your clone will terminate your service, then you go and rent a bare-metal, same thing later, then you go and host it on your own hardware, the CDN will terminate it! Oh you managed to find a mediocre CDN? The ISP next! As long as there's no regulation protecting your rights, whoever has the biggest share in xyz will be in charge.

Re: YouTube erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations

#80

Post by _heimdall »

latexr wrote: post #76
_heimdall wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't seem that clear in my opinion. There is a lot of smoke there, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a fire, but I didn't see the article specifically claiming the government directed YouTube to take down the videos. I saw multiple references there to the government sanctioning groups and that YouTube took down videos based on the sanctions. That very well could be a loophole and a court might deem that…

I’ll say it again: > “Forcing” doesn’t just mean directly requiring the action, it also means the threat of “this is not going to end up well for you if you don’t comply”. Which is definitely what the current administration does. If you need an example, look at the recent Jimmy Kimmel case.

And I would expect its up to the legal system to decide which of those examples were the government overstepping.

I could see a court deciding this YouTube situation is a first amendment violation. I don't know of any law or precedent that makes it a clear cut case given what is described in the article.

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