At YouTube, You can say pretty much whatever You want, as long as it’s not about Islam. If that’s not true, YouTube user Nick Gisburne begs to differ after his account – his entire account – was deleted for its “inappropriate content.” What exactly did he say? Well, nothing really. He let the Koran speak for itself.
Gisburne is a self-described atheist with, at least from the one video, a deep questioning of Muslim claims about the Koran. To express his doubts about Islam being a religion of peace, Gisburne created a 10-minute video, entitled “Islamic Teachings” that was nothing but violent quotations taken from the Koran instructing followers to kill nonbelievers and speed their way to Hell where Allah will torture them forever.
It would seem quoting the holy book in a sort of testament against itself was over the line for someone working at Google-owned YouTube. Not only was the video deleted without any type of warning to the uploader, but the uploader’s account was also deleted with only the explanation (or accusation) of submitting inappropriate content, a category usually reserved for nudity or video violence.
Gisburne can be seen talking about the experience here, in a very monotone way. But the video in question can still be found on YouTube, for as word spreads about the rather obvious free speech infringement, users by the dozens have become defiant, posting it on Gisburne’s behalf.
Over at Xooglers, a blog written by ex-Google employees, Ron Garret says this doesn’t reflect well on Google:
This really bothers me for four reasons. First, to deem quotations from a holy text to be “inappropriate content” is outrageous on its face. Second, Gisburne was given no warning. Third, YouTube didn’t just delete the video in question, they deleted Gisburne’s entire account. And fourth, this makes a mockery of Google’s “don’t be evil” slogan. There can be no possible reason for this action other than caving to intimidation, and sanctimonious cowardice in the face of oppression is a particularly pernicious breed of evil.
He advises other angry free speech advocates to contact YouTube to express themselves directly.
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