Update – February 17, 2010: Youtube has restored the rejected video and nawaat’s account. Thank you Google for the understanding and thank you all for the support.
Today we got a message from Youtube informing us that the ability to post new videos on Youtube has been temporarily disabled for violating the YouTube Community Guidelines because of a video deemed “inappropriate.” We are pretty sure that some Tunisian pro-government users have flagged it as inappropriate, even we cannot prove it. This is the message we received:
The following video(s) from your account have been disabled for violating the YouTube Community Guidelines:
Tunise : enfants des zones défavorisées (Nawaat)
While it might not seem fair to say you can’t show something because of what viewers theoretically might do in response, we draw the line at content that’s intended to incite violence or encourage dangerous, illegal activities that have an inherent risk of serious physical harm or death. It’s not okay to post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making. Any depictions like these should be educational or documentary and shouldn’t be designed to help or encourage others to imitate them.
This is the second Community Guidelines warning sanction your account has received within six months. Accordingly, the ability to post new content to YouTube from this account has been disabled and will not return until two weeks after you acknowledge this message. Please review the YouTube Community Guidelines and refrain from further violations, which may result in the termination of your account(s).
The video in question (also available on our Posterous page), titled Tunise : enfants des zones défavorisées (Tunisia: Children from disadvantaged areas), shows a groupd of 6 – 7 year old Tunisian kids inhaling glue and talking about why and from where they’re getting the substance. Sniffing glue, which is considered gateway drug, is a very dangerous practice among Tunisian teens and kids from disadvantaged areas and we don’t understand why the video has been found to violate Youtube Terms of Use! Though one can legitimately ask if the video of Neda Agha-Soltan’s death on June 20, 2009 on Youtube was not inappropriate or graphic? Does it not violate Youtube Terms of Use or is it ‘Too Distressing to Ignore‘ as Mashabe described it?
By rejecting our video, which caused the temporary suspension of our account on its platform, Google is banning what is considered to be the first citizen video that tries to document this practice and share it among our fellow citizens and with the world. By publishing it on Youtube and other video-sharing websites, Nawaat is not encouraging drug abuse nor helping others to imitate those poor kids. This is not nawaat’s mission. Nawaat has been launched to help Tunisians and their friends get access to all kind of barred information. We are providing a platform to anyone who wants to express his or her idea freely without censorship or fear. While we are and intend to remain independent of any political party or NGO, we opened our platform as a space to support democracy and protest human rights abuses in our country. One of our goals is to build an anti-propaganda machine against the very sophisticated and quite crafty official Tunisian propaganda. And precisely that rejected video was meant to counter Tunisia’s official discourse on Child protection and health.
It’s worth mentioning here that this is not the first time that Youtube administrators shut down human rights activists accounts because of inappropriate content. In late 2007, our Egyptian friend, blogger and journalist, Wael Abbas, who documents human rights abuses by Egyptian police, temporarily had his Youtube account suspended after publishing the infamous video of an Egyptian bus driver being sodomized with a stick by the Egyptian police officers. Let us also recall that it was thanks to that same video published on Youtube that justice was served and that the two Egyptian torturers were sentenced to three years in jail for sodomizing and torturing the driver.
The irony is that during the Breaking Borders event that was organized by Google in november last year to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of Berlin wall, I answered a question, on how to support online free speech, asked by Rachel Whetstone Vice President, Public Policy and Communications at Google, by saying that Google should not suspend human rights activists accounts like what happened with the aforementioned case of my friend Wael Abbas (I also highlighted the importance of adding https to blogspot blogging platform, a step which I still believe is crucial to help protect the identity of anonymous bloggers under repressive regimes – The video of the panel discussion during the Breaking Borders event is availbale on Google Freedom of Expression@Google YouTube-Channel).
Now that our ability to publish new content on Youtube has been disabled, temporarily, for two weeks, and threatened to be terminated in case we publish another “inappropriate” video (and we certainly will), what are the lessons that we should learn from this incident:
- activist should consider hosting their video materials on Witness’ The HUB, which I believe is a very good alternative to Youtube, as it is a global platform totally dedicated to human rights media.
- activists should host their own content, if they can afford it (we cannot), or publish it on multiple platforms, not only as a long-term backup strategy but as a viral strategy as well. The sword of a sudden suspension of their account can fall at any time, especially if you are not an activist from Iran or China, countries that score high on the Index of what I call the “business of online free speech and digital activism”. Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania, Libya, etc., are forgotten cases; Unfortunately, we do not attract enough media attention and we won’t, we are not sexy enough, not only for the average online freedom of expression “advocates”, but for the most dedicated ones as well, those self-proclaimed “Meta-activists” and social media gurus! The few good exceptions that are doing their best to raise awareness and support our causes are our only allies who have been at our side in all tragic events. All the rest are a lost case, you cannot rely on them during difficult situations, especially the NGO’s world. Digital activism, Twitter Revolution, Internet equal democracy bullshit, all that hype is only an unprecedented opportunity for raising money, promoting own agenda (political, ideological), building over inflated egos- you name it.
- We, grassroots, self-funded and independent activists and administrators of 100% independent social media and activism projects, urgently need to unpack the unstated motives in NGOs, companies and governments Internet freedom policies, if I may borrow the expression from my friend Ethan Zuckerman in his excellent and eye-opening article. We need to understand, demystify and navigate very carefully this field that starts to be hijacked by some Super-powers, global web 2.0 giants, funders and NGO’s that are using it for their own political, economic and geo-strategic agendas. Internet freedom is a very beautiful and attractive slogan that can hide its worst enemies. And to all our westerns friends who are willing to help us sincerely, please focus on the western companies that are making money by selling censor-wares to our authoritarian regimes. Don’t look only at Nokia/Siemens role in Iran and overlook Secure Computing, Websense, Mcafee and Sisco System roles in Tunisia, Syria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE…
I’m very sorry if my conclusions sound harsh, but how else can one describe this bitterness. The team of Nawaat has been fighting very hard to keep its site and all its online initiatives and projects alive. We have been struggling against censorship, daily hacking and DDos attacks for the last 6 years, since it was blocked few weeks after its launch in 2004. Not only our collective blog and all its mirror websites are blocked, but also all the personal blogs of its administrators are banned and hacked- for more than seven years. Nawaat’s twitter account was the first twitter page to be blocked in Tunisia and so its Posterous numerous pages, its facebook page, Cybversion.org, nawaat’s project that monitors online censorship in Tunsia, Yezzi, the online protest against Ben Ali, blocked then hacked at the 20th occasion of Ben Ali’s rule. Even Youtube and Dailymotion were blocked in Tunisia because of the videos published their by our team.
And while we are not complaining about all the censorship and attacks targeting us, as we are totally aware that these are the consequences of the fight we are waging against the Tunisian regime to win back our freedom of expression, we really don’t want and don’t expect to see this battle front extended to Google services.
c’est pas grave.
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
Dear Sami,
Alas, as you sadly point out, we’re not sexy enough. But the worst message in my opinion is the contradition between Google’s recent message about their intent to withdraw from China because of Internet hacking of human rights activists (including Chinese) sites by Chinese government, considering it as a major threat to freedom of speech… and their warning to Nawaat which is precisely a human rights and freedom of speech activist, under the disguise of non compliance to Youtube’s guidelines. Now if Google could please explain to me on which side they sit in this power game and if they could decently play open cards.
excellent post Sami, Unfortunately this is not the first time that we had to deal with Google. At the 2005, online demonstration Yezzi, Google adwords, tried to refuse two ads that had absolutely nothing offensive. The first was: “Ben Ali Yezzi Fock: citizen online demonstration for freedom of expression” and the second: “Yezzi against censorship: Peaceful Online Citizen Action against the dictatorship in Tunisia.» Google considered that” The current Google policy does not promote websites containing “Political content against an individual”.
After a long explanation email the Adwords service replied that: “We understand your position. However, the reason for refusal is not related to the fact that you are organizing an event. As long as your site and your ads mention the concepts of “dictatorship” and run directly against the person of Ben Ali, we will not be able to approve your campaigns.
They finally approved the ads but theses exchanges show how Google is torn between the image it wants to give and the supreme interest of money (which is normal for a private company).
En y regardant un peu plus, il y a plusieurs façons d’envisager le problème, et je ne suis pas sûre qu’on puisse reprocher au service de modération de Google de vouloir adopter une mesure prudentielle dès lors qu’il s’agit d’enfants. Ceci étant, est-ce-que Nawaat a la possibilité de contacter ces mêmes modérateurs afin d’expliquer la raison pour laquelle cette vidéo a été postée, qui est celle de l’information non censurée, et surtout aucun message incitatif. Je pense qu’une fois les choses clarifiées, la vidéo devrait pouvoir retrouver sa place sur Youtube.
nice work google ..
you sure are showing your ethics….
some statements about china,tunisia,etc…..
and yet it is better to protect a dictator
with aquid than……
the chineese have a say:
the more a monkey climbs,the more it shows its
arse.
expected from a deracinated crap….
which is the base of the yanks settlers.
we know what dictators stand for…
does any one know what americans stand for
other than money?…
…….not bitter
but hypocrasy gets me.
a bit of morality would not stray.
ml australia
j’ai contacté des amis à google et ils sont en train de résoudre ce probleme, qui j’esèpre ne se reproduit pas, non seulement contre nawaat, mais aussi contre les activistes utilisant la plateforme Youtube.
Pingback: Egyptian Chronicles: YouTube Against Fine Citizen Journalism
Pingback: uberVU - social comments
l existence de la misere en tunisie est une honte,mais la montrer pour l exploiter contre le gouvernement est tout aussi honteux d autant plus qu on met en scene ces pauvres enfants comme des betes de cirque .Il n y a plus d ethique ,plus de moralite ni d un cote ni de l autre .Je suis ecoeuree d etre tunisienne.shame,ahame,shame…..
youtube a raison
Sufia, je comprends très bien ta colère et même je partage avec toi l’idée que youtube avait raison de l’enlever au premier abord. Je reconnais aussi le fait qu’on aurait du couvrir le visage de ces enfants avant de la publier. Mais, la vidéo avait circulé et circule encore sur facebook d’où on la récupéré. OUi, tu as riaosn, il y a là un sérieux problème d’ethique. Je m’explique:
Le fait de l’exploiter contre le gouvernement, on peut avoir une opinion différente sur le sujet et je respecte ton opinion. La mienne est qu’il faut toujours affronter la réalité en face. La faire cacher et prétendre que tout va bien, voire même mentir sur ce qui se passe vraiment dans notre société, comme fait le régime tunisien, ne va pas aider du tout à résoudre ce problème. En plus, c’est aussi honteux de cacher de telles pratiques. Seul un débat public ouvert et totalement libre suivi par des mesures gouvernementales peuvent venir à bout de ce fléau.
Ce que je conteste en fait sur youtube c’est la menace et l’absence d’un quelconque méchanisme de négociation avec les utilisateurs avant le rejet d’une vidéo ou la suspension d’un compte.
amitiés
Undebat public sur tous les problemes,c est le mot juste ,mais la, je viens aujourd hui de regarder la tv 7, et j ai suivi live, les debats au parlement, et la j ai compris que nous sommes dans un etat d apathie politique,melange d hypocresie,une paralysie totale,le ministre de l agriculture aujourd hui est confronte aux deputes , une des question contient deux lignes, le depute, tenant un papier avait de la peine a relire ce qu on lui a dicte,et pourtant les produits d origine agricole ont presque quadruple,viande 15 dinars , lait 4X en hausse vertigineuse,pain a triple depuis 2ans,poissons 30 dinars le kilo,l huile 5dinars,et c est ainsi que la population qui a un smig de 300 dinars vit dans la misere noir ,mais alors attention face a cette deterioration du cout de la vie et cette inflation record,le ministre annonce ,Almoucrouh arriassi,c est le mot miracle,alfanous assihri ,le remde miracle pour tous les problemes en Tunisie, que se soit dans le domaine de l emploi, de l industrie , de la sante, des finances,les taux de credits, les sciences, l energie de substitution, l informatique,la pluie qui va tomber, la chaleur,tous ces sujet ont une solution prepare almachrouh arriyassi.ok,ce projet presidentiel consiste a quoi ? PEUT ON LE DABATRE ENSEMBLE WALLA HOUA KORAN MOUNAZIL MINA ASSAA.ET PUIS EST CE QUE VOUS POUVEZ NOUS DONNER UNE RECETTE, ICI EN DEUTSCHLAND IL Y A BEAUCOUPS DE CHOMMEURS, ET NOUS VOULONS CALQUER VOTRE EXPERIENCE DE LUTTE CONTRE LE CHOMMAGE.
to sufia:
pauverty is a sad and ugly reality in tunisia. It s not a shame neither showing these kids is a shame nor using it against the corrupted governement is shamfull.
People should talk about it. there should be reasons for it everyone have to know.Education about pauverty and the way to change it is not accepted by the goverment bodies.because tunisia is in good shape but for who??
Tunisia could be 1 of the wealthiest country in africa but your governement is stopping it.
The only way to reach it is to be governed by an economist not a melitary.
I, personnaly, and all my friends refuse absolutely to invest any cent in tunisia until ben ali and the rcd are dead,gone gone with no retuen.
Ben Gharbia:
The vedeo is terrible,horrible,unthinkable and unbelievable.
You should not posted.it s shocking.The Vedeo doesn t really show the problem but promote it.Whoever did it is a idiot .He will pay for that as i personally may press charges against him.If you wanna do a documentary you should think about it and plan for it.and be carefull what to say.
He is asking the kid to say i am happy….
he is saying to him doing that is happiness??
he will pay for it even if i have personnaly to act.
You should send a copy to the police for investigation.
these kids should be moved away and treated.
what the fuck is he trying to tell people by this vedeo ???
you should not publish it before consulting expert first.
anyway he will pay as soon as i go back to the country.
Pingback: Global Voices Advocacy » YouTube Bans Tunisian Site Nawaat from Uploading Videos
@tunisien
One stupid question please: WHO are you? You are taking the whole issue to a personal level…. hummm….
i did not see the video,butsome chocking stuff
is not always bad .the awsome communications is
a tool to jolt our consciousness into action.
what other means left tothe populace from a turd
who thinks that his concitoyens are to be treated
as funges that should be kept in the dark and fed
shit.he believes we have to pay homage to his
infinate highness for what he achieved for the
country.
the infortunate thing that he is the only one that
sees it.amusing for a clairevoyant as his press and
cronies keep shoving into our ears and eyes dailies
for 23 years.one concession he is not that smart,in
fact he is copying aprevious despot
his master.from 1956 till now what changed between
these 2clowns is supreme combattant to clairvoyant.
change starts from within .
wecould do it in a bloody way or resort to pen and
video and less blood to spill.
.so much police and secret service protecting a clown
the nation resources wasted protecting apea brains.
you have to be tunisian to know how fed up and
desperate people are becoming.
we are not simply blaming google,ourselves are in that
mix of blame.nothing wil happen till we make it happen.
so long carthage.
i,m your son thought i left you42 years ago.
j ai ecrit un commentaire que vous n avez pas passe parcequ il n allait pas dans votre sens.Finalement vous n etes pas pour la liberte d expression,vous etes comme la clique au pouvoir,pauvre cytoyen pris entre les corrompus du regime et les dogmatiques de l opposition.Tous les meme.Continuez c omme ca c est le meilleur moyen de vous couper de la population avec laquelle vous n avez deja pas beaucoup de contact.
sufia, je suis désolé, mais là tu mens, tu n’as pas posté aucun autre commentaire à part ces 2 là. Trouves-toi un autre passe-temps.
Google has restored the rejected video and nawaat account on Youtube. Thanks Google for the understanding.
Pingback: Nawaat on Twitter » Google has disabled the ability for Nawaat to … | Drakz News Station
to Anonymous:
why do u wanna know who the fuck i am??
my name won t mean anything but i hate motherfuckers who distroy others life.It s not acceptable what had been shown in the vedeo.
I think Sami ben Garbea should be charged to and be responsable for promoting assults agianst kids.it was inaaproriate to publish it.
freedom of speech has limits and bounderies.
at the end, my name is slim changed to christian .i live in usa.
i fucken hate tunisien people as mutch as i hate their motherfucker president.
To no more tunisien,
I ll tell u, who u are, u nothing! u no more tunisian, no more muslim, less junk in this country! u ll never be motherFFFFFF…. (as u like to repeat all he time) American also, they ll just enjoy ur big ass in airport s cameras, u ll neither be christian, coz rubbish like urself never have any religion, cheers motherFFFFF…cowboy!
Bravo ya Ben youssef ce Tunisien,s il represente l opposition alors,je ne suis pas un opposant,on dirait qu il est ne dans un bordel toujours il repete Fuck,il est malade celui la, adha moustawa mta Mouardha adha intellectuel, adha un exemple yaktada bihi al ajyal , ahna nourabbi fi jil fassed wa houa Fuck fuck, wallahi raby yahdik ya Sami inti tu donnes une image desolante de l opposition en laissant ce minable vulgaire ecrire dans ce site bien ´sur que les autorites trouvent un pretexte pour censurer nos ecrits, et nos analyses et nos etudes,et nous empeche de dialoguer avec la societe civile , de conscientiser les citoyens , ya Tunisien tu n as pas honte de repeter tout le temps les memes vulgarites de bas niveau ,alors c est quoi la difference entre toi et la flicaille qui n est pas instruite au moins, ils sont pas tous comme toi et des fois ils respectent les gens bien,.Mais tu n as du respect pour personne,encore une fois ya Samy c est ta faute ,mala alech ahna on critique mousalsalet al habita wal dialogue el minhat wal hakir wa alhiwarat assakita , wa iji un minable kima Tunisien yadayi annahou mouaradha et il se comporte de la meme facon de ceux contre lesquels il combat encore une fois bravo ya Ben Youssef de le remettre en place.
BEN YOUSSEF :
I have an american passport.My name in the passport is christian.
It s better to be american As america is the country of choice of choice not birth. I bet 90% of tunisian will do the same if they have the opportunity because of motherfuckers like you who judge people.
I am not muslin true what s wrong with that. I am christian what swrong with that. even if i become jewish or atheist what s wrong with that. religion is a choice.a personel choice .u are free to worship whatever u want .
Swearing is a speach .if you believe in freedom of speech like we do in usa there is no issue using it.
i swear in english nooffence in arabic.so there is no offence to
anyone.
motherfuckers is a good word that discribe the politician who throw you out from your own country that you can t return to it.
so stop being a judge cause you are not.let people talk he way the want.Keep your motherfuckers morals for yourself.
you wellcome to denounce the ideas but i am free in my language.
Ben youseff you are no different to the motherfuckers of tunisia politicians and police terrorist.You are sing thee same startegy.
fuck the others it sonly my way.
i educate my son to say fuck to the all motherfuckers in tunisia who turn the country to a torture house.
so stop talking like an Imam cause all the imams in tunisia are motherfuckers .they sold their religion for couple of dollars.
fuck all the motherfucers in tunisia.
fuck all the bullshit of people like u
fuck ben ali fuck his regime.
fuck all tunisian who shut up and never revolt against the motherfucker ben ali
Cher Melek Zbiss :
Vous avez raison, c cette racaille que ce regime totalitaire et policier veut avoir comme opposition, le meme discours, la meme vulgarite que celle que vous allez entendre du (bouliss) du rond point le matin. c ce genre de batards et de bas niveaux qui donnent au regime les raisons pour nous presenter au peuple comme opposition.
Ce rate doit savoir quelque chose, c que ce regime n a jamais represente (al ourouba) ou l islam, pour que je les denonces, C pas par ce que ce regime est comme tel, que j dois me prendre un autre nom ou une autre religion (avec le respect qe j dois au autres religions), au contraire ca me donne l elan et la force pour combatre pour c valeurs, je suis ARABE, MUSILMAN.
Je dis a ce (newly converted motherFFF cowboy), tu vas pas comprendre ce qui precede, pour la simple raison, tu n a aucune moralite ou principe. tu n es rien!
something else MotherFFFFFF cowboy, teach ur son values like freedom and justice, tell him about NASA and Armstrong, let him know Ernest Hemingway and Malcolm X, let him see the shining and beautiful face of America, not the bad represented by u and ur FFFFF…
Malla moustawa, malla t.hin w guillet din, nattikni rahou ya si melek je m excuses.
@tunisien:
I am really amused reading what you are writing! Of course you have the right to express yourself and to do it the way you think its appropriate but you have also to assume the consequences of what you are saying. I would have believed your indignation about the video if you didnt use the vocabulary you used. I would even discuss the issu with you. But the vocabulary you use and the way you are argumenting shows that you are only interested in defaming Mr. Ben Gharbeia who is a honest and has integrity. I bet you cant even make a logical not to mention a juridical argumentation to what you say. You know just repeating the word mother fucker is not really an argumentation. It just shows what you have absorbed and integrated from your chosen country. In fact its an insult to your country of choice if that is what makes an american (saying mother fucker 10 times a day). Think about it! I rather bet this vocabulary has nothing to do with the fact you are american. Its more the reflection of the state of mind you have and which is widespread among our beloved political police agents. I am sorry to say that you are writing nonsens. Why did google and youtube restore the videos then if you are right? I guess the speak a better english than you and me and have enough ressources to evaluate the vide! Is this a new way of political police to harrass human right activists? Your way of procedure remembers me the case of Mr. Boukdhir who was jailed in Tunisia for publishing a video about the contamination of the environement in Tunisia so the tunisian regime sayed he filmed a citizen without his consent. Please try to evolve a little bit. This methods are known to all.
would I? speak the way.the tunisian yank .no,would I write
that way.no.butI defend his right to express himself any way
he likes.most tunisians have not grasped the idea that there
is more than one way to skin a cat,more than one road to
reach paris,one only of anyoneand that difference makes
the richness of ideas.Dictaters want only their way,blind
to anythingelse..that,s what this web site is all about.
we were berbers,romans,phenisians,arabs,jews,spaniards,vandals,maltees,greeks
turks,french and many more.lots of different beliefs came and
gone and yet most think we are only arabs and moslem only.
that short sightedness of our history make a mockery of how
we perceive things .
a message to those who think we are only arabs…onyour camels
and back to your arabian peninsula
as for the