YouTube has released videos documenting human rights abuses in Xinjiang

YouTube has been criticized for posting videos documenting China’s alleged abuses against Uighur Muslims in the country’s Xinjiang province. Reuters has amparatu that YouTube took a dozen videos from Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, and at one point rebuked the channel itself, for allegedly violating the site’s anti-harassment policy through videos discussing the disappearance of people in Xinjiang. The site told Atajurt that it received numerous “strikes” for videos in which people held ID cards to show they were related to missing Xinjiang residents, breaking a rule against the show. sensitive personal information.

The takedowns have followed reports from unnamed parties.

YouTube restored some of the videos after appeals, but did not explain why some of them remained out of sight. The company has asked Atajurt to blur or cut some of the ID, but the channel is reluctant to do so because it could damage the credibility of the videos. YouTube took the channel on June 15 for alleged violations and reinstated it three days later after a “careful review” of an appeal, a spokesman told Engadget.

Atajurt supports his videos through Odysee, a blockchain-based platform, in case YouTube pulls them down. However, it has no intention of stopping releasing videos through Google’s platform.

YouTube told Engadget that it was receptive to videos documenting human rights abuses, and was aware that Atajurt had no sinister intent when displaying identity cards. However, he argued that the rights group did not have enough “didactic, documentary, scientific and artistic content” to allow an exception to its policies.

The remarks raise questions about both the clarity of YouTube’s policies and the origin of the requests. While Atajurt seems to have broken some rules, it’s not clear how it applies to every video, or why the group didn’t count for an exception. It’s also noteworthy that takedowns came after reports, rather than YouTube’s moderation practices. Atajurt said he was worried that the removal requests might come from pro-China factions seeking to suppress stories about the horrors taking place in Xinjiang. YouTube could be caught in the middle of an ideological struggle, and it may have inadvertently helped the party seeking to cover up terrible acts.