Following the Union government’s instruction to social media companies against sharing videos of the sexual assault committed against Kuki women in the conflict-affected Manipur, YouTube has sent a message to all the publishers asking them to refrain from using any violent and graphic footage associated with the incident on its platform. YouTube said that the news coverage of the incident which includes the footage of the crime, “has been found to be violative of YouTube’s Community Guidelines.”
In a press statement on Thursday, July 20, YouTube said, “Per our policies, violent or gory content intended to shock or disgust viewers, or content encouraging others to commit violent acts, are not allowed on YouTube. Note that we do not allow the following kinds of content even if there is EDSA - educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic context provided: Violent physical sexual assaults (video, still imagery, or audio).”
YouTube said that its policy also applies to video descriptions, thumbnails, comments, live streams, and any other YouTube product or feature. “Please note these policies also apply to external links in your content. This can include clickable URLs, verbally directing users to other sites in video, as well as other forms.” YouTube asked news organizations against using footage of the assault while reporting on violent physical sexual assaults or perpetrator footage of violence.
On Wednesday July 19, a distressing video of two naked women being paraded by an armed mob surfaced on the internet. The women were being molested and groped during the act. The incident took place on May 4, however owing to the internet shutdown in Manipur, the video came out recently, leading to widespread outrage against the BJP-led state government.
Reacting to this, the union government on Thursday, promptly directed all social media platforms to not circulate the videos. Twitter, Google, and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and YouTube immediately sprung into action and deleted all the videos, even if news organizations had censored them.
Popular journalist Barkha Dutt who runs Mojo Story, a digital news platform, said that YouTube pulling down their videos without a dialogue was unfortunate. “Extremely unfortunate, unfair and antithetical to all principles of Free Speech. Our reportage on #Manipur blocked by @YouTube on orders from @GoI_MeitY - without dialogue, transparency or feedback.”
Very irrational order received from @goi_meity on #ManipurVideo - at @themojostory we have not shown ANY uncensored images from video that show women naked, all shots are covered in black to protect the women. If you block our videos you are blocking the reportage of #Manipur pic.twitter.com/Vo4tmT45qO
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) July 20, 2023