Terrorist videos on youtube
Remove footage showing Ulster paramilitaries: Ford
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
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Internet website YouTube has told the Belfast Telegraph it is reviewing its material after it faced demands to remove dozens of video clips glorifying republican and loyalist paramilitary groups.
The call from Alliance Party leader David Ford came after it emerged that
dozens of propaganda images of masked and armed men have been posted on the
popular video site.
The dramatic footage includes clips of
suspected UDA gunmen opening fire on police during the fierce rioting that
swept through loyalist areas after the contentious Whiterock parade in
Belfast in 2005.
The site also includes images of republicans
trying to shoot down an Army helicopter in south Armagh in the early 1990s.
One video, filmed at an IRA training camp, shows a dummy IRA mortar bomb being
fired while a group of armed men look on.
Dozens of other videos
depicting armed shows of strength have been posted on the site.
Now YouTube, which takes millions of hits across the globe each day, is
coming under increasing pressure to clamp down on paramilitary images on its
site.
Alliance Party leader and South Antrim MLA David Ford slammed
the site.
He added: "There have been problems in the past with
the YouTube website.
"It is absolutely outrageous that videos
promoting the activities of illegal organisations should be on the website.
"I call on YouTube to remove any such offensive material."
In the past YouTube has faced calls to remove controversial and offensive
material from its website.
Earlier this year the internet giants
were criticised after a Belfast Telegraph investigation revealed that
teenagers regularly post footage of staged street fights on the site.
The site has also been criticised in recent months for allowing footage of
joyriders wrecklessly racing through west Belfast streets to be broadcast to
a world-wide audience.
A spokesman for YouTube said the material
was being reviewed.
He added: "The Internet gives everyone
the opportunity to speak and be heard.
"But by making it
easier for people to express themselves the web also raises cultural and
political concerns in certain countries.
"That's why we make
it easy for users to flag content they believe violates our terms and
conditions ? and where it does, we remove it.
"We also work
with the relevant local legal authorities when it comes to content that may
break local laws.
"We think this approach strikes the right
balance between freedom of expression and respect for local law."
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