YouTube Removes A Video Of Human Rights Defender In China

ILLUSTRA TION / Viktor Szabo (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - YouTube has reportedly removed a video belonging to the human rights organization Atajurt Kazakh. The group allegedly violated YouTube's anti-harassment policy in the videos it uploaded.

Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights on their YouTube channel seeks to document human rights abuses in China's Xinjiang province. This incident began on June 15, Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights as the channel owner said YouTube had deactivated all of their channels, as quoted from The Verge, Tuesday, June 29.

The Google subsidiary told Atajurt Kazakh it had received too much reporting on its channel for videos with people showing ID.

Where are the identity cards that people show in the video related to missing Xinjiang citizens. Of course, this is a video payload featuring personal information. This is what caused YouTube to delete the video and deactivate Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights' channel.

However, the channel was later restored three days later. Most of YouTube's deleted videos have been recovered following objections raised by Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights, but some that have been restored remain invisible to followers.

YouTube has reportedly asked Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights to cut or hide scenes showing identity cards in the video. But they turned down the request from YouTube for fear it would damage the organization's credibility.

On the other hand, Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights has won praise from organizations focused on human rights issues, such as Human Rights Watch, for their videos that help expose human rights abuses.

The MIT Technology Review argues that the video from Atajurt Kazakh Human Rights is not meant to insult someone's identity. However, the video does reveal testimonies from family members of people in detention camps in Xinjiang, China.