Silencing Yemeni voices, YouTube shuts down channels

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Aug 2023 14:29
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YouTube closed 13 channels affiliated with the Ansar Allah Media Center without any violation of the so-called "YouTube standards".

A blurry YouTube logo (AFP)

YouTube shut down 13 channels belonging to the Yemeni Ansar Allah Media Center, in a measure that the center said "reveals the falsity of the slogan of freedom of expression."

"The YouTube company a few days ago closed 13 channels affiliated with the Ansar Allah Media Center without any violation of the so-called 'YouTube standards', and without any justifications," the center confirmed in a statement.

The center pointed out that the measure comes "within the framework of the attempts of the countries of aggression and global arrogance to hide their crimes against the Yemeni people, and their attempts to silence the voice of truth and justice."

The statement explained that the Ansar Allah Media Center exhausted all options to restore the channels by contacting YouTube, adding that the company refuses to respond to requests and continues to shut down several other national channels, "in an indication of an aggressive campaign to silence every Yemeni voice against aggression."

"We call on our free people to boycott YouTube and other platforms that target free Yemeni voices," the Ansar Allah Media Center expressed.

On his part, the Secretary-General of the Political Bureau of the Ansar Allah movement, Fadl Abu Talib, said that shutting down "national channels reveals the extent of global complicity in targeting the Yemeni people and conspiring against their cause."

The Yemeni Media Union also strongly condemned "the repressive measures implemented by YouTube against Yemeni content and national Yemeni channels."

In a statement, the union deemed the measure "a systematic targeting of the Yemeni voice and media, and intellectual terrorism aimed at silencing the Yemeni voice."

It added that "taking down content documenting the crimes of the aggression coalition against Yemen is considered an open complicity" with the aggressors.

The statement called on the YouTube administration to immediately retract the recent measures it took against Yemeni media institutions.

Just recently, the #Yemeni Military Media said that #YouTube shut down 18 of its channels, describing the move as an "arbitrary step".#Yemen #WithYemen #مع_اليمن pic.twitter.com/KSUywOOrpR
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 26, 2023

It is noteworthy that a couple of weeks ago, YouTube shut down 18 channels of the Yemeni Military Media, the Ansar Allah band, the artistic and documentary production unit, and Rawdat Al-Shuhada, in an "arbitrary step", according to the Yemeni Military Media statement.

The closed channels had more than 500 thousand subscribers with more than 7 thousand videos and more than 90 million views.

The Yemeni Military Media confirmed that the recent shutdown of its platforms, as well as other national platforms, on YouTube, in addition to Facebook and Twitter recently, is a clear indication of "double standards and a two-faced policy by the management of these companies in support of hostilities led by the US-Saudi-Emirati coalition of aggression."

The Yemeni Military Media slammed the hostile move as an act of "intellectual terrorism", adding that YouTube is "seeking to harness the media assets of the countries of aggression to serve their colonial project."

National pages, accounts, and channels pertaining to Yemen have been previously subjected to constant closure, ban, and restrictions without any justification.