Spain

[ES] YouTube removes four videos following request from CAC

IRIS 2017-4:1/12

Mònica Duran Ruiz

Catalan Audiovisual Council

On 6 February 2017, the video-sharing platform YouTube removed four copies of a video in which a user appears in Barcelona offering a beggar biscuits filled with toothpaste. Although the user already removed the video, the Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (Catalonian Audiovisual Council, CAC) noted the same video had been again uploaded through four other YouTube accounts.

On 27 January 2017, the CAC contacted YouTube asking them to remove these four copies of the original video, on the basis that the content showed in the video violated the fundamental rights of a person, in particular the beggar’s right to dignity. YouTube proceeded to remove the four copies of the video. This is the second time that YouTube removed content at the request of the CAC. YouTube previously removed five videos that the CAC and the Department of the Presidency of the Catalan Government denounced for inciting violence against women (see IRIS 2017-2/13).

Since 2014, the CAC has been promoting actions in the field of audiovisual content on the Internet by preparing reports about online hate speech against women, child pornography, and anorexia and bulimia. The CAC has just finished a fourth report analysing the presence of online betting related content.