UPDATE [8.09.2017 23:24 CEST]: Dear friends, few moments ago Youtube removed one of the two “Community Guidelines strikes” from SouthFront’s channel and restored our video “Syrian War Report – September 8, 2017: US-led Coalition Rescues ISIS Commanders From Deir Ezzor?”. This means that SouthFront is now able again to upload new videos to our Youtube channel.
However, the Community Guidelines strike that was added to the channel on September 6 remained. (You can find more about it in the text below)
The remaining strike directly impacts SouthFront’s ability to provide exclusive content. We cannot more host live streams because our Youtube channel has a Community Guidelines strike.
Furthermore, it’s clear that a threat that SouthFront’s YouTube channel might be closed down or once again frozen (as a result of false flagging by the project’s ill-wishers or by ‘mistake’ of the Youtube system) remains while the channel still has one Community Guidelines strike.
Original Post:
The project’s YouTube channel received two community guidelines strikes over the past 48 hours. With two community guidelines strikes, SouthFront cannot upload new videos on YouTube. Work on YouTube is now fully blocked.
This is a clear violation of the freedom of speech and an attempt to eliminate an independent media.
On September 8, 2017, SouthFront’s war report video “Syrian War Report – September 8, 2017: US-led Coalition Rescues ISIS Commanders From Deir Ezzor?” (You can watch the deleted video here) was removed because it allegedly violated “YouTube Community Guidelines”. The video included no graphic content, but was nevertheless flagged and deleted.
On September 6, 2017, SouthFront’s Youtube channel received a community guidelines strike when Youtube deleted our video “Foreign Policy Diary ‘War on Terror’ [remastered]” that was already reviewed by Youtube on February 15, 2016. (You can find more about the previous case HERE [strike added] and HERE [strike removed])
In February 2016, the system deleted the video and the project channel received a community guidelines strike. However, the strike was removed after SouthFront’s appeal. The video remained deleted. SouthFront didn’t re-uplad the video.
Now, it seems that the video “Foreign Policy Diary ‘War on Terror’ [remastered]” was somehow restored (automatically? when?) and deleted again because it allegedly violated “YouTube Community Guidelines” and SouthFront’s YouTube channel received a community guidelines strike.
All SouthFront content is produced with informational purpose in mind and is aimed to provide an independent coverage of the threats of international terrorism as well as the geo-political, military and security issues of our time.
SouthFront faces systematic ‘false flagging’ on YouTube.
The project faced previous attempt to censor our YouTube channel on August 17, 2017 when our video analysis “The Battle for Mosul: Concept Versus Reality” released on December 12, 2016 was deleted because it allegedly included some content violating “YouTube Community Guidelines”.
However, as a result of SouthFront’s appeal and thanks to your support, YouTube removed a “Community Guidelines strike” from SouthFront’s channel and restored the video. (You can find more info HERE)
This series of hostile and disingenuous actions, as well as YouTube’s prejudicial treatment against SouthFront poses a real threat that SouthFront’s YouTube channel might soon be closed down. In this case, SouthFront informs that you can watch all SouthFront videos at the projectwebsite, http://southfront.org
